If New York City Ballet’s spring season could be bottled into a fragrance, it would be fresh and green, with the earthy, sweet scent of a breeze after a bout of rain. How did we get here? The company, seemingly all of a sudden, looks so strong, and more important, so light. The high fives passed from one dancer to the next as they crossed the stage in Alexei Ratmansky’s “Namouna” seemed more funny, more victorious and more true than ever.
As a new generation of dancers at City Ballet finds its way, there’s not only more individualism, but more cohesion among individuals. Debuts came so regularly, it was dizzying. And along with risk, there was air and expansiveness, which gave the repertory an on-the-spot kind of inventiveness.
Older ballets had a new sheen. “Concerto Barocco” (1941) and “La Source” (1968) are brilliant dances. Even bad performances can’t ruin their splendor, but this season they came to life with dancers seemingly conscious of their responsibility. City Ballet is bigger than they are, but they know that they are its current caretakers. The care shows.
While casting was generally thoughtful — even more so than usual — the company missed the mark by assigning Erica Pereira the lead in two important Balanchine ballets, “La Source” and “Square Dance,” proving that it’s not always the steps that matter. She can perform them, but without more expansiveness, her body rarely comes to life through them.
This season, which ended on Sunday, there were many memorable performances, including the sleek Unity Phelan in “Agon,” “Barocco” and “Namouna,” and Joseph Gordon and Roman Mejia in just about anything.
Here are some to be treasured.
‘La Source’
Indiana Woodward
The effervescence of Indiana Woodward brightens any ballet, but this season in Balanchine’s “La Source,” set to Delibes, her melodic finesse, her gossamer delicacy and her vivacious grace were jaw-dropping. Nothing is flat; she moves in ways that softly reveal her body’s angles, always with good taste and always with subtlety. Her French lineage, as well as her generous presence and unending charm, create an affinity with the dancer on whom her role here was created: Violette Verdy. At the same time, Woodward is wholly herself.
After taking months off performing as she struggled with mental health issues, Sara Mearns returned to the company with a debut in “Concerto Barocco.” In the first movement, you could sense her getting to know the stage again, the feeling of eyes on her. But as she eased into the music — especially in the pas de deux with Russell Janzen, above — her unassuming simplicity and grounded, captivating beauty were an instant reminder of what we had been missing. She was dazzling in “Namouna.” Her “Swan Lake,” unencumbered by artifice, was raw and so full of acceptance — of herself and of the moment — that it just about tore your heart in two.
‘Square Dance’
Anthony Huxley
It didn’t happen overnight, but Anthony Huxley, City Ballet’s most elegant classicist, has grown into a dancer of such regal warmth that he seems to have carved out a new space for the modern male ballet dancer. In Balanchine’s “Square Dance,” he was exceptional, balancing his own supple precision with a newfound galvanizing personality: He didn’t just dance this ballet, he led it, which contrasted strikingly with his solo variation, above, a moving image of clarity and lissome grace.
‘Afternoon of a Faun’
Dominika Afanasenkov
A rising corps member, Dominika Afanasenkov, with her long lines and lovely demeanor, certainly stands out in a crowd, but her debut in Robbins’s intimate “Afternoon of a Faun” opposite a dreamy, understated Christopher Grant, above, proved that she isn’t afraid to be seen on her own. Ethereal and dewy — with Debussy’s music just about pouring out of her limbs and pliant back — Afanasenkov is a curious mix of qualities: modern, but with a rare old-world grandeur.
‘Pictures at an Exhibition’
Mira Nadon
The welcome return of Ratmansky’s gorgeous “Pictures at an Exhibition” brought some surprises this season. Along with the addition of a new projection to “The Great Gate of Kiev” section — the Ukrainian flag — it was also full of debuts. It was hard to peel your eyes away from Mira Nadon who has the makings of an important Ratmansky dancer. Glitteringly wild in the section “The Gnome,” Nadon fluttered across the stage like she was dancing with ghosts until she smashed her palms onto the floor. There are many qualities to love about Nadon, now here is another: She isn’t afraid to be weird.
‘Agon’
India Bradley
In “Agon,” the masterful 1957 collaboration between Balanchine and Stravinsky, a performance of the first pas de trois — with India Bradley, Taylor Stanley and Meaghan Dutton-O’Hara — was mesmerizing in its tautness. This was a vivid threesome; but Bradley, a member of the corps de ballet, rooted the steps with a seriousness that instilled her entire body with lucid focus. Throughout, she remained sensitive and strong.
This season bid farewell to the soloist Georgina Pazcoguin and the principal Harrison Ball, each of whom left with a debut. Ball’s came in “Afternoon of a Faun,” in which he subtly infused his role with an air of Nijinsky. And Pazcoguin — whose performances as Anita in Jerome Robbins’s “West Side Story Suite” will forever be etched in my mind — brought her boldness and humor to Ratmansky’s “Namouna.” Puffing on a cigarette with haughty grandeur, she moved with such relish it seemed she was leaving behind a trace of herself on the stage. Fittingly, it was full of more joy than tears.
