City Ballet The Podcast

New Combinations Host and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan is joined by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon this week, whose ballet Continuum will have its NYCB premiere on May 1. It's part of a trilogy of leotard ballets, including Polyphonia and Morphoses, set to a score by György Ligeti—a composer whose music Wheeldon was "really intrigued by," but also "terrified" by. Wheeldon and Whelan discuss unlocking and understanding the mysteries of Ligeti's works, setting this piece on the company, and the positive impact fear can have on one's creative process. (35:39)
 
Edited by Emilie Silvestri

The topic du jour around The Rosin Box this week is the driving force behind ballet: music. For this conversation, hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Soloist Aarón Sanz are joined by Corps de Ballet Member Maya Milić and Soloist Sebastián Villarini-Vélez, two company members whose connections to music extend far beyond the studio and stage. Maya is a classically trained pianist who graduated with honors from the Manhattan School of Music's Precollege Division, which she attended while also a student at the School of American Ballet; Sebastián was raised in a musical household—his father was a percussionist with an expansive collection of tapes, and Sebastián played the guitar throughout childhood. These formative early exposures to music have influenced their dancing in countless ways: "Developing a taste is the most important thing you can do as an artist," says Sebastián. "That will allow you to shape your approach towards what you're doing. Distinguishing what works for you musically will allow you to find sort of a unique voice to approach the steps." (40:12)

Edited by Gus Reed 
Music:
"Je ne t'aime plus" by Pink Martini
Courtesy of Pink Martini & Heinz Records

This week around The Rosin Box, Hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Soloist Aarón Sanz are talking all things adult ballet with Sloane Bratter, NYCB's Associate Director, Public Programs, and Soloist Ashley Hod. The company's Education department has been hosting adult movement workshops since 2014, taught by current and former dancers—an opportunity Claire calls "a real life-giving experience." Structured similarly to a standard company class, the workshops usually consist of a ballet barre and center, followed by learning a few phrases from NYCB's repertory and a holding a brief Q&A. For Ashley, leading these workshops has become a true highlight of each season: "It's not just what I'm giving to these dancers—it's what I'm getting in return. (36:57)
Edited by Gus Reed 
Music:
"Je ne t'aime plus" by Pink Martini
Courtesy of Pink Martini & Heinz Records

We're back around The Rosin Box, with Soloist Aarón Sanz pulling double hosting duty this episode. He's joined by Principal Dancer Chun Wai Chan for a conversation on the singular experience of joining an American ballet company as an international dancer. Chan, who is originally from China, and Sanz, who came to America by way of Spain, discuss navigating homesickness, the things that surprised them most about NYCB, and how, sometimes, "knowing a little less allows you to be more comfortable—which is often what you need." (44:23)
Edited by Emilie Silvestri
Music:
"Je ne t'aime plus" by Pink Martini
Courtesy of Pink Martini & Heinz Records

Host Silas Farley is back with another fascinating Hear the Dance conversation, joined this week by Kay Mazzo, Christine Redpath, and Jean-Pierre Frohlich to discuss Jerome Robbins' masterpiece Dances at a Gathering. In this wide-ranging and intimate conversation, they share memories of the ballet's momentous 1969 premiere as well as time spent with Robbins in the rehearsal studio. As they discuss the various sections of Dances, they reflect on moments when Robbins' humor emerges; the "freedom" and even suspense of certain passages; and the ways in which the ballet is a gift from the choreographer as much to the dancers, who share in its rich sense of community, as to the audience. (1:09:57)
Written by Silas Farley
Edited by Emilie Silvestri
Music: 
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major (1931) by Igor Stravinsky
Mazurka, op. 63, no. 3; Waltz, op. 69, no. 2; Mazurka, op. 33, no. 3; Mazurkas, op. 6, nos. 2 and 4, op. 7, nos. 4 and 5, op. 24, no. 2; Waltz, op. 24; Waltz, op. 34, no. 2; Mazurka, op. 56, no. 2; Etude, op. 25, no. 4; Waltz, op. 34, no. 1; Waltz, op. 70, no. 2; Etude, op. 25, no. 5; Etude, op. 10, no. 2; Scherzo, op. 20, no. 1; Nocturne, op. 15, no. 1

All music performed by New York City Ballet Orchestra
Reading List:
Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins by Amanda Vaill
Jerome Robbins, by Himself: Selections from His Letters, Journals, Drawings, Photographs, and an Unfinished Memoir Edited and with Commentary by Amanda Vaill
Life of Chopin by Franz Liszt
Chopin: Prince of the Romantics by Adam Zamoyski
Thirty Years: Lincoln Kirstein's The New York City Ballet by Lincoln Kirstein
Repertory in Review: 40 Years of the New York City Ballet by Nancy Reynolds, with an Introduction by Lincoln Kirstein