A Masterful Ballet Program And Then Some

NEW YORK CITY BALLET. Ballet master in chief, Peter Martins. Program:

George Balanchine's "Divertimento No. 15" (1956), music by Mozart; Martins'

"Valse Triste" (1985), music by Sibelius; Balanchine's "Monumentum Pro

Gesualdo" (1960) and "Movements for Piano and Orchestra" (1963), music by

Stravinsky, and Jerome Robbins' "The Four Seasons" (1979), music by Verdi. Seen

Wednesday at New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, Manhattan. Season runs

through July 1.

GRANTED, IT WAS a jam-packed night of dancing. By the second intermission

on Wednesday, the New York City Ballet had already performed three pieces by

George Balanchine and one by Peter Martins. For some of the audience,

apparently, it was enough. What a pity. If there's a perfect piece for

celebrating the return of City Ballet to the New York State Theater, it may

well be Jerome Robbins' "The Four Seasons."

Of course, the quitters couldn't have felt shortchanged. They had seen

Balanchine's airy "Divertimento No. 15" danced with Mozartean style. They had

seen Martins' hauntingly beautiful "Valse Triste," with Darci Kistler as the

exquisite dreamer in black and Jock Soto as the lover she summons up for a

waltz. They had seen Maria Kowroski and Hel�ne Alexopoulos, respectively, ace

the demanding choreography of Balanchine's "Monumentum Pro Gesualdo" and

"Movements for Piano and Orchestra" with the astute partnering of Charles

Askegard.

But to walk out before "The Four Seasons"! It begins with shivering dancers

in white tutus rubbing their hands together to warm up-and, of course, the

last time we saw the company dance, in February, we were doing the same. They

are shooed off the stage by the green breezes of spring, who in turn make way

for a torrid, yellow summer. To wrap things up-and to send us deliriously into

the night -Robbins gives us a glorious autumnal burst of leaping, turning,

gamboling pyrotechnics.

Did anyone ever have as much fun with ballet as Jerome Robbins did? Using

Giuseppi Verdi's scenario as well as his music, Robbins fashioned a work with

all the swirling capes and lordly tableaux of the grand 19th century pageant

ballets, the sly, genial wit of his great comic ballets and all the bravura

dancing any audience would want. To leave was to give up seeing the fresh charm

of Carrie Lee Riggins as the leader of the "Winter" segment, the thrilling

authority of Jenifer Ringer and Philip Neal in "Spring" and the strong, sexy

performances of Alexopoulos and James Fayette as the hot couple in "Summer."

As for "Fall," the high-flying faun was Benjamin Millepied, milking every

showy jump for maximum audience response and recovering brilliantly from a

scary stumble. And the lead couple, in the flowing, bacchanalian purple

costumes of Santo Loquasto, were Wendy Whelan and Damian Woetzel. Nothing more

need be said. They are simply the best, dancing as well as anyone on the face

of the Earth right now, and their names in the program should be enough to keep

any dance lover in his or her seat for an extra 25 minutes. Or more.