Posted by Miki Orihara

Last night at Lake Placid Center For The Arts was Nilas Martins and Friends “Stars of Ballet” performance. Program for this performance was:

Valse Fantasie, Edge(World Premier), Tchaikovsky Pas De Duex, Agon Pas De Duex, La Sylphide, and Carrie Okay(World Premier)

My partner Stephen Pier Choreographed “Edge” for Ask La Cour and Sara Mearns. And we found out on Saturday afternoon that Sara is not able to perform that she has very bad hip pain. So Stephen had 2 choices. 1 is to take this piece out , and 2 it to teach to somebody. Well the piece had 3 sections. So.

I suggested that I could dance the first section if somebody could do tthe Pas De Deux section which is defenitely nice with on point, that is NOT possible with me. Saturday night, I learned the section and on Sunday, Megan LeCrone who is dancing Agon Pas De Duex with Nilas stepped in and she learned it. So this piece became a trio!

Nilas, Stephen and Meagan on Tappanzee…

That night we left for Saratoga where NYCB is going to have their 3 week season at Saratoga Performing Center. We took the West side highway and Sawmill ParkWay to Tappanzee bridge. We saw some smoke before getting on the bridge, and when we were on middle of the bridge, the bridge closed! Well everybody waited, nothing was moving, and finally they backed everybody up and we had to make another plan to get Saratoga. We took Taconic Park Way and I-87 and finally got to Saratoga around midnight.

LONG DAY!!!

Next day, was even longer…

We left Saratoga, headed to Lake Placid. It took about 2 hours and 15 mins to get there. It is beautiful there. Air is so clear and actually too cold for summer, and inside the theater is ususally TOO cold for me. Theater has a dance studio. The wall of the studio is painted with famous dance people/episodes. Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Alvin Ailey. They all had residency there in the past. Graham was there last in 1970’s or early 1980’s.

At the theater, we had dress/tech rehearsal. I am the only modern dancer. Some of the dancers do not even know me… I am kind of shy, not able to introduce myself to them. But everybody in Nilas’s group were so nice. On stage, they are great artists and off stage, they are just young people.( Sounds like I am such a old person…but )

So for the perofrmance. It went really well. I was pretty nervous but I had fun! Meagan danced beautifully with such confidence that it is hard to believe that she just learned it the day before. and of course for Ask to deal with these new changes, he is such a nice person to begin with and he was great in it.

After that, I could watch them dance. After intermission, I went out to the audience and watched the second half. Agon Pas de Deux is a beautiful duet. It is so contemporary, even though that ballet is old. Something about Balanchine, it is so slick and stark.

And such a classic La Sylphide was amazingly danced by Joaquin De Luz. His amazing jumping, I felt so sorry since the floor was very hard. but we did not even notice it from his dancing. He was flying!!!

Final dance was the world premier of John Selya and Nilas Martins “Carrie Okay”. this was very sweet and broadway/entertainment piece that the audience loved it. Four guys dressed like stage hands, and Carrie who is a singer dances with them off stage. this was a very sweet short version musical. John and Nilas did a great job!!!

Well then reception and after that we drove 2 hours to North River where it will be my first vacation in 4 years!!! a lot of hiking, fishing and swimming if it is not too cold…