Diamond in the Rough - Diamond Project, New York City Ballet Company - Brief Article

Dance Magazine, Oct, 2002 by Harris Green

As for the DP revivals, reencountering those was like meeting fellow graduates at your high school reunion: There were so few of them you ever wanted to see again. The DP Class of '97 was exceptionally varied. Angelin Preljocaj's La Stravaganza reminded us how fortunate NYCB is to have so little Eurotrash in its repertoire. However, Robert La Fosse's Concerto in Five Movements, while overpopulated and proudly indebted to Balanchine-Stravinsky collaborations, often did well by Prokofiev's rarely heard Concerto No. 5 in G Major for Piano and Orchestra. Your reaction to Christopher d'Amboise's Circle of Fifths depends on your tolerance for Philip Glass's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. D'Amboise often found worthy equivalents for its pulsating reiteration, unlike Helgi Tomasson, whose Prism (2000) was an arid manipulation of neoclassical cliches arrogantly imposed on Beethoven's Concerto No. 1 in C Major for Piano and Orchestra.

After these dreary assignments, NYCB dancers returned to their great repertoire with extra zest and dedication. With Whelan and Soto or Maria Kowroski and Evans performing its pas de deux, Balanchine's 1957 Agon looked like the boldest twenty-first-century work of the season.