Great food, great dance

I was in NYC for a short business trip and was able to squeeze in a night at NYCB. I hadn't made any dinner plans, figuring I'd just find some place cheap and close to Lincoln Center. Before heading up there, I checked Google Maps for what was in the area. I noticed the Jean Georges restaurant has a bar area and that Bar Boulud is across the street. I walked up to the area, stopped first at the Jean Georges, found they were full, walked up to Bar Boulud, they had a table right at the front in the traffic path but that didn't bother me. The wait staff was wonderful, very attentive which is always nice when you are dining alone. I planned to order the boudin blanc (I read great reviews about it) and the waiter suggested a viognier to go with it. Amazingly, they presented the bottle to me, let me taste a bit of it before pouring the glass. I've never had that kind of presentation of wine ordered by the glass (and a tasty glass of wine it was). The boudin blanc was amazing, tender, moist, soft, it was beyond just a sausage. The sauce it came with was rich and delicious. I ordered a vegetable jardiniere as a side, and the only misstep by the restaurant was that the vegetables I expected were not in the dish. I ended up going ahead and eating the veggies because the boudin sauce made them taste okay. For dessert I had the Figaccio, fig ice cream with speculoos crumbs (a type of Belgian biscuit) with fig sauce. Unbelievably delicious, I finished the whole thing. I even had some entertainment during dinner, listening to the conversation occurring at the next table. I left the restaurant with a silly grin on my face, ready to watch some great dance.

The program at NYCB started with Square Dance by Balanchine, well danced by Ashley Bouder with a young corps dancer, Taylor Stanley, partnering her. This was a great piece, lots of Balanchine's wonderful patterning, strong dancing to beautiful baroque music. The second piece was In Memory Of by Robbins to music by Alban Berg. Before the dancing started, the orchestra pit raised up and the conductor gave a brief lecture, with musical examples, of the structure of the music and the way the story is reflected in the music. It was so great to have had that information prior to watching the dancing. It added a lot to my understanding of what was being conveyed, but mostly I was focused on the dancing because we had Wendy Whelan in the lead role. I love her dancing, it always feels like she's not doing choreography, but rather that the movements are just coming out of her. And then on top of it, to have her dancing Robbins' choreography, whose style is very naturalistic was amazing.

The final piece was West Side Story Suite, which Robbins adapted from his choreography for the musical and movie. What a wonderful piece! The steps are not technically challenging, but I loved seeing dancers doing them, rather than show folk. And the piece included singing (by singers off stage) as well as the dancers shouting, snapping, clapping. It was a wonderful way to end a difficult trip and was truly inspiring.