The city is disgusting--humid and smelly and 90 degrees. The City Ballet, however, provides a cool retreat. Last night I was treated to Benjamin dancing with Alexandra Ansanelli in Balanchine's thrilling Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux. They were so youthful, so beautiful, so right on the edge of almost too much energy--the audience went bonkers for them.

Other highlights from last night:
1. a near-perfect corps girl hopping on point (en pointe ?) in Raymonda Variations
2. the most sublime arrangement of corps dancers in the history of ballet in Movemements for Piano and Orchestra--like fine sculpture!
3. Sebastian Marcovici and his gigantic wingspan moving with speed and grace in Movements
4. two fantastic on-stage falls--all messy and embarrassing: one in Raymonda and one in Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3. And rather than distracting from what were otherwise very fine performances, these spills added a few seconds of additional excitement, and served to remind the audience how near-impossible it is to do what these great artists do.

Tonight? More ballet! And hopefully some rain to clean out the air. No one is sleeping well in this weather, and the whole city feels like it's itching to sock someone right in the kisser. I hope it's not me.