Partisans

“The Nutcracker”
American Ballet Theatre
Opera House
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
December 19, 2007

by George Jackson
copyright 2007 by George Jackson

Light in the firmament: ballet again has a star - a new sort, put there equally by partisans pro and con. The star’s name is Veronika Part and her status was engendered by a controversy that’s purely aesthetic - unlike that which surrounded flamboyant Anastasia Volochkova a couple of seasons ago. Part isn’t a publicity seeker. It is her dancing that divides both the applauding and the writing public. Critics have even called each other blind for failing to register the ballerina’s assets or lack thereof. At this performance of “The Nutcracker”, Part’s Sugar Plum Fairy prompted demonstrative clapping and sharp conversational clashes even with a non-ballet, predominantly holiday audience in the house. 

To be as fair as possible, I’ll state my position on the battlefront. Admiration is not enough for me to fix a dancer in my personal heaven. There has to be something akin to falling in love. I admired Veronika Part when I first noticed her in Balanchine roles with the Kirov Ballet. She had, of course, Vaganova training plus the small doses of additional experience that were being introduced by foreign stagers and by one or two of the company’s own instructors. For me, Balanchine style requires an about-to-be-in-motion readiness even when dancers are at rest. Part had her own, personal approximation of this state. She wasn’t primed to spring forward but neither was her stasis static. Instead, she seemed to pull back for an instant before launching herself into the stream of steps. This gave her dancing a distinctive phrasing. As a body, she was a big girl but not ample yet. Had she even reached full height? As a talent, she was obviously being groomed by her company. 

When next the Kirov brought America its forward-to-the-past Vikharev production of Petipa’s “The Sleeping Beauty”, I fell in love with Veronika Part’s Lilac Fairy. She stepped onto the stage breathing a different air from ours and peering through space that somehow conformed to other dimensions. Yet as a presence from distant times, Part was alive – totally. True, a remarkable job of costuming, coiffure and make-up gave her the appearance of the first Lilac Fairy, Marie Petipa. But it was Part’s personal gift to embody the magic of this role. I did wonder whether her body would suit other repertory because she had gained the weight that gave her gravitas.

When Part left Russia to join ABT, I hoped to see more of her but didn’t for a while. Later, when I did, her body seemed resculptured – it displayed more length and, above all, majestic amplitude. As the Odette and Odile of “Swan Lake”, Part was larger than life. In the minor role of the “Nutcracker” Snow Queen, she was major. Her ability to be present with instant intensity was startling and made others on stage seem insubstantial. 

Part’s Sugar Plum Fairy on this second night of ABT’s “Nutcracker” week in Washington was remarkable despite shortcomings. Motion can have texture and hers was velvet. The line of her dancing and its volume were utterly clear whenever she dealt with comfortable speeds. Not just the predominant steps but transitions, too, were of munificent proportions - which made them musically challenging. Part usually met the challenge. Her first full stretch in a given passage can be as awesome as an organ tone in the silence of a Gothic vault. She prefers slow speeds for turns; the fast ones tend to upset her and some did on this occasion. In stitch-stepping, though, she is delicious whether the pace is rapid or relaxed. Unfortunately ABT’s version of Sugar Plum discards the character’s fairy function of presiding over Act 2. Nevertheless, Part didn’t neglect paying eye attention to her Cavalier.

That danseur was David Hallberg. He is noble, with the supplest of legs and flexible feet for solos, more restraint (perhaps too much) in the upper body, stern features and a helmet of blond hair which contrasts with Part’s brunette coloration. Although tall enough, Hallberg isn’t broad enough for this ballerina and yet he managed until the end. Then, with her sitting on his shoulder, he looked ready to collapse. The final curtain for the Dream Castle scene likely saved us the actual sight.

The other leading couple in ABT’s “Nutcracker” – Clara, the ballet’s heroine, and her dream Prince - will grow up to dance ballroom and not courtly ballet like Sugar Plum and the Cavalier. One sees it already in the rush of balletic steps for this pair of adolescents. Sascha Radetsky’s Prince was forthright (is some of the promise this dancer had when he first joined ABT being realized at last?). Radetsky hasn’t Hallberg’s pliancy below the belt but the legwork is firm and clean. Renata Pavam’s Clara was most plausible as a precocious girl, Juliet-aged ,and Stella Abrera’s Snow Queen had glitter without stealing the forest scene. Gray Davis maintained dignity and refrained from making a comment on his role as the Unicorn. Isaac Stappas, in his see-through harem pants, wasn’t quite as taciturn. Roman Zhurbin dispatched Drosselmeyer’s magic civilly. David LaMarche, the conductor, kept the familiar Tchaikovsky fresh.

Kevin McKenzie’s version of “The Nutcracker”, which ABT maintains, is bashed so often there’s no point in doing it once more. I no longer expect this company of individuals to have uniformities of height, dynamic or style.