Useful

Stars of the 21st Century – International Ballet Gala
New York State Theater, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
New York, NY
February 11, 2008

by George Jackson
copyright 2008 by George Jackson

Utilitarian, little pomp and circumstance, no orchestra: the Tencer gala’s true function is to display dancers New York hasn’t seen enough of or not at all. Coming on the heels of New York City Ballet’s festive and familial “farewell and future tidings” fete for Nikolai Huebbe, the down to business aspect of the program assembled by Nadia Veselova Tencer was palpable on this, its 15th anniversary. We saw 13 dancers in 13 pieces plus a stage-crossing finale. The occasion’s discovery was Daniil Simkin, a 20 year old currently in the Ballet of the Vienna Staatsoper and Vienna Volksoper but the product of Soviet training via his parents, Dmitrij Simkin and Olga Aleksandrova.

Looking boyish still, Simkin’s bravura stems from an airy technique and a light-boned, smooth-muscled physique. With Puckish charm he carried off two overly cute solos, his father’s “Moore Hen” which calls for him to lay an egg (supposedly to Mussorgsky music) and Ben Van Cauwenbergh’s “Les Bourgeois” in which he swaggers and smokes accompanied by a Jacques Brel song. What really put Simkin over was the “Don Quixote” pas de deux with Roberta Marquez. He had the clean classical elegance and full range of standard steps for this “Petipa” showpiece plus the ample strength to add extra turns on the ground and twists in the air. Simkin lifted Marquez high and partnered her attentively. She made a much better impression than a few seasons ago with American Ballet Theatre. Has her stint with Britain’s Royal Ballet transformed a tendency to mannerism into temperament and style? Moreover, this time she didn’t wear toe shoes that made her feet look large. Although on the short side, Simkin and Marquez are well proportioned and one noticed their height only in the finale.

The gala had opened with its finest choreography, George Balanchine’s “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux”, performed by dancers very familiar to a New York audience as individuals but not as partners. Both Maria Kowroski (NYCB) and David Hallberg (ABT) are long legged. They clicked as a pair and conveyed a streamlined sense of pride even though Kowroski didn’t bring out the role’s glints of joy and humor. Favorites on previous Tencer galas have been Lucia Lacarra and Cyril Pierre (Munich Ballet), and this time he not only partnered expertly but danced and danced well. They suffused Roland Petit’s “Thais” (Massenet) with sensuality, and made a potent minidrama of the third act duo from John Neumeier’s “Lady of the Camellias” (Chopin).

The Matvienko couple, Anastasia and Denis, flashed in a traditional pas de deux (“Le Corsaire” Petipa/Drigo) and foisted on us a contemporary item (“Radio & Juliet” Edward Clug/Radiohead). He forces more than ever for his quantum effects and she should polish her lovely line at the Maryinsky; currently they dance for the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg. Berlin’s Ronald Savkovik saddled himself and partner Shoko Nakamura with his own choreography - “E Lucevan Le Stelle” (Puccini, sung by tenor Mihail Kotlyarov) and “Transparente” (Portuguese Fado music). The pieces did little to display Savkovic and Nakamura and weren’t sufficiently intriguing as dance. Instead, this pair might have challenged itself and us with something from the Berlin production of Bejart’s “Ring around the Ring” (Wagner).

From the Bolshoi came Nikolai Tsiskaridze and Svetlana Lunkina. He’s looking world weary and a bit fleshy, reminiscent of Serge Lifar in later years. Still, he and Lunkina had suitable plasticity and melancholy, both in the Act 2 duet of “Giselle” and in Petit’s “La Rose Malade” (Mahler). Lunkina (in place of the Paris Opera’s Myriam Ould Brahm) was also a whimsical Sylph (Bournonville/Lovenskjold) for the Royal Ballet’s David Makhateli as James; he danced with more vigor than style.

Next year, let’s have several new talents like Simkin this year!