"Rubies", Edwaard Liang's "Wunderland", Septime Webre's "Juanita y Alicia"
The Washington Ballet
Harman Hall
Washington, DC
May 14, 2009
by George Jackson
copyright 2009 by GJ
The surprise in "Rubies", Washington Ballet's latest Balanchine acquisition, was Sona Kharatian in the "tall girl" role. This figure is surrounded by men but hasn't an exclusive partner. At times she's the life of the party. Then, suddenly, she seems solitary and yet isn't at all unhappy being so. The women cast in this part often have made her brazen and definitely the ballet's subsidiary ballerina. Not so Kharatian. She gave the "tall girl" dignity and was commanding rather than demanding. She almost became the prima ballerina of "Rubies" particularly since Maki Onuki didn't project a definite personality in what traditionally has been the starring female role. Sometimes overly cute, sometimes seriously sensual and sometimes blank, Onuki (an admirable Bournonville Sylph earlier in the season) seemed unsuited to the efficiency and ease, the sportiveness and playfulness, the suggestive air and no pretense of this piece of Americana by Balanchine.
As the leading man of "Rubies", Jonathan Jordan was on his way - quick and ready but not yet having enough daredevil fun, especially in the follow-the-leader section with the other guys. Staged by Sandra Jennings and despite coaching by two of this ballet's original leads, Edward Villella and Patricia McBride, "Rubies" needed more sparkle on Thursday night plus a clearer sound for Stravinsky's (recorded) music .
Edwaard Liang's new "Wunderland" is very well made. To match the pulsating perpetuum of string quartet music by Philip Glass, Liang has coined movement that has both a high quotient of articulation (at the limb joints) and seamless molding (in the torso and shoulders). He uses the movement for striking poses and geometric formations but also to engender emotional tension and harmony. The curtain rises on the distaff half of his 10 member cast. The 5 women are on pointe but in deep, wide plie. They look like poised insects, especially when their upper bodies are lowered forward. Initially there's a spread formation, then a cross formation. Basically, though, the cast is used as couples, but not without variations - such as a male solo that is also a trio (Jordan with Corey Landolt and Tamas Krizsa) and a pair of contrasting duos (particularly stirring is the dreamy second one for Elizabeth Gaither and Jared Nelson).
In his choreography, Liang may be borrowing from and acknowledging the New York City Ballet culture in which he was trained. Are there nods to George Balanchine (the pronounced articulation; the emphatic deep plie; the red of the women's sculpted bathing suits if not ruby is at least garnet), Jerome Robbins (the insect imagery of "The Cage") and Christopher Wheeldon (formations such as the cross)? However, in his dramaturgy (the personal way feelings arise within the formal brackets of a dance) Liang seems closer to Canadian choreographer Peter Quanz.
Suddenly, in the second duo of "Wunderland", snow begins to fall onto the stage. The ballet also ends with a snowfall. Was this necessary? I think the dancing itself suffices to change the stagescape into a land of wonder. If anything, the plastic snow was reminiscent of commercial Christmas cards. Liang's cast, though, did not detract. Onuki and Luis R. Torres, Jade Payette and Jordan, Morgann (Rose) Frederick and Landolt, Rui Huang and Krizsa, and Gaither and Nelson looked splendid.
Due to the economy, a new ballet by company director Septime Webre, scheduled for this final Washington Ballet bill of the 2008/9 season, had to be postponed. Instead, Webre's "Juanita y Alicia" was revived. Its assets include live music (popular Cuban fare, performed by the Sin Miedo group) and a fine backdrop (by Holly Highfill, seemingly based on an old family group photo). The family stories the dancing and action don't quite tell remain a tease and the steps sometimes seem arbitrarily joined. Norton Fantinel, dancing cleanly, stood out in the large cast.
