Arka Ballet
American Dance Institute
Rockville, Maryland
June 20, 2009
by George Jackson
copyright 2009 by GJ
With a behemoth, the Bolshoi Ballet, in town could a small classical company performing in a modest studio theater make a dent? Arka's impact was due to its dancers' interest in exploring styles and cultures, and its director's choice of apt repertory. Distinctions between different types of ballet dancing (Royal Danish, Maryinsky, International Romantic) were conveyed with care. The nuances of love in contrasting societies (old Oriental, genteel European, modern Latino) were addressed seriously. Worthwhile and varied fare well prepared was what the audiences attending this 10th anniversary Arka program saw.
Four ballerinas in romantic guise have to establish their individuality in the "Pas de Quatre", a divertissement based on Jules Perrot's famous one of 1864. On this occasion, Diana Albrecht caught the historic Lucille Grahn's determination in a set of clearly sprung, cleanly crossed and spatially contained entrechats. The tall Sona Kharatian, as Carlotta Grisi, portioned her steps on a generous scale and Rui Huang, as Fanny Cerrito, swept through her variation with lovely impetuosity. Elizabeth Gaither - cast as Marie Taglioni, the foremost among these famous equals of the Romantic era's ballet - floated effortlessly into air. On the ground, Gaither's Taglioni seemed a shade too condescending towards her colleagues: less humor is more in so delicate a work. In all, the four dancers' balance between displaying their own distinct qualities and the ones they share looked right.
The trio from the Maryinsky version of "The Fairy Doll" requires discretion and balance too, otherwise this 1903 confection becomes too cute. Jade Payette danced the Legat brothers' prancing steps for a doll-like Columbine with such freshness and precision that there wasn't any danger of overdosing on the merely pretty. Her two Pierrot suitors, Corey Landolt and Tyler Savoie, adroitly juggled being both vigorous and pathetic.
The program's oldest item, the 1858 "Flower Festival at Genzano" duo by Denmark's Auguste Bournonville, was its simplest in some respects but should make viewers want to dance. Morgann Frederick and Jonathan Jordan certainly tickled this viewer's urge to traipse along. Jordan, especially, is suited for Bournonville bounce and bravura.
The duo Mikhail Fokine added to "Scheherezade", his oriental hit of 1910, isn't theatrical in the formal sense. Without sections or variety it is an undiluted stream of sensuality. It must, though, possess a pulse, and Sona Kharatian and Luis Torres immersed themselves totally in keeping it going. They had intensity and never once doubted their own lovemaking. Still, "Scheherezade" eluded us as it usually does these days. Perhaps it should have been danced right before the program's other direct comment on human sexuality - "La Revancha del Tango" by company director Roudolf Kharatian.
"Tango" is a real ballet, not an exercise in fusion. It takes the attractions and tensions between the sexes, states them in the combative "tango" way but goes on to develop, vary and resolve them balletically. Its 4 men* and 6 women encounter each other in different combinations. Structurally, there are comings and goings akin to those in "Dances at a Gathering" but temperamentally the people of "Tango" differ from the ones of Jerome Robbins' communal group. In addition, Roudolf Kharatian shows us the effects of time on relationships. The dancing that triggers this ballet differs from that done late in its course. The action moves irrevocably towards midnight. Perhaps, by analogy, the late hour also represents age. Clearly shaped, "Tango" is nevertheless a deeply layered work.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
* A brief cameo appearance by the choreographer actually makes the total number of men in "Tango" five. All 10 of the regular Arka dancers appear with The Washington Ballet. Jonathan Jordan is Roudolf Kharatian's directorial associate and Laura Urgelles (also a Washington Ballet dancer) is ballet mistress.
