American Ballet Theatre
Opera House
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
January 26 and 27, 2010
by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2010 by Alexandra Tomalonis
On January 11, 1940, Ballet Theatre danced its first performance. Its week-long Kennedy Center appearance, then, was a few days past its 70th birthday, a notable achievement (and the company was looking quite young and strong). ABT didn't make much of the birthday, but I think a toast is in order, and a thank you for performing at the Kennedy Center so consistently, and for bringing such an interesting and substantive triple bill: Frederick Ashton's celebration for his company's birthday (its 25th), a rich new work by resident choreographer Alexander Ratmansky, and Twyla Tharp's "The Brahms-Haydn Variations," which, if not on the same level as the other two works, is a good company showpiece.
Starting its second 70 years with Alexei Ratmansky making work regularly for the company is the best possible birthday present. Ratmansky is one of the most exciting choreographers to emerge in years; it's no longer possible to say that no one makes good classical ballets any more. After years of near-stepless works whose basic vocabulary is: bourree, arabesque, kick, roll to the ground; and duets that are more suited to pipe cleaners than bodies with hearts and souls, Ratmansky's use of petit allegro, pliant backs, and lifts that are expressive as well as inventive, is food for the starved eye.Both nights, there were a few moments when there was absolute silence in the opera house; viewers were gripped by what they saw on stage, as though they were watching a drama, and needed to see what would happen next.
"Seven Sonatas" is is for three couples dressed in white (on opening night, Stella Abrera and Gennadi Saveliev; Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo; Julie Kent and David Hallberg; on Wednesday, Yiriko Kaiya and Carlos Lopez; Sarah Lane and Joseph Phillips; Hee Seo and Jared Matthews). It is not a masterpiece, but it is the work of a master. Ballet is Ratmansky's native language, and he speaks it fluently and comfortably. If "Seven Sonatas" is a bit too long, better a few too many ideas than the opposite, and the way Ratmansky uses his dancers -- as individuals, bringing out the best in them and challenging them without turning the ballet into a competition -- more than makes up for it. I've never seen some of these dancers look so mature, so relaxed, and so appealing.
The music (seven sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, here played by pianist Barbara Bilach) is quite gentle, and the choreography catches that gentleness; the dancers often seem to be wafted across the stage by a spring breeze. Ratmansky is in well-tilled soil here; young people in love dancing to piano music, but he makes it seem fresh and new. The solos, pas de deux and pas de trois are sometimes playful, sometimes companionable, but there's nothing trite about any of it, and the choreography shows the depth of these relationships as well as the teasing. I saw more in it the second night than I had in the first (when was the last time one could say that about a new ballet?) and after a few more viewings, the multiplicity of ideas might well settle down, too.
Mr. Ratmansky has choreographed quite a few full-length ballets, I believe. Perhaps we'll have a chance to see them some day?
Frederick Ashton's "Birthday Offering" (to selections from Glazunov's "Concert Waltz No. 1" and "The Seasons," staged for ABT by Christopher Carr) is also about sevens; here, seven ballerinas and their cavaliers. The work was intended to display the strength of the Royal Ballet at 25. It showed not only that the company had leading dancers who could stand with the best anywhere, but, just as importantly, that it had a distinctive company style and School. Ashton's neoclassical style, with its speed (quick footwork, changes of directions, swirling arms) its epaulement, its sense of nonchalant grandeur is hard to dance naturally for those not brought up in the style, which these days includes just about everybody, though the Royal Ballet School did a wonderful job with it at the Kennedy Center's first Proteges festival a few years ago.
ABT acquired "Birthday Offering" about 20 years ago and danced it very well, as I recall. This time, badly mis- or undercast, the results were less felicitous. The men, especially, were not only very ragged on opening night, but ABT's once plain vanilla, but recognizably classical, style has become so relaxed, as though an audience might be offended by turnout and clean finishes, that they looked like new recruits rather than cavaliers (an exception was Danil Simkin, whose grace and elegance stood out Wednesday). Many of the women were corps de ballet dancers with little experience dancing solos, much less big ballerina roles. There's been an "anyone can do the steps so anyone can dance the solos" attitude at many companies the past few years, but these dancers were not up to the solos either technically or stylistically. (Here, the exception was Hee Seo in the luscious legato third solo opening night.)
The ballerina role, made for Margot Fonteyn, should crown the ballet; she's the first among almost equals. Gillian Murphy was quite lovely in the ballet's opening, but danced her solo with a steely power and total lack of vulnerability, yet without dominating the stage. Stella Abrera fared better Wednesday. She's become a much stronger dancer than she was a few seasons back, yet she's retained her softness. She didn't quite crown the work, but she did not deflate it. "Birthday" needs work; right now, it shows that the Royal achieved more in 25 years than ABT has in 70. Despite this, the ballet still stood up as a great piece of choreography, and I was very glad to see it again.
Tharp's "The Brahms-Haydn Variations" was cast with the company's stars, but in this ballet, it really doesn't matter, as the roles aren't characterized either dramatically or choreographically. The ballet looks like an exercise -- all flailing arms and legs, basic ballet steps with shaking shoulders and shimmies tacked on. The ballet is only ten years old, but, especially following the Ratmansky, it looks very dated now. None of this is the dancers' fault, of course, and they performed it magnificently.
Photos, all by Gene Schiavone, from top:"Brahms-Haydn Variations" Gillian Murphy, Jose Manuel Carreno
"Seven Sonatas" Stella Abrera, Gennadi Saveliev
"Birthday Offering" Gillian Murphy, Eric Tamm
Photo Credit © gene schiavone
