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Slice of Life

Four Voices: "Carousel," "Zakouski," "Agon," and "The Concert"
"Serenade," "Moves," "Symphony in C"
New York City Ballet
Opera House, J.F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
February 29, 2008 and March 2, 2008

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2008 by Alexandra Tomalonis

Sunday matinées in Washington are often the place to see sixth cast Odettes or green young hopefuls, but the New York City Ballet showed us some of its most interesting dancers last Sunday, and several youngsters reinvigorated two of the company's finest works. Its second program Friday night was a snapshot of the current repertory: a Balanchine masterpiece ("Agon"), a Robbins favorite (the ever-funny "The Concert"), and two pleasant, though undistinguished, works by its current resident choreographers, Peter Martins ("Zakouski") and Christopher Wheeldon ("Carousel"). It was a fascinating slice of life of the company: young energy and hope side by side with business as usual.

An Enchanting "Raymonda"

"Raymonda"
"Serenade," "And Waltz," "Duende"
New National Theatre Ballet, Tokyo
Opera House
J. F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
February 16, 2008

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2008 by Alexandra Tomalonis

We haven't seen a full "Raymonda" at the Kennedy Center since the Bolshoi Ballet brought its production in the 1980s, so the New National Theatre Ballet, Tokyo's version would have been welcome even if it hadn't been so enchanting. But enchanting it was, from the beautiful sets and costumes to the company's artistic vision, clearly displayed through the dancing. This is a company that loves ballet. The dancers, the artistic direction, everyone who works with the company seems to share that vision, and one had a sense that the dancers, whether it was the women relishing the exaggerated arm positions of their court dance, or the corps, breathing as one during its big dance in the dream scene, were dancing with pleasure. That the production scrambled the story, that many of the dances were very "after" Petipa, that some of the dancing was more modest than either the Glazunov score or the Imperial Russian tradition requires, didn't matter. The production, and the company's, virtues made such a case for the ballet that it was easy to take the company on its own terms. 

A Mannerist "Beauty"

"The Sleeping Beauty"
American Ballet Theatre
Opera House
J.F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
January 29, 2008

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2008 by Alexandra Tomalonis

The 19th century repertory has been gutted, rethought, psychoanalyzed, and generally ruined (or New! and Improved)! over the past 50 years, but "Sleeping Beauty" has been the last to go. "Beauty" is so tightly constructed that stagers have respected it. Even if they didn't have a clue about its historical precedents (It's an 18th century court ballet with a fairy tale as its pretext, not the story we all thrilled to when we were three) or philosophical underpinnings (harmony, serenity, and destiny, among other things), if the dances are left to speak for themselves, the ballet works. When stagers move in with Concepts and cut anything that stands inconveniently in the way, the ballet breaks. American Ballet Theatre's new version of the ballet would be a failure even if it didn't have childish, garish sets and costumes (watching it, one feels trapped in a gumdrop factory). The company seems to treat the ballet as just some stupid fairy tale — oh, sorry. A lovely old-fashioned classic that children and old people like and that sells tickets so we have to do it. That opening night looked about three rehearsals short of ready for the stage, and the orchestra (conducted by Ormsby Wilkins) plowed through Tchaikovsky's gorgeous score as if it were walking through sludge, made for a dispiriting opening.

Classical Shade

"La Bayadere"
The Kirov Ballet of the Maryinsky Theatre
Opera House
The J.F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
January 21 and January 26 (matinee), 2008

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2008 by Alexandra Tomalonis

The Kirov brought Marius Petipa's oldest extant ballet save one for its yearly visit last week. Unlike other Petipa works, "La Bayadere," created in 1877, still has much of its 19th century glories: processions, character dances and extended mime scenes. The story is complicated, but clearly told: a bayadere (temple dancer) lusted after by her High Priest, loves a handsome young warrior who becomes betrothed to the Rajah's daughter as a reward for killing a tiger. After much eavesdropping, skulking about, and vows of revenge, the daughter (Gamzatti) kills the bayadere (Nikiya) by concealing a poisonous snake in a basket of flowers given to Nikiya as a gift as she dances. Solor, the warrior, then dreams of being reunited with Nikiya in Paradise. Originally there was a last act in which Nikiya came as a guest to the wedding and toppled the temple, destroying all assembled, but that act disappeared in the Soviet era, and the ballet ends with the most exquisite display of classical dancing in the repertory: the Kingdom of the Shades scene, where 32 members of the corps de ballet dance the work's soul (love enduring after death) and shows the purity of one of the world's greatest ballet styles.

The Uses of Enchantment

"The Nutcracker"
American Ballet Theatre
Opera House
J.F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
December 18, 2007

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2007 by Alexandra Tomalonis

For decades, "The Nutcracker" has been a holiday staple in America, beloved of children, their parents, and ballet fans, partly because of the beautiful Tchaikovsky score, partly because it's become a holiday staple, and also because it's enchanting. Much of the magic is in the music, but there's also magic in the party scene (in theory) and its presentation of a perfect world where, for one night a year, everyone is nice to everyone else, and there's magic in the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the power of classical dancing. This is a formula that's worked for 50 years (the ballet was choreographed more than 100 years ago, but didn't become the ballet version of Holiday on Ice until fairly recently), it's how "Nutcracker" is usually advertised — and so, of course, it makes perfect sense that ballet companies have been taking out the magic and reducing "The Nutcracker" to a sallow, nasty little routine.

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet in DC

"Bugaku," "Pas Classique Espagnol," and "Chaconne"
The Suzanne Farrell Ballet
Opera House
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
November 20, 2007

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2007 by Alexandra Tomalonis

Watching George Balanchine's "Bugaku," created more than 40 years ago (1963), one sees not only an exquisite evocation of Toshiro Maysuzumi's spare, serene score, but, especially in the central pas de deux, every step and pose that today's young choreographers use — and overuse — and that are applauded as contemporary inventions. It's all there: the turned-in steps; the limp, squiggly twitches of the leg; the splayed crotch; the coital imagery; and — the most treasured and daring of all — a woman, on point, s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s, planting her other leg on her partner's shoulder and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s some more. The difference, of course, is that Balanchine wasn't trying to be novel for the sake of being novel, but to adapt ballet's vocabulary in a way that matched the music.

Mixed Messages

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet "Mozartiana," “Divertimento Brillante ," “Scene d’amour” from Bejart’s “Romeo et Juliet,” and "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" 
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
June 8, 2007    

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright © 2007 by Alexandra Tomalonis   

Suzanne Farrell is taking the slow, careful road to building a ballet company. Rather than bringing in stars and have them dance whatever they dance, she’s training dancers to support her vision for the troupe, and it’s beginning to pay off. Every year, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet looks more like a company. This year, in “Scotch Symphony,” the corps was much stronger than it’s been on previous outings, and danced cohesively. It's beginning to develop an identity, a School. Couple this with Farrell’s gifts as a stager, her ability to show the outline of a ballet clearly from its first outing (and fill in the details later, if necessary), and an evening at the Suzanne Farrell Ballet is a wonderful way to enjoy sophisticated choreography. The downside is that, until these dancers develop into principals, or Farrell can, or will, use established dancers as part of her ensemble, those details are sometimes marred by underpowered dancing, and that was, unfortunately, often the case this week.