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From Rags to Riches, and a Swamp; the Royal Ballet's "Manon"

"Manon"
The Royal Ballet
Opera House
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
June 23, 2009

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2009 by Alexandra Tomalonis

 If the Royal Ballet has a signature work these days, it surely must be "Manon," MacMillan's 18th century retelling of the greedy courtesan who must choose between love and riches, and makes all the right choices at the wrong times. The staging is by the company's director, Monica Mason, and exhibits an admirable attention to detail. The company obviously still believes in the ballet, which is beloved by many fans. I'm one of those who thinks, at best, it would be a good one-act ballet. It has some very nice pas de deux and a lot of filler, but the opening cast -- Tamara Rojo as Manon and Carlos Acosta as Des Grieux, the young student who loves her -- danced with such passion and commitment that they transcended the filler.

Identity Matters

"Chroma," "A Month in the Country," "DGV: Danse a Grand Vitesse"
The Royal Ballet
Opera House
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
June 23, 2009

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2009 by Alexandra Tomalonis

The Royal Ballet is becoming an almost-frequent visitor again (another gift of Michael Kaiser's direction), but even though we're seeing them once every two years or so, it's hard to take the company's measure on the basis of two programs danced in a single week. The company opened this time with a curious triple bill, two nearly-new pieces and one masterpiece that should be a company treasure. The two new works, to rather similar highly percussive scores, made Ashton's "A Month in the Country" seem an uneasy companion rather than a ballet that should show the company at its best, and made me wonder who is the Royal Ballet today?

Pirates, Flowers and Dancing Girls

"Le Corsaire"
Bolshoi Ballet
Opera House
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
June 17, 2009

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2009 by Alexandra Tomalonis

 Like many of the few surviving 19th century ballets, "Le Corsaire" has had many lives. Inspired by a poem by Byron, born in France (1856) as a vehicle for Carolina Rosati with choreography by Joseph Mazilier and a score by Adolphe Adam, "Le Corsaire made its way to St. Petersburg shortly thereafter, where first Jules Perrot, then Marius Petipa, staged several versions. The production that the Bolshoi Ballet is presenting this week is based on Petipa's last version, from 1899. The sets (by Boris Kaminsky) and costumes (by Yelena Zaitseva), are based on the 1899 designs, and are gorgeous. The corsairs (pirates) are dressed in Greek costumes -- white shirts and skirts over dark red trousers and boots; the women's dresses in the character dances are not only beautifully designed but have flow, and their tutus, especially in the Jardin Animé scene, manage to look old-fashioned without being fussy, and eminently danceable. It's a beautiful production, and the company dances it with a zest and confidence that makes you love them.

3 Epitaphs

"De Suenos (of dreams)", "De Suenos Que Se Repiten (of recurring dreams)" and "Beloved Renegade"
Paul Taylor Dance Company
Eisenhower Theater
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
March 27, 2009

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2009 by Alexandra Tomalonis

Paul Taylor's latest masterpiece, the most recent in a very long line of masterpieces, is "Beloved Renegade," set to Poulenc's requiem, "Gloria" (the same score Kenneth MacMillan used for his ballet of that name). Taylor has choreographed requiems before, and this one reminded me of past dances, especially "Esplanade" and "Roses." I've always seen "Esplanade" as Taylor's farewell to his own career as a dancer; "Roses" was dedicated to Edwin Denby, then recently deceased; and "Beloved Renegade" was commissioned to the memory of James Harper Marshall by his wife and daughter.

Drama Wanted

"Allegro Brillante," "Flames of Paris pas de deux," "Pillar of Fire," "Brief Fling"
American Ballet Theatre
Opera House
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
February 17, 2009

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2009 by Alexandra Tomalonis

2008 is Antony Tudor's Bicentennial year, and while several companies have scheduled performances of Tudor balets, there's no major retrospective of his work, no chance to put it in context, to be dazzled by the variety of the ballets, to, perhaps, see some of the ballets long out of repertory that could be brought back. If any company could have been expected to host such a celebration, it would have been American Ballet Theatre, the company for whom Tudor made so many fine ballets, and which basked for so long in his reputation. Alas, there's no Festival, nothing like the celebrations for Ashton or Balanchine of 2004, but ABT did include a Tudor work on its opening program: "Pillar of Fire."

Washington Ballet's "La Sylphide"

"La Sylphide"/"Celts"
The Washington Ballet
Eisenhower Theater
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
February 12, 2009

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2009 by Alexandra Tomalonis

The Sylph has proved to be one of the most durable of Romantic ballet heroines, as well as the most elusive. Who would have predicted in 1836, the year August Bournonville choreographed his version of the ballet that had rocked Paris four years earlier, that "La Sylphide" would be flying in  Washington in 2009, and that the Washington Ballet, a company that has specialized in contemporary choreography, would capture so much of the ballet's atmosphere? One thing that probably linked last Thursday's opening night with the first performance in Copenhagen so long ago was the audience's reaction to its first sight of the sylphs in the second act: it gasped. All of those beautiful women dancing together in the moonlight bewitched audiences then and still bewitches them today.

Isn't it Romantic?

"Giselle"
The San Francisco Ballet
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington DC
November 29, 2008 evening and 30th matinée, 2008

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2008 by Alexandra Tomalonis

There was some very fine dancing this weekend in the San Francisco Ballet's uneven and un-Romantic production of "Giselle." Yuan-Yuan Tan (Giselle on Saturday night) was ghost-thin, but amazingly strong, and her beautifully phrased, light-as-air dancing was a metaphor for Giselle's love and constancy. Vanessa Zahorian was especially strong in the first act, a believable peasant girl whose youth and innocence made what happened to her even more tragic. (Tan was a ballerina throughout, a stranger in her own village, which can work in "Giselle"). Neither Albrecht (Tiit Helimets with Tan and David Karapetyan with Zahorian) were particularly Romantic, and that is a problem with this production generally. There's little Romantic about it -- no passion, no fascination with the supernatural, no stench of death. It's an odd juxtaposition of neat and tidy dancing (in some instances; in others there are joyously delivered circus tricks), several exceptionally well-staged mime scenes and much attention to detail, but so many idiosyncratic notions that the production is choppy and the drama is often obscured.

Triple Play

"The Four Temperaments," "Joyride," "Within the Golden Hour"
San Francisco Ballet
Opera House
J.F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
November 25, 2008

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2008 by Alexandra Tomalonis

San Francisco Ballet doesn't play Washington very often, and that's a pity. It's the nation's oldest ballet company (75 years and counting), but under the direction of Helgi Tomasson, it's developed a very young, contemporary profile without disregarding or compromising its classical values. Tomasson has been at least as successful at encouraging, and acquiring, watchable new choreography as anyone; he's a master a developing and casting dancers; and he knows how to program. Tuesday night's well-attended opening was a mix of one 20th century masterpiece and two works by major contemporary choreographers new last year.

Private Domains

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet
Eisenhower Theatre
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
Liebeslieder Walzer, Ragtime and Episodes
October 9, 2008 and
The Balanchine Couple
October 10, 2008

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2008 by Alexandra Tomalonis

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet's short Kennedy Center seasons always show how sophisticated and pleasurable ballet can be. This year, the first program (which I caught at its second outing) paired two of George Balanchine's most astonishing ballets — the sumptuous Liebeslieder Walzer, set to the Brahms waltz cycles of the same name, and the astringent Episodes, set to the music of Anton Webern — and the second presented nine excerpted pas de deux that showed his range. (Ragtime, a pleasant bagatelle to Stravinsky, shared the bill with Liebeslieder and Episodes.)

Ballet Across America

Ballet Across America
performances by Ballet West, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet
The Joffrey Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre,
Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, The Washington Ballet
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
June 10-15, 2008

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2008 by Alexandra Tomalonis

Eight years ago, the Kennedy Center's Balanchine Celebration presented a variety of American ballet companies dancing Balanchine's ballets in a variety of accents, though all true to the works' spirit and style. There was a wonderful potluck supper feel to the festival -- companies brought whatever they had in repertory that season, and served up a feast. One came away from the week feeling not only that Balanchine was in good hands and feet, but also that the neoclassical ballets he had planted in the American soil had taken root. This week, the Center has been presenting a different kind of festival, again a range of American companies, this time a wide variety of ballets. It's not only a wonderful opportunity to see nine companies in a single week, but to ask the question, what is American ballet in 2008?