Erik Bruhn Prize - Luis Cardador Meinertz

Seventh International Competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize
The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
March 3, 2007

by Luis Cardador Meinertz
copyright ©2007, Luis Cardador Meinertz

On Saturday 3 March, the competition the late Danish danseur noble Erik Bruhn posthumously endowed to encourage promising young dancers returned to Toronto after a five-year hiatus. The competition is restricted to the four companies which Bruhn, who died while he was serving as Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada, felt most closely associated with, although neither the Swedish Ballet nor the New York City Ballet (companies in which he danced or directed) are represented. The National Ballet of Canada, The Royal Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet and American Ballet Theatre sent one male and one female dancer each.

Prompted by the death, a week earlier, of its founder Celia Franca, the National Ballet of Canada decided to replace the introductory Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture” with “Nimrod”, from Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” and Joan Tower’s “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman”, an elegy for women “who take risks and who are adventurous”, a work inspired by Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man”.

As it happens, we were acquainted fairly soon with the dangers of taking too many risks when NBC’s Keiichi Hirano, perhaps emboldened by the reception of an extremely enthusiastic home audience, snapped his Achilles tendon after a few far-stretched spins in the coda from "Le Corsaire". Rushed off the stage, his partner Tina Pereira, in what seems to have been the decisive moment of the night braved the rest of the Pas de Deux alone, off her music, improvising dazzling and emotional fouettées to a standing and cheering audience. Decisive because Pereira would end up going home with the coveted Erik Bruhn Prize for best female dancer, yet leaving some wondering whether this was a reward for sportsmanship or artistry.

Before disaster struck, we had been treated to an inspired rendering of the Royal Ballet’s "Bluebird" pas de deux from "The Sleeping Beauty." Yuhui Choe, who is no stranger to awards, treated the full-packed house with a flawless performance, carrying it with beautiful poise and shapes. Her partner, Colombian-born and Cuban-trained Montano, gave away the clarity of his education with his neat, classical feet and leg work, even though in his jumps he looked a bit nailed to the ground. Both dancers proved to be extremely well-rehearsed and some of the credit, I infer, should be attributed to whoever worked with them back in London.

From the moment ABT¹s Misty Copeland and Jared Matthews entered the stage, a strong whiff of Americana pervaded the auditorium, orchestra included. The Grand Pas de Deux from "The Sleeping Beauty" resembled more “Annie get your Gun” than Tchaikovsky. Matthews cut a handsome, all-American prince, while Copeland worked the piece like a sharpshooter. Even though their dancing was rakish and not very clean, Matthews did display some superb musicality in the coda.

The Danish Ballet couple ended the first half with the Pas de Deux from "Flower Festival in Genzano." Ulrik Birkkjær displayed some neat steps and beats and wore a warm, captivating smile. His landings may not have been spotless, but in all fairness, is there anyone out there who can perform these tricky, disciplined steps and hard landings perfectly? Birkkjaer’s stage presence and mature character portrayal must have played favourably on his performance, landing him the best male dancer prize. Yao Wei’s rendering was dispatched with astounding technique, effortless assurance and some beautiful lines, but once again the intricate footsteps so typical of Bournonville, and to which I am very partial, appeared duller. In addition, and meaning no offence to the world’s brunettes, I would risk saying this role only seems right on a plumper blond ingénue, and, if I may, a Dane.

In the second part, reserved for the contemporary programme, the Royal Ballet couple executed the Balcony Pas de Deux from Kenneth MacMillan’s "Romeo and Juliet," once again with postage-stamp perfection; but could someone please explain to me precisely who is Romeo according to MacMillan?

Keiichi’s injury meant that Sabrina Matthew’s new work “Veer” would not receive its world premiere as planned, leaving Pereira to deal with John Cranko’s version of Romeo’s Balcony Pas de Deux. This only served to highlight the flaws in the MacMillan version, something that may have played unfavourably on the Royal Ballet’s couple. Principal Guillaume Côté literally stepped into the lead role (leaving his seat in the auditorium to borrow Montana’s shirt), setting the genders right once again and snapping the beefcake award (with a passionate and sensual Romeo), to which Pereira responded aptly, thus bringing the house down for a second time.

As for the ABT couple, they returned in the second half to dance an excerpt from Jiri Kylian’s “Petite Mort”. Neither looked very comfortable in their waist-shaping panties and I could not figure out whether or not that was in any way due to the technical difficulty or complexity of the work. The truth is I did not care much. I wished I could be more sympathetic to the dancers, but faced with such beautiful music (Mozart’s Piano Concert n.21), one might as well keep one’s eyes shut, concentrate on what’s coming from the pit and forget about the horror being unleashed on stage. As an aide, the programme described Kylian’s work created for the Salzburg Festival on the second centenary of Mozart’s death in 1991 as literally meaning “small death” and serving “as a paraphrase for orgasm in French and Arabic”. Having failed to found anything remotely orgasmic in this piece, I suspect neither French nor Arabs are having as much fun as the rest of us.

The Danes stamped their foot firm on the ground with the world premiere of “Opus”, by Copenhagen-based choreographer Tim Rushton. Accompanied by a piano on stage, both dancers executed crystal-clear steps, with Birkkjaer taking off his Bournonville skin suit with ease and launching himself into this modern work assuming a totally new persona. Yao Wei floated through this simple, sweet and unambiguous choreography with exquisite extensions, charm and technical finesse.

For those who do not fancy postage-stamp, clean dancing, NBC’s Tina Pereira fits the bill. She displayed natural warmth and projected a slightly more realistic and individual interpretation than any of the other dancers. That, and her courage before adversity might have been the key to her success, and for me the most plausible explanation I can come up with to justify both her’s and Ulrik Birkkjaer’s award grabbing, when, to my mind, RB’s Choe and RDB’s Wei were the most accomplished dancers.

The competition ended abruptly with yet another standing ovation from the ecstatic home crowd, allowing us a quick send-off to the gelid Toronto night, warmed nonetheless by the friendliness and candidness of the Canadians. I left the Four Seasons Centre, though, wondering what Erik Bruhn would have thought of the whole spectacle…

Editor's note: Luis Cardador Meinertz is a London-based news and current affairs journalist who works as a presenter and producer for the BBC World Service

Photo on front page: Ulik Birkkjaer and Tina Pereira at the competiition. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann/National Ballet of Canada.

Participants:

Royal Ballet
- Yuhui Choe
- Fernando Montano

ABT
- Misty Copeland
- Jared Matthews

NBC
- Tina Pereira (winner of best female dancer)
- Keiichi Hirano

Royal Danish Ballet
- Yao Wei
- Ulrik Birkkjaer (winner of best male dancer)

Classical repertoire

RB - Bluebrd Pas de Deux from the Sleeping Beauty
NBC - Grand Pas de Deux from SB
NBC - Pas de Deux from Le Corsaire
RDB - Pas de Deux from Flower Festival in Genzano

Contemporary Repertoire

RB - Balcony Scene from MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet
NBC - Balcony Scene from John Cranko's RB
ABT - Jiri Kylian's Petit Mort
RDB - Tim Rushton's Opus

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