American Ballet Theatre's "Cinderella"
It's the Shoes
by Lisa Rinehart
Choreographer James Kudelka is down with what every fashion savvy gal already knows — it's all about the shoes. His barefoot Cinderella rattles about despondently in a super-sized suburban kitchen until fortune provides a pair of sparkling pointe shoes that would make Manolo Blanik salivate. It's a pleasing conceit for a ballet — pointe shoes as a sign of inner refinement and womanhood, at least for Cinderella. For her status hungry stepsisters and the rest of their social set, however, pointe shoes are a necessary trapping of social class — even if they wear them like construction workers. Kudelka exploits both possibilities with glee. Cinderella moves from childish barefoot abandon to conventional grace en pointe, but is most poignant galumphing gingerly with one shoe on and one shoe off. She literally has a foot in each world and is all the more miserable for it. Meanwhile, the stepsisters (danced, thankfully, by women and not men in drag) hunker into their shoes like diving hawks grabbing at mice and cavort through the most inventive and funny choreography of the ballet. They almost never come off pointe, but are hopelessly crass to the end, illustrating another truism that inner beauty is never about the best shoes at the party. READ MORE
Gods, puppets and a jokester
by Mary Cargill
“All-Star Stravinsky” is the title of ABT’s evening of short ballets, presumably designed to entice a triple-bill-shy audience into thinking it will see an assembly of star dancers. It may have been a gimmick, but it was also accurate. The evening opened with “Apollo”, with the new principal David Hallberg, with Veronika Part (Terpsichore), Michele Wiles (Polyhymnia), and Stella Abrera (Calliope) as his muses. Hallberg is a blond god of a dancer with a classic physique, which ironically, works against Balanchine’s choreography; many people, including another blond god, Peter Martins, have said that Balanchine saw his Apollo as a demi-caractère role. But great parts can thrive on many different approaches, and Hallberg gave a very good performance. READ MORE
Thank you, Madam
by John Percival
Has there ever before been a programme at Covent Garden presenting four different companies on one evening? That’s what just happened at the Opera House’s Linbury Studio as part of the Royal Ballet’s 75th anniversary celebrations. Under the title “In Good Company” it showed dancers from the resident company plus Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Australian Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada — all companies owing their existence to Ninette de Valois. And in view of the importance she laid on creativity, they all showed new work. Moreover, a week later there were performances with the title “35 Degrees East” by dancers from Istanbul and Ankara — two further companies arising from Madam’s foundation of a ballet school in Turkey. READ MORE