From
Miami, Spunky Balanchine and Villella's The Neighborhood Ballroom
The
Neighborhood Ballroom
and Balanchine
Miami City Ballet
Center for the Arts, George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia
April 24 at 8 PM and April 25, 2004 at 2 PM
by George Jackson
copyright 2004 by George Jackson
published 26 April 2004
Edward Villella's Miami Balanchine is fun, and not quite like Balanchine
by anyone else— not Peter Martins' at New York City Ballet, Francia
Russell's at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Helgi Tomasson's at San Francisco
Ballet, Arthur Mitchell's at Dance Theatre of Harlem, Suzanne Farrell's
at Kennedy Center, or even like Balanchine's own used to be. Differences
are inevitable due to each director's individuality and the natural divergence
of evolving traditions.
That doesn't mean that it doesn't matter how Balanchine ballets are danced
and how Balanchine technique is used. Performances must be interesting
enough so that audiences want to come back for further looks. Also, a
good portion of each ballet's original purpose, something of its essence,
ought to be apparent. Arguable, of course, is what constitutes essence
and what accident. Balanchine made the ballerina role in Ballo della
Regina for a particular dancer, Merrill Ashley. She had specific
attributes. One was height; Ashley looked tall, or at least long legged.
Miami City Ballet cast short Mary Carmen Catoya as the ballerina. How
necessary is height in this instance? Can a short dancer convey the requisite
regality? Are technical challenges different enough for short and tall
dancers so that the entire ballet acquires a different appearance? If
so, might not some short dancers have attributes that will counteract
their handicap?
Miami's Balanchine looks young, younger than Balanchine's own did from
the late 1940s into the early 1980s. It isn't as sophisticated and subtle,
nor as diversified. It is, however, not just fun but also sharp, smart
and honest. First on Sunday afternoon was Ballo della Regina,
a divertissement in the manner of Giuseppe Verdi's day and set to his
music. Miami didn't bring Ballo off as well as the Balanchine
ballets that followed—Stravinsky Violin Concerto and Rubies
(also to a Stravinsky score).
Ballo displays virtuosity in order to exhilarate the audience
and challenge the dancers. Technical bravura is epitomized in the ballerina
role, yet the leading male role has both fireworks and yearning. Textures
such as the mystery of the sea's depths and the pomp of royal ceremonial
surface briefly in the Verdi music and are captured in the choreography.
Catoya's shorter stature didn't register the ballerina's odd, fresh angularity
of body positions optimally. More critical, though, was that she appeared
to be tense, was muscularly tight in the legs and didn't really seem to
be enjoying herself. Mikhail Ilyin, as the danseur, had a high jump and
good turns but should have tried for more snap and edge. As partner to
Catoya, though courtly, he failed to suggest that this man was in search
of an ideal. Nor did the four female soloists and the sprightly, all female
corps hint at enough of the music's imagery. One could see the steps clearly,
but seldom the 19th Century reasons behind them.
The other two Balanchine ballets on the program were modernist works and
Miami City Ballet looked at home in them. In Violin Concerto,
the two lead women, Deanna Seay (smart phrasing, muscularly a bit stringy)
and Jennifer Kronenberg (lush plastique, much passion), and the two lead
mean, Isanusi Garcia-Rodriguez and Carlos Guerra, did justice to the ballet's
tensions and sexual innuendos. Miami opted for a lighter reading of choreography
that can be given darker shadings.
Rubies has to be performed lightly. It is commedia del' arte
updated. Kronenberg danced and acted the ballerina role as if bent on
mischief—over the top, but brilliantly. Renato Penteado's
danseur matched her technically, yet went the opposite way as a character.
He was timid when he needed to be bold. Andrea Spiridonakos had the necessary
length of leg and allegro ability for the part of the "singles"
girl, but wasn't yet fully secure in unsupported adagio nor sufficiently
emphatic in the deep plies. The men and women of the corps showed spunk.
Saturday evening's Neighborhood Ballroom was a hit with the audience.
It has 4 acts plus an epilogue and comes with three intermissions. At
2 hours and 40 minutes, it seemed long to me and not fully realized. At
heart, Ballroom is a collection of social dances from different
eras, "numbers" that are based on the late 19th Century waltz
and three 20th Century models—the jazzy quick step, the
smooth fox trot and the pulsing mambo. To tie all those samples together,
there is a "backstory" (by Pamela Gardiner) reminiscent of The
Tales of Hoffmann, except that the poet who seeks true love seems more
like F. Scott Fitzgerald than E.T.A. Hoffmann. We meet him first at age
17 in a Belle Epoque cafe, again in a jazz age joint when he is in his
20s, then in chic Hollywood when he and the 20th Century are in their
40s, and finally as an old roue in a Latin nightclub not so long ago.
He is eternally attracted to femmes fatales that come in different flavors.
Predictably, they reject him, each in turn, so he remains perpetually
alone—except for the slightly sinister chauffeur he has
hired away from one of them. The poet also has a muse, but she is elusive.
Villella, Ballroom's principal choreographer, and Frank Regan,
who helped with matters of period authenticity and style, have incorporated
clever things in almost every scene. There is cross-dressing in the jazz
joint, display of male bravura in Hollywood, and stunt partnering in the
Latin club. The dance material is varied from act to act, yet the overall
dynamic turns out to be much the same no matter which era. There are numbers
that tease but don't really satisfy, especially the waltzes which begin
and end without really climaxing. Nevertheless, the cast relished the
many good roles. Yann Trividic's poet danced big and aged subtlely, using
movement and not just makeup. His old poet with the stiffly angled but
aggressive epaulement was particularly apt. Three of the femmes fatales
made strong impressions—Catoya as a jazz age flapper, Kronenberg
as a movie star and Iliana Lopez as the Latin nightclub queen. Smaller
parts, too were juicy, such as Evan Unks' chauffeur and Franklin Gamero's
Latin nightclub king, The one ungrateful assignment was Deanna Seay's
as the muse. It is the ballet's only pointe role, yet she is given practically
nothing to do.
Originally
published:
www.danceviewtimes.com
Volume 2, Number 15
April 26, 2004
©
2004 George
Jackson
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Writers |
Clare
Croft
George Jackson
Jean Battey Lewis
Sali Ann Kriegsman
Tehreema Mitha
Alexandra Tomalonis (Editor)
Lisa Traiger
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