One hopes that Diana Vishneva, at the very least, bought Marcelo Gomes a beer after last night’s ABT performance of Swan Lake. It was hard to imagine a more perfect partner for Diana than Marcelo. Forget that they compliment each other physically. It was the emotional connection and the trust between these dancers that drove last night’s performance to its unexpected peak. Marcelo gave Diana everything she could possibly need in order for her to bring forth her most heartfelt Odette and most tantalizing Odile. The White Swan PdD was made all the more exquisite by its noticeable slow tempo. Oh god, slow is good. We all know that. Rather than punctuating the final penche arabesque with a drop of the wrist as is customary, Diana slightly turned her head to the side and allowed her arm to continue falling through the moment even when the music had ended. One felt the audience lose its collective breath and then gasp for the air it needed to express its exultation. The Act IV PdD was just as beautiful but with an even greater sense of resignation and love that made their ultimate resolution the right one. As in the Act II PdD, Diana’s phrasing included moving through the end of the music which magnified her sorrow beautifully. Haglund loves the music in this Act IV PdD more than that in Act II, and is grateful for the way Ormsby Wilkins always inspires the orchestra in this section. The Black Swan PdD was as thrilling as expected. Marcelo’s huge grand jetes and tour jetes were explosive. His pirouettes were thrilling for their acute endings to the knee. Siegfried’s joyous confusion in finding that his Odette had such a spunky side was terrific. Imagine – the last time he saw her she was a sniveling basket case; and now, she’s this hot, little swan-fox flouncing and flirting in black. Of course, he’s thrilled! Diana’s Black Swan variations were taken right to the edge of disaster - as they should be. Every aspect of Odile should be excessive and overdone. She nearly fell out of her fouettes during a double revolution but regained composure and began laughing during the remaining turns. While winding up for her final supported pirouette, she mouthed the notes along with the brass and then let rip eight or nine revolutions. Siegfried went to his knee clutching her hand, and Odile threw her head back and laughed sending the crowd into a frenzy. The supporting cast tonight was grand. Roman Zhurbin as the Von Rothbart swamp thing was wonderfully over the top. Great job, Roman! Jared Matthews as the handsome Von Rothbart was better in his jumps and turns than earlier in the season. It’s a thankless job having to try to compete with Gomes in this role, but somebody’s got to do it. Unfortunately, McKenzie sees this role as a tall prince-to-be opportunity which pretty much eliminates a lot of good dancers who could pull off the character elements brilliantly, perhaps as brilliantly as Gomes. Stappas, Zhurbin, Salstein, Stewart and Lopez would all be fabulous Von Rothbarts. And Simkin would be hysterical relief in the role. Hopefully, McKenzie will find a more flexible attitude in the casting next year. Simkin, Lane, and Boylston danced the PdT again with the same great result. Isabella is a bit too tall to be dancing with the other two, but she mostly stands out for her clarity and gorgeous feet and legs. She’s having a great season. Here’s hoping that she’s kept out of the morose contemporary rep and continues to be pushed into classical roles that require her to concentrate on much more than the steps. She’s making great strides. Abrera and Heo repeated as the Big Swans. Stella looked refreshed and more like herself. However long it takes, Haglund will wait patiently for this girl to come back full force and will of course continue to scrutinize and obsess over her every step until she does. The Neapolitan duo was Blaine Hoven and Grant DeLong. A great match-up, and both danced exceptionally well. Blaine, Blaine, Blaine, Blaine, Blaine. Haglund was nearly ready to Bravo the guy as loud as he could. Perfect, gorgeous quadruple pirouettes to the left. Huge jumps with strong, strong arm and leg lines. And then at the end he just got a little over-excited with how well he was doing, and for the last jumps where the leg goes up the back to passe, he let those wrists and hands start flapping like a Firebird. What’s it going to take to correct this - shock treatment?! Finally, the Corps men and women were stupendous. Beautiful lines for the ladies in both White Acts. Haglund shakes his head when he hears critics unfairly swipe at this Corps for being ragged or off and then drawing some unfavorable comparison to the Kirov. Honestly, people should take a step back and think about what they are really saying. Granted, the Kirov has a wonderful technical tradition and a school to carry it forward. But, it achieves more than half of its results through exclusion. There are no black dancers, no Asian dancers, no Latino dancers, no women dancers with noticeable busts, no diversity to speak of. When one pines for Kirov corps results, one is pining for cultural purity. And when one starts to list toward the idea of cultural purity being a worthwhile endeavor, well - a history lesson is in order. Vishneva and Gomes were incredible, but once again, the Corps de Ballet brought the story to life. A Haglund's Heel Pump Bump Award (Prada silk garden sandals) for the ladies and gentlemen of the Corps: Copyright © 2009
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