Audience linger is usually a good sign. And so it was tonight that people were slow to leave the theater after Giselle, lingering on the Grand Tier level – just talking, and wandering up from Orchestra – some holding hands or an arm around the shoulder of the one next him. It was kind of uncharacteristic for the New York audience which is usually hell bent to get to the train or get out of the parking ramp or get through the tunnel as soon after the curtain comes down as is possible. Haglund thinks that this lingering was a sign that we were touched by the performance we saw, that it moved us to reconsider the connection between love and forgiveness or perhaps just to slow down and reconsider what's important to us.
Nina Ananiashvili's portrayal of Giselle tonight was neither naive nor young girlish . It was an ageless portrayal where one did not notice who was young and who was not. It was a full portrayal without melodramatics. It was a classic portrayal without being passe.
Most of the memorable moments came in Act II as they usually do: Giselle's awakening spin followed by an arabesque that grew for five counts, or so it seemed; Giselle pouring the lillies over Albrecht as he knelt near her grave; in the PdD, where generally dancers slowly developpe forward, cambre back and then rapidly fouette around to the front, Nina chose to ever so slowly make that turn to the front to brilliant effect.
Marcelo Gomes as Albrecht brought humanity to the character with a series of desperate entrechat seises that ended with him in a crumpled heap on the floor and with his final scene in which he fully realized the consequences of his betrayal and how he had lost the greatest love of his life.
There were good performances from Gillian Murphy as Myrta, Isabella Boylston as Moyna, and Yuriko Kajiya as Zulma. Gillian conveyed both anger and hurt which was a nice change from her scowling man-eating Myrta. Isabella's beautiful feet could not be missed under her long skirt. Her solos were quite lovely, but Haglund worries about the studied, sometimes wooden expression on her face. Yuriko was heaven to watch, sheer heaven. She's a musical phrasing maven.
Gennadi Saveliev was a Hilarion who Haglund sensed he had seen many times before. It was a little too canned and formulaic, but the dancing was very good - as always.
The Peasant PdD was danced by Maria Riccetto and Jared Matthews. Nuh-uh. Not for them. Maria's technique was super but she caught a lot of balances that seemed calculated instead of spontaneous. There wasn't much happy peasant in either of them. Jared has to work on his jumps - those are not soloist level jumps. He has a nice demeanor and likable presence, and he doesn't hold back when dancing, but he's got to work on those jumps and on articulating his feet.
Haglund was enjoying the corps work immensely until a lapse of concentration house right caused a Wili to be up when she was supposed to be down and then down when she was supposed to be up. This Wili usually is meticulous; so, Haglund will let it slide for tonight.
Haglund awards this climbing rose Pump Bump for a very enjoyable evening.
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