ABT – All Classic Program 6/29

ABT presented the first performance of its All-Classic Program Tuesday evening – a pastiche of works by the 20th century masters MacMillan, Tudor, Ashton and Balanchine.  This is just the kind of program that a small-minded local newspaper critic will use to rank choreographers.  You've heard him before, "I was having a splendid time until ABT had to remind me of MacMillan and his insipid Manon."  - or something along those lines.  But these evenings of dance are never about the choreographers.  They are about the dancers and the life they bring to steps that have no life or meaning without them.  The only thing that will ever give any choreography importance or value is the dancer's performance of it.  And because there is no ultimate authority on choreography, no ultimate textbook on choreography, no Ten Commandments of Choreography, everyone and anyone can hang out a shingle as an expert on choreography – which far too many have done.  The newspaper dance critic's emphasis today on analyzing choreography instead of critiquing performances is a lazy way of getting around learning about the art of dance.  If someone wants to be a choreography critic, he should call himself a choreography critic - not a dance critic.

 

The evening opened with Balanchine's Allegro Brillante.  This is not a piece that Balanchine created for Ballet Theatre, but you wouldn't have known it by last night's performance.  Gillian Murphy and Ethan Stiefel burned up the marley in one of the most exhilarating and musical interpretations that Haglund has seen in a long, long time.  There was a moment of concern when a corps member, the beautiful Hee Seo, went belly splat on the floor downstage.  Shaken but seemingly uninjured, she quickly picked herself up and completed her corps responsibilities as though nothing had happened and then a few short minutes later delivered a beautiful Thais PdD with Sascha Radetsky.

 

It was hard to believe just how beautiful Murphy looked in the Karinska-designed costume.  Her red hair and creamy complexion were stunning against the peach color of the costume's fabric.  But it was how the choreography seemed to emerge from her organically that made Haglund think that perhaps Murphy is the dancer that this ballet has been needing and even waiting for.  Every step of the foot was effortlessly placed in its perfect position easily within the music and without looking rushed – no small accomplishment.  Some of the complex partnering took on new added value –  when Murphy and Stiefel were holding the other one's hands in profile before executing the roll-over-and-under-the-arm rotation where Murphy ends up in penche arabesque, they looked into each other's eyes as if excited to get to this particular challenge and confident that it would be perfect.  It was.  When Stiefel swept Murphy off her feet into a long, romantic fall to the side in his arm, it was heavenly. 

 

The corps of four men and four women was superb and they made all of those first arabesque sautes look like something other than the usual monotony.  Haglund wishes, however, that when Balanchine's works are set on ABT, the stagers would refrain from trying to instill messy hands and funky fingers as part of the choreography.  The messy hands and fingers in Balanchine's works evolved on their own over decades of ballerinas trying to out-exaggerate one another.  Later as dancers aged and their legs and feet declined, their arms and hands became all the more ornate as if to compensate.  The old TV shows of performances by  Maria Tallchief and Melissa Haydn depict beautiful classically formed hands and fingers with little or no funk.   The fingers and hands devolved to their worst in the 1980s and 1990s.  So if ABT is using stagers from that period of time, care should be taken not to adopt the worst affectations that some stagers hold on to so as to identify themselves as Balanchine dancers.

 

Following Allegro Brillante, we were treated to three PdD which took us from restrained beauty (Tudor's Romeo and Juliet) to exotic and mysterious beauty (Ashton's Thais) to unbridled passionate beauty (MacMillan's Manon).  If Haglund hadn't had such a bad headache, he would have loved to have seen the Wedding Night PdD from Mayerling added to this trio for its terrifying, insane beauty.  Watch it here, if you dare.  If we wish for it, it will come.

 

The Tudor PdD is set to Frederick Delius' music which is lighter fare than the Prokofiev score with which we are more familiar.  It is sweet, indeed, but doesn't hold the passion or the foreshadowing of tragedy the way the Prokofiev does.  The PdD, while beautiful in its simplicity and last night touchingly performed by Xiomara Reyes and Gennadi Saveliev, isn't strong enough to stand on its own in a mixed repertory program.  Nor does it persuade Haglund in the least that he would like to see Tudor's Romeo and Juliet production substituted for the MacMillan masterpiece.  Of course, a critic who makes it his life's mission to discredit MacMillan will probably call for just the opposite.

 

The Thais PdD was stunningly performed by Sascha Radetsky and Hee Seo.  It made me look at Radetsky in a new light - not the tough guy, not the comedian, not the over-anxious technician – but someone who clearly has the makings of a romantic lead.  This was one of the most profound and sincere performances Haglund has seen from Radetsky since his role as a grieving father in Tudor's Dark Elegies.  Hee Seo was exceptionally beautiful in form and she conveyed the mystery and allure of her character exquisitely.  An all around fantastic performance from both and the audience conveyed its appreciation very warmly.  Haglund can't wait to see them again tonight!

 

The Manon PdD was performed by Diana Vishneva and Jose Manuel Carreno.  It was okay except for the fact that it wasn't Ferri and Bocca.  Sorry, it's just too soon to get over them.  Haglund has too many powerful memories of their honest passion in Manon.

 

The second half of the evening's program was a top tier performance of Ashton's The Dream with Julie Kent, Marcelo Gomes and Craig Salstein as Puck.  Salstein was magnificent!  It was so good to see him in this major role.  Turns, split leaps, comedic timing, devilish confusion – it was all there in very good form.  But the dominant character in this performance of The Dream was Gomes.  You've not clearly seen the mime of Oberon until you've seen Gomes employ it.  His execution of Ashton's amazing array of combinations was phenomenal.  The big guy was moving at top speed last night.  Can't wait for Friday night's performance.  Julie Kent was a beautiful Titania and her rapport and timing with Gomes were perfect.  The Ashton choreography makes wonderful use of Julie's expressive arms and lovely leg/foot line especially during her final PdD with Gomes' Oberon.

 

The fairies, especially Gemma Bond (Mustardseed), Simone Messmer (Peaseblossom), Isabella Boylston (Cobweb), and Luciana Paris (Moth), were terrific.  Gemma Bond, looking soft and radiant, really took on the persona of the fairy and moved with just a touch more confidence than the others. 

It was a very satisfying evening of ballet, and Haglund bestows this Prada jeweled Pump Bump Award to Radetsky and Seo's Thais Pas de Deux because it was just such an unexpected stunner: