ABT – Swan Lake – Vishneva, Hallberg

Haglund needs to put out a health warning for balletomanes who might have weak tickers:  Subjecting oneself to the emotional 1-2 punch delivered by Veronika Part's Odette/Odile on Monday night and Diana Vishneva's on Tuesday night may lead to a state of euphoric incapacitation that may reveal all or some of the following symptoms:  racing heart beat, watery eyes, shortness of breath, disorientation, weak knees, emotional exhaustion.  Take in these two ladies in Swan Lake on consecutive nights at your own risk.  And then, do it again.

 

What a fantastic Tuesday night where everyone shined their brightest - the big stars, the new stars, and the little twinklers who are just getting going.

 

But first, let's talk about Blaine Hoven in the Pas de Trois with the incredible Stella Abrera and Maria Riccetto.  Every jump, every turn, every pose by Blaine was a picture made for the New York Times.  Grand jete entournants that split to perfection right on the music. Click.  Pirouettes perfectly formed that finished with a pow.  Click.  Beats that crossed.  Click.  Arabesques - huge.  Click. Click. Click.  What a night he had! 

 

And Stella - she's making us into crazy people with her miraculous comeback.  What a stunning display of all things beautiful.  Maria - such joy, neatness, and deserved confidence.  This PdT was one heck of a way to start the evening and Haglund must say that he has watched this trio develop the SL PdT for some time now and thinks they are fast approaching the all-time greatest performance ever by Cornejo, Cornejo & Reyes.  Go, Blaine, go!

 

Sascha Radetsky - one blazing, sexy, menacing, sexy, you're-scary-but-I-want-you-anyway  von Rothbart.  Excellent characterization details.  Excellent dancing.  Great elevation.  Click. Click. Click.

 

Isaac Stappas - the ugly von Rothbart gone insane.  Terrific performance.  Frightening. 

 

Diana Vishneva - Haglund has always loved Diana's Odette and this time he noticed that moment in the Act IV PdD when she realized her fate, and her face became numb, blank, expressionless - like death.  But then she snapped out of it and fought and fought and fought von Rothbart to save Siegfried and herself.  And then, oh no, oh yes, she went over the cliff with a little temps de fleche to the back and Siegfried dove after her in a weeping, lay-out of resignation.  So perfect.

 

Diana's Odile wore one evil, smirking smile and inserted turns a la seconde into her fouettes as if to dare Siegfried into his own a la seconde spinning frenzy.  Diana always plays the Black Swan PdD recklessly - because, well, Odile is a reckless bitch of a swan - a switch, if you will - and so she should look wildly out of control - but while doing everything perfectly, of course.

 

David Hallberg was a devoted, somewhat naive but passionate Siegfried who seemed caught up in a situation beyond his control.  So all he could do was dance miraculously with sky-high leaps that traveled endlessly, pirouettes so musical that it hurt to see them end, delicate partnering, pondering so serious and troubled that you just knew that fate would not deal this prince a break.  Another fully thought-out, tremendous performance from Hallberg.  He's not just a pretty face of a handsome prince - but he's a brainy, handsome prince.

 

The ladies and gentlemen of the corps surpassed their fantastic performance of the night before.  The Aristocrats with Sean Stewart, Jeff Golladay, and Gemma Bond stood out for their vibrance -- these are three dancers who you know will never choose to dance anything ungrammatically.   Haglund thinks he's really talking about integrity in their dancing.

 

All of the peasants including Joes Gorak & Phillips and Isadora Loyola were just wonderful.  The swan corps, again, outstanding.

 

Tuesday's Swan Lake was full of ravishing performances, but the Haglund's Heel Pump Bump Award (Leather Belted Bliss) must be bestowed upon Blaine Hoven for his handsome, breakout performance:

 

 

 

Comments

[michael]

i had jared matthews for von rothbart in both of the performances i saw. i've seen marcelo do von rothbart on youtube, and it was amazing, so i was slightly disappointed with jared's interpretation. i wish i saw sascha instead!

[Haglund's Heel]

True, Marcelo is the King of von Rothbarts and we were indeed cheated out of a fantastic performance when he had to switch roles to Siegfried in that opening Swan Lake in order to cover for Bolle. Sascha's characterization of von Rothbart was very strong, but Jared's dancing was stronger - though neither approached what Marcelo is able to do with the role.