ABT – Don Q – When sweet is not enough – 5/23

Sweet will take you a long way with the ballet audience at The Met.  The audience will forgive most anything so long as there is sweetness to admire.  Tonight Alina Cojocaru personified sweetness in her performance of Kitri during Jose Manuel Carreno's final Don Quixote performance at The Met.  She brought all the sweetness of an Act I Giselle to Kitri.  She brought all the sweetness of Aurora to Kitri.  What she didn't bring was any Spanish flavor to her dancing or character.  In addition to her sweetness, she offered some fine balances.  But if you strapped those quart sized mason jars that she wears as pointe shoes on David Koch, he could balance on The Met stage in attitude forever, too.  It's terribly unfortunate that Cojocaru's feet have suffered injuries and have become so burdened with bunions that they are nearly unsuitable for pointe work.  Bad bunions are a natural hazard in the art form.  But the fact is that those shoes mar the classical line and are unsettling visually. 

The shape of the foot in ballet matters.  It matters big time.  And if a dancer is wearing mason jars - for whatever reason - it diminishes the artistic aesthetic in classical ballet.  Alina Cojocaru's shoes detract from her artistic aesthetic.  Gillian Murphy's shoes detract from her artistic aesthetic.  Maria Riccetto's shoes detract from her artistic aesthetic.  Kristi Boone's shoes detract from her artistic aesthetic.  What do these four fine artists have in common?  They all wear the same off-brand pointe shoe.  Ballet directors should get control of the pointe shoes that their dancers are wearing in classical productions.  The shape of the foot in ballet matters.  It matters big time.

Cojocaru, besides lacking the Kitri character, compromised on some of the more difficult technical matters.  The traveling pas de cheval were omitted.  The turns in a la seconde that fouette into a penche arabesque were omitted.  Some jumps that we normally see with kicks to the back of the head were omitted.  These omissions were not balanced out with any impressive substitutions.  Based on the performance tonight, it's a good guess that when McKenzie contracted Cojocaru for the Don Q performances, he probably did so without proper vetting.

Since tonight was Carreno's final Don Quixote before the home crowd, we naturally want to express gratitude for all the years of great performances and not dwell on the fact that what was is no longer.  Carreno whipped out a heartfelt, energetic performance with great charm, great turns, and great partnering.  After leaving ABT at the end of this season, he wants to keep on dancing, but he wants to retire the white tights.  So shall he be allowed.  But haven't these past 16 white-tighted years been fine.  Yes, they have.

Maria Riccetto and Gennadi Saveliev were Mercedes and Espada.  It was a little underpowered.  Saveliev tended to look like he was marking the steps except when it came time to deliver one of his signature 540 mega-turns.  Riccetto kind of toned down to match the subdued Saveliev.  Haglund would really like to see Riccetto's Mercedes to an Espada by Blaine Hoven.  Maybe next time.  Her Dryad Queen was danced well, but danced in a rather small way.  Her upper body didn't breathe and extend the movement as grandly as we've seen in the past.

Sarah Lane and Isabella Boylston were the Flower Girls - not without problems.  When dancing in unison, Isabella over-held balances and the extended leg which tended to throw off Sarah.  The tendency was especially evident in the PdT by the Flower Girls and Basilio where Jose and Sarah were together but Isabella was enjoying extending the music.  Haglund observed this tendency during the performance of The Bright Stream in Washington, DC earlier this year when Isabella would continually hold balances longer than Xiomara Reyes when they were supposed to be dancing in unison.  Isabella should at this point in her career concentrate on being a good team player when dancing with soloists and principals instead of trying to out-balance them. 

Joe Phillips and Simone Messmer were a fantastic Gypsy Couple.  Phillips' Gypsy character was so fierce and dangerous that it could have been developed in Bed-Stuy.  He is a very exciting dancer who never plays it safe.  When Messmer's Gypsy launched herself at Basilio, wrapping her legs around him and throwing her back into a deep arch, Carreno smiled broadly at her display of gutsy abandon.

Yuriko Kajiya was terrific as Amour.  Her arabesque simply sings.  It is so delicate and so full of harmony.

Now to the Toreadors.  We almost had spear perfection tonight.  Moments into the Toreadors' dance, Haglund thought for sure we were going to have spear perfection tonight.  Spears into the ground - perfect once.  Yes.  Perfect twice.  Yes.  Perfect thrice.  Yes - but, oh no, one little spear (stage front & center) loosely drooped over and fell flat. Never mind, the Toreadors were dashing in their other maneuvers and well, there's always next year.  Until then, the Toreadors get tonight's Pump Bump Award for "most improved" this week. 

 

 

Comments

[Marie]

Trying to post a second time--if you are trying to ban me, just let me know and I won't comment again.

I agree with you about Cojocaru. I saw her Aurora last year and absolutely loved it and did not notice her feet. But with Kitri, I did. I found the line (or lack of it) so distracting. I think in part this is because Kitri just is not her role.

I thought Jose was wonderful and will miss him.

I *loved* seeing Simone Messmer. She was Messmerizing. More please! And Sarah Lane absolutely projected to the very back of the hall. Incredible. I think Boylston is a lovely, fluid and silky dancer, but it's odd how her face does not project. One realizes just how much it takes to really be a complete performer on stage.

I am going to see Cojocaru in Giselle. I'll be very interested to see how that plays after Kitri. But--I give her credit for giving the part her all. And her chemistry with Jose was wonderful and very sincere.

[Haglund]

Hi Marie! Did you have problems posting? I would NEVER ban you. We're warriors of the same tribe.

Let me know if there were any problems.

I'm skipping the Cojocaru Giselle, and will count on you to report whether Hallberg was able to lift her over his head cleanly twice in Act II.

[Marie]

Oh dear! If we are warriors of the same tribe, then I am sorry that you too must suffer so! But it is good to have a comrade in arms along the way.

It's possible that I just didn't do all the steps when trying to post--we'll just assume that's what happened.

I was at the Vishneva Giselle last night--I think you were too and will now read what you have to say. And of course will report back on Cojo.

PS--Someone in the know mentioned that Cojo's feet are worse re the bunions, and this is why her shoes seem even more out of alignment with the rest of her body.