Barcelona Ballet's Opening Night @ City Center

The Barcelona Ballet returned to New York's City Center on Tuesday night with a new name, a new cohesiveness in style, new choreography, and the treasured brilliant energy of its star director, Angel Corella.  This is not to say that there weren't a few problems that need to be discussed.  But overall, the company, formerly known as Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon, gave a performance that showed that its artistic growth and development continue from its root structure up through the branches to the blossoming ends of its limbs. 

The program opened with what was for Haglund the highlight of the evening, Clark Tippet's Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 which was created in 1987.  The City Center stage is too small to display the grandness of Tippet's designs but it's large enough to make clear that the future lost a major choreographic voice when Tippet died in 1992 from AIDS at the age of 37.   He really knew how to build a choreographic phrase to bring out the beauty and drama of the music. 

The Barcelona Ballet dancers soared in the Bruch and displayed tidy, beautifully curved feet and legs along with unaffected and graceful port de bras.  If Angel Corella can achieve this degree of harmony and style among a collection of dancers trained in a multitude of styles from schools all over the world, imagine the greatness that is on the horizon for this company when it begins producing dancers in its own school which will soon open in Figueres, Spain. 

Yuka Iseda, substituting for Kazuko Omon, with Kirill Radev displayed sublime elegance and perfect coordination in the Aqua PdD.  Ana Calderon and Aaron Robison in the Red PdD tugged and pulled and challenged each other with quick changes of direction and (intentionally) off-balance maneuvers.  Carmen Corella and Dayron Vera in the Blue PdD were the calm and collected lovers simply enjoying the moment.  Momoko Hirata and Alejandro Virelles rose to the challenges of the allegro in the Pink PdD.  Virelles pulled off the successive double pirouettes with the changing arm positions with ease.  All of the soloists were wonderful, but the outstanding corps de ballet was the main attraction in this ballet.  A few opening night nerves were in play that included an unintentional sit-down and some difficult adjustments to the small stage, but the piece taken as a whole looked very, very pretty.  The women's tutus, originally designed by Dain Marcus, were simply lovely for their layers of color and the way in which the backs were slightly longer and fuller than the fronts which gave them a trailing effect when the dancers moved.

The middle piece on last night's program was Christopher Wheeldon's For 4 which he made for the Kings of the Dance in 2006.  It was not a good programming choice for a couple of reasons.  First, it followed the much better crafted Bruch Violin Concerto No.1 by Tippet, and it showed Wheeldon's lack of focus and his reliance on arbitrary quirks as filler when his creativity got stuck.  Second, the original interpreters (Corella, Ethan Stiefel, Johan Kobborg, and Nikolay Tsiskaridze) carried the weak choreography on their famous backs and bolstered it with their huge well-known stage personalities and their abilities to wrestle any movement to the mat for a win.  The four gentlemen in the performance last night, who were unknown to most of us, couldn't make For 4 fly despite their obvious technical talents.  But it certainly wasn't their fault. 

The world premiere of Pálpito concluded the program.  Choreographed by Flamenco specialists Angel Rojas & Carlos Rodriquez, who direct the Nuevo Ballet Espanol, to a commissioned musical and vocal composition by Hector Gonzalez, the dance incorporated different Spanish dance styles into the balletic vocabulary.  From the synopsis in the Playbill:

"The story of Pálpito is about the main character who is trying to free himself from the strings that have him bound to his former role of a dancer and that keep him from advancing into the mature role in his spirit with tranquility and peace, allowing his heart to beat with a new force and inspiration preparing him to discover new horizons."  

Vicente Solar's inventive and extremely colorful costumes combined elements of traditional Spanish Flamenco designs with balletic tutus to good effect.  The central character, danced by Corella, transitioned throughout the piece from formal black and white attire with ruffled shirt to gradually discarding the ruffles and confining jacket to finally emerge renewed in traditional Spanish costume.  His choreography, intense and contemporary, was framed by light on the stage floor.  Sometimes he followed the straight path of the beam.  Sometimes he reeled on a grid of light beneath his feet.  Finally, he arrived rested, relieved, and at peace on his knees in a circle of light.  The lighting design on the floor is important to moving the story along and may not have been in full view by those in the most forward section of the orchestra.

Perhaps Pálpito was a little self-indulgent.  It's not a piece that the company could present without Angel.  It is his story.  It is his inner torment about giving up what has brought him our love and admiration so that he can create something greater and bigger - for us.  Okay, go ahead, but let us have our grief.

Haglund was so happy to see Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 again that he's going back tonight and Friday.  It's like finding lost treasure.  And to see it in such fine condition after all these years – the company deserves our thanks and a black Spanish lace Pump Bump Award for the dancers who breathed such life into it:

Comments

[Angelica Smith]

Ole!!!

[dc]

Virelles! Wow. Is he a guest? Still with BNC? I'm sorry not to see this. If ABT is going to persist in the guest artist thing, they missed a great opportunity by not using any of the Cuban guys.

Glad to have your report, Haglund.

[Haglund]

Hi dc!

Alejandro Virelles is listed as a First Soloist in the Playbill - one level below Principal. While watching him last night and tonight, my feeling is that he was an extremely recent acquisition to the company. He wasn't quite comfortable with some of the choreography or the cramped City Center stage. He also looked a little thin. But whenever he found room to leap, what a beautiful sight!

When you see a Cuban suddenly show up unexpectedly on a world stage somewhere, your heart beats a bit quicker because you know the stress he must have endured to get there. He's landed in a good place, though. I hope he sticks with Corella for a while.

The company was outstanding tonight. Aaron Robison really rose to the occasion and has taken on much of Angel's energetic spirit. He was quite a leader this evening. He and Angel managed to persuade me to buy yet another ticket for tomorrow night. It seems that I will be seeing all of the company's NYC performances.

[Angelica Smith]

But don't expect too much encouragement from The New York Times, which always manages to throw a damper on every company except NYCB. Grateful not only for your review, Haglund, but your contagious enthusiasm!

[Haglund]

Hi Angelica!

The learned New York Times dance critic had trouble appreciating the various forms of Spanish dance on display because she could not see any castanets on stage.

[robin]

Glad you love it enough to go 4 times! I'm going tonite!

[Haglund]

You'll enjoy it, I'm sure. Hopefully, I'll be there, too, but it seems my kitchen window suffered its own bird strike today. I may be detained.

[Angelica Smith]

I knew the Trocks were going to have an accident some day with their Swan Lake!

[Haglund]

LOL, Angelica.

[robin]

i DID enjoy it- absolutely!the bruch was just gorgeous, momoko hiriata was especially sharp & sparkly- absolutely loved her.
Angel was, of course, beyond incredible. personally i loved palpito- (some sections much more than others)& wish i could go see it again tonite.

hope your window is ok!

[Haglund]

I loved the rhythms in Palpito. The whole production smoothed out nicely last night, and the dancers seemed more relaxed. I wish I'd understood the lyrics of the traditional song in the Seguidilla, but the singer's voice was transporting on its own.

[K]

Is Cornejo dancing with the company for the NYC tour? Did McKenzie not release him for the engagement? Really petty, if so. Herman was the one who lead the guard, so to speak, for For 4 when I saw Corella Ballet out here.

[Haglund]

Hi K. No Herman so far. ABT is in Norfolk, VA this weekend with Giselle. Not sure which gentleman in For 4 would be considered to be the one leading the guard, but I can tell you that Aaron Robison was mighty impressive in role #3 - and in everything else he danced.

[Carolina]

Hi! Wooww..it's nice to read you :-) Thanks to all for posting.

Eager to see Pálpito. I think that they will be premiering it in Catalonia during Peralada Festival where they are already announced.

Kind regards from Barcelona :-) (so proud this Company represent us)

[Haglund]

Hello Carolina!!!

Yes, the company looks great and you will delighted with Pálpito.

Carolina, PLEASE keep us up-to-date with the information you have there in Spain. The company's new website is not yet in place; so, it's hard to follow the news.

Yes, you should be very proud. Barcelona Ballet will soon be bigger in Spain than soccer.

[SB]

Barcelona Ballet is great, the show loved and dancers are beautiful. Elegants PdD but I missed Natalia Tapia in red PdD, Momoko Hirata and Yuka Iseda are lovely and corps of ballet was perfect, a dancer to follow is Carla Lopez, amazing technique and very pretty!
For4 is amazing and men dancers are great!
Pálpito is great too and the costumes are beautiful!

Congratulations for Barcelona Ballet, congratulations for all, soloist and corps of ballet dancers!!

[Haglund]

Hello SB. Thanks for reading H.H.

There were so many great dancers on stage at Barcelona Ballet. The corps is full of spirit and talent, and was a pure joy to watch.