In a span of 26½ hours, Haglund sat through 7½ hours of Coppelia. He’s not complaining, though, because those 7½ hours included 7 minutes of the most divine Prayer variation that he expects ever to see. At the first two performances of Coppelia, there was a curtain announcement that Yuriko Kajiya would dance the Prayer variation. She had been unexpectedly told to learn the new role only two days before.
As any balletomane will tell you, there are performances that take your breath away and then there are those rare performances, like the Prayer solo on Friday and at Saturday's matinee, where the viewer stops his own breathing so as not to disturb absorption of the experience before his eyes. In little more than three minutes of celestial musicality, arabesques of pure song, and floating bourrees, Yuriko engaged us in the rarest example of spiritual communication through dance. Our grieving when she leaves ABT at the end of this season will be deep and long-lasting, but we respect and admire her and Jared Matthews’ unwillingness to accept ABT’s wasteful treatment of their enormous talents.
On Friday evening, the Dawn variation received a warm and glowing performance from Stella Abrera, whose talent is treated by ABT with the same offensive, wasteful indifference as Yuriko’s. Sparkling classicism and a bright vivacity marked her allegro throughout. She commanded the stage regardless of how many other people were also dancing. On Saturday night, Devon Teuscher made a commendable debut in this role with a careful performance. She commanded attention in part because she is, thankfully, devoid of mannerisms. We look forward to seeing how she blossoms and hope that she does not get perpetually typecast in roles according to her physical type as opposed to her artistry. Speaking of mannerisms, Isabella Boylston made stew soup out of the Dawn variation on Saturday afternoon. Does the entire ABT artistic staff have severe cataracts or has Isabella actually been coached to spread her fingers apart, stick out the little finger, bend and flop the wrists, hyperextend the elbows so that the upper arm skin sags, stick her nose up in the air like she smells farts, look down her nose at the audience, dump her upper torso, clomp her big shoes noisily, and turn classical ballet into a hillbillyfest? To think that this most inelegant, unmusical, unprepossessing dancer who lacks any evidence of classical artistry will be monopolizing a Giselle and Swan Lake, while much better dancers with mature classical artistry such as Kajiya, Abrera, and Sarah Lane have little to dance, has the emetic effect of gargling raw egg whites.
As Dr. Coppelius, both Roman Zhurbin (on Friday and Saturday nights) and Alexei Agoudine (at Saturday’s matinee) masterfully portrayed the character with great humor and sincerity, and did so without inserting slapstick. Under the unruly wisps of white hair and glasses, each dancer moved with such authentic agedness that he was completely unrecognizable.
Gemma Bond as the Lead Mazurka Lady on Friday night had more rapport and stylistic similarities with Herman Cornejo’s Franz than the evening’s Coppelia. Not to belabor the thematic point, but why aren’t we seeing this gifted and admirably classical ballerina as Giselle or in any major roles in the Petipa rep instead of being force-fed unnecessary guest artists?
The Mazurka and Czardas was led enthusiastically by Devon Teuscher & Alexandre Hammoudi on Friday, Christine Shevchenko & Luis Ribagordo at Saturday’s matinee, and Shevchenko & Blaine Hoven on Saturday evening. Hammoudi had more energy than his recovering body was ready to launch. Let’s not rush this artist back to the stage until he’s really ready. Luis Ribagorda was outstanding technically and theatrically. He’s got that De Luz high wattage stage presence and is an excellent partner. Why aren’t we seeing more of him in important roles?
The production’s principals were Misty Copeland & Herman Cornejo on Friday night, Sarah Lane & Daniil Simkin at Saturday’s matinee, and Gillian Murphy & Jared Matthews on Saturday evening.
Misty danced quite adequately in her NY debut in the role of Swanilda with no mishaps but she did not carry the performance with the strength, theatrical flair, or artistry of Sarah or Gillian. Misty simplified the Act III variation somewhat, e.g., substituting Italian fouettes before tossing off nine or ten regular ones. But what was most disturbing was the hard and very stiff shoes that didn't roll through releve. She bounced up to releves and the force would reverberate up through her legs and torso. The noise of her hard shoes was greater than that made by the corps of eight women dancing as Swanilda’s friends. Even considering the simplified content, it appeared that Misty was dancing at the very edge of her ability. Given that Coppelia isn’t a real technical test for an accomplished ballerina, it would appear that Misty has work to do before she deserves to be promoted to principal ahead of the likes of Abrera or Lane, and she would also fall behind Yuriko Kajiya, Simone Messmer, and Maria Riccetto to name just some of the talent that has left (or will be leaving) ABT because of the lack of opportunities to dance.
Herman’s performance of Franz included brilliant solo work, although not as brilliant as we have seen him dance. But Herman doesn’t have to be at the top of his game in order to top everyone else. He just wasn’t “in the game” to the extent that he always is with Xiomara Reyes or on those occasions when he dances with Sarah Lane. There was one bit of messy partnering at the beginning of Act III, but otherwise, the PdDs with Misty went well.
On Saturday afternoon, Haglund was surprised by how much he enjoyed Daniil Simkin’s Franz. For once, the guy seemed to belong with Sarah Lane on stage. For once, he seemed to fully inhabit his character – a dude who thought he was wise but was really clueless. For once, he was out on stage to create dance theater instead of seeking an opportunity to show off. Not only were there no visible partnering mishaps, but the final PdD pose with Swanilda atop his shoulder was the best of the three performances.
Sarah’s Swanilda was an exceptionally well thought out and well executed effort. She did carry the performance with her artistry and secure technique, and she managed characterization that was not evident in the other two performances. In Act I when Franz teased Swanilda with the long-stemmed flower/pinwheel/whatever and then the two embarked on a circle of grand jetes with Swanilda chasing him, Sarah’s upper body and arms really reached forward like she was trying hard to catch Franz. It was quite the trick to do and make it look like part of the character because a dancer is so strongly taught to hold the body upright in grand jetes and not to pitch forward. Neither Misty nor Gillian was able to convey the impression of chasing Franz the way Sarah did. Her allegro, full set of fouettes, pirouettes, and musicality all pointed to a great ballerina poised to rise to the top - if only she had more to dance. Haglund expects Sarah Lane to give the world premiere performance of Ratmansky’s new Sleeping Beauty next year. If Alexei wants assured success, he will tap Sarah to make it happen.
The joy of the Saturday evening Coppelia was in watching Jared Matthews deliver a huge performance opposite Gillian Murphy in which the two of them carried the evening with equal shares. Gillian put as much energy into bringing Swanilda’s character to life as she put into any of the jaw-dropping turns that she casually tossed into the performance. She upped the octane level for the Act III variations considerably which sent the audience into a state of euphoria. Jared’s own octane was close to hydrogen’s. He didn’t waste even a second on stage. Every minute was packed with character and enthusiasm. His double tours were splendid with beautiful soft landings in plies. His pirouettes were solid as could be. His whole heart was in what he was doing, and you couldn’t not be persuaded to believe in him and care about what he was doing on stage. What a tremendous loss it will be when he and Yuriko leave at the end of the season. What a totally unnecessary and unfortunate loss it will be. ABT just keeps cutting at itself like it has a self-mutilation disorder.
Three Coppelias down; three to go. Would it be too much to ask to see Yuriko’s Prayer variation one last time? Probably. We’ll have to pray on it.
In the meantime, the H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Stuart Weitzman stiletto with 595 carat diamonds that retails for $2,000,000, is bestowed upon Yuriko Kajiya, who we will miss more than she will ever know.
Just to report from across the plaza on Sara Mearns's debut in Sanguinic on Saturday. I thought her performance was adequate, but paled coming between her own Walpurgisnacht and Ashley Bouder's Choleric... The steps weren't as clean, but much more exciting than Abi Stafford's. Not on the level of Jennie Somogyi though (is she injured again? I don't believe she has danced since last spring).
Jared Angle substituted for Zachary Catazaro. Great partnering of course.
Posted by: Fan Z | June 02, 2014 at 10:44 AM
Hi Fan Z.
Yes, Jennie Somogyi has been injured. Her Sanguinic shoes are going to be tough to fill. Nobody else presently in the company dances the role with the weight and force so into the ground like a modern dancer. She is truly unique and much missed. Bouder could probably come close, but she's too fantastic a Choleric for us to give up. Sara will probably find her way through it eventually.
Thanks for the report. I wish I could have been in two places at once on Saturday afternoon.
Posted by: Haglund | June 02, 2014 at 11:43 AM
I was there at the Saturday matinee performance (Sarah Lane/Daniil Simkin) and I too did not expect that I would enjoy Simkin. You astutely point out that he's so far been good at solo roles (his Ali was very good, his Lensky on the other hand..)
As a Lane fan, I must say her dancing was gorgeous and effortless and she looked extremely cute (for lack of better word) in this role. I must point out tho, she ended two of her variations about 1-2 counts before the music ended. kinda awkward.
Posted by: leon | June 03, 2014 at 06:35 PM
I'm another Sarah Lane fan, and I can't help but think that with more opportunities to dance leading roles, for which she would hopefully be entitled to coaching by Kolpakova, she would learn quite quickly to finish with the music and more besides.
Someone somewhere else commented that they didn't think she commanded the stage. I didn't see her in Coppelia because I was out of the country, but her Aurora last season certainly commanded the stage and then some. She is hungry to command that stage. What she needs is more opportunities!
Posted by: angelica | June 03, 2014 at 09:40 PM
Thanks Leon and Angelica for the comments.
Sarah ended her full set of fouettes without the customary double or triple pirouette thereby causing her to finish early. I must have missed the second early finish that Leon referenced. I didn't consider the first to be a sign of weakness in technique or style or artistry, nor is it something that we see from Sarah as a habit or even now and then. It was an imperfection but also an aberration.
The tendency, Angelica, over at "somewhere else" i.e. BalletAlert is to suggest that if there were imperfections in a performance, then it was a bad performance and we should all be indignant and disappointed. "She fell off pointe" is a favorite exclamation even when it isn't accurate or true.
If anyone can point to a performance that was perfect in all respects with no losses of balance, no missteps, no missed cues, no imperfect arabesques, no tour landings that missed fifth position, etc., etc., then that person wasn't watching carefully. The point of going to the ballet for some of those people is to quickly find shortcomings that they can blurt out in four words or less to make themselves sound like experts. And then there are those who don't want to offer any kind of any opinion until they've read what everyone else has written to insure that they don't stand by themselves on any issue. This blog gets hundreds of visits from the Ballet Alert server every month. They use this blog as an uncredited source for their discussions all the time. The monitor who is affiliated with ESPN visits this blog frequently for updates. While there are some very articulate, sincere, and knowledgeable posters on BalletAlert (and other forums such as Critical Dance) for whom I have tremendous respect, it also has it share of idiots. It's no secret that both dancers and media infiltrate that forum in an effort to steer public opinion. So my point is, take it all with a grain of salt.
Posted by: Haglund | June 04, 2014 at 08:40 AM
Hey, Haglund,
I should have suspected that most of the post at that other place are disingenuous. That explains a lot.
The best part of seeing frequent frequent performances and immersing one's self in the culture of the craft is that it becomes a process. Sometimes, seeing how a dancer gets out of trouble can be just as rewarding as a perfect performance. However, there are some dancers I can no longer endure, I don't care how what the package is.
I may have seen a perfect performance, however. A Part/Gomes Swan Lake at the Kennedy Center 3 or 4 years ago. It still is fresh to me. It was the fourth time I had seen them in the ballet and it was the best ever.
Posted by: dc | June 07, 2014 at 12:18 AM
Hi, dc.
I'm incensed that we have not had one pairing of Part & Gomes this spring, and I've gone to a lot fewer performances because of it.
Like you, their Swan Lake is burned into my memory. Last year, I skipped all of Swan Lake week at the Met after seeing the YAGP documentary when they performed the Act II PdD. I didn't want to corrupt the memory with the marginal pairings that ABT was offering that year.
Posted by: Haglund | June 07, 2014 at 08:30 AM