Pennsylvania Ballet – Le Corsaire 3/9

Pennsylvania Ballet set sail its handsome new production of Le Corsaire last night at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music and, oh, what a voyage it was. Stylish swagger among the men, shimmering beauty among the women, pyrotechnical wizardry among everyone – it was all on full glorious display in this Corella-staged Petipa-based classic which is loosely tethered to Lord Byron’s poem of the same name. For all intents and purposes, Le Corsaire is the balletomane’s high glycemic, high calorie carbohydrate that reignites all those cravings for the gazillion revolution pirouettes, the split-switch leaps, the fouettes, the manèges with every variety of sauce imaginable. Guilty pleasures, for sure. Enjoy, but don’t weigh yourself in the morning.

No living artist is more identified with this ballet than Angel Corella who for more than a decade and a half generated pandemonium in the Metropolitan Opera House whenever he set foot on stage in the role of Ali, the slave, in Le Corsaire. Now as artistic director of Pennsylvania Ballet, he is handing down not only his famous role of Ali but also his roles of Conrad and Birbanto for which he is fondly remembered. Step by step, the ballet is handed down from generation to generation like a cherished family recipe for Grandma’s bourbon cake – except, as we’ve learned, no one will ever be able to make it taste just like Grandma's. That won’t keep everyone from gobbling down the new cakes, however.

Praises to the chef for Sterling Baca’s Ali, Arian Molina Soca’s Conrad, Lillian DiPiazza’s Medora, Jermel Johnson’s Lankendem, Mayara Pineiro’s Gulnare, and Etienne Diaz’s Birbanto in last evening’s premiere.

The pressure of Corella’s past brilliance turned into inspiration for young Sterling Baca who was making his debut as Ali. He charged through his Act II solos like we have never seen him dance before. Ever. Baca has had impressive technique and power for a while now. But this sudden authority, fearlessness, and leadership on display was unexpected and nearly overwhelming to watch. Only in the end was he unprepared – for the ovation that the audience dealt him. His face registered a slight shock at the wave of cheers.

The glamour composite score of Arian Molina Soca and Lillian DiPiazza is simply off the charts. They could stand there twiddling their thumbs while gazing into each other’s eyes, and Haglund would be fascinated. Their bedroom PdD and the PdT with Baca’s Ali were heavenly. Soca’s manèges of aerial turning arabesques and arrow-like coupés jetés displayed an uncommon clarity and ease. What can we say about the beauty of his leg lines… They’re Cuban made – enough said. The effortless partnering, especially the spinning of DiPiazza’s pirouettes, brought gasps from the audience. Lillian, a beautiful dancer under the previous artistic director, is now in full bloom. She, too, exhibited a new authority in her dancing. Her lovely arabesque line has added height and length. Where before there was a sense of caution when approaching fancy technical matters, now there is confidence.

Jermel Johnson’s high-spirited Lankendem gave us those crazy elastic assembles that went right into grand plie. (Don’t try that at home.) There was a shade of Oberon’s over-confidence and conniving in his Lankendem. You’ll recall that Oberon sprinkled special flower powder on Titania that would cause her to fall in love with an ass. Here, Lankendem sprinkled insta-sleeping powder in a flower which he arranged to have couriered to Conrad via Medora. We’re not suggesting that Lord Byron got his idea from Shakespeare, but it is an interesting coincidence.

Mayara Pineiro danced a stunningly beautiful Gulnare. Delicate, warm, steely, plumbed and square as can be. She may turn out to be Corella’s greatest find. Also Cuban educated, her own harrowing story of defection is a testament to her will to survive and her love of the art form. Tomorrow afternoon Mayara debuts as Medora. Those lucky enough to have tickets will surely be in for a treat.

Etienne Diaz, a young corpsman who arrived at PA Ballet with Pineiro, is also Cuban born but was trained in the U.S. He possesses many qualities that remind us of Corella including a fiery intensity and urgency.  He’s quite short, but his lines have lengthened and straightened over the brief time that he has been with the company. As Birbanto – and like a very young Corella would – he sometimes applied more force than his placement would sustain. But he was exciting to watch and is definitely a name to look for in future castings.

The three-act production runs just over two hours with two intermissions. The production designs utilized a palette of burnished plum/rust with lots of gold and aptly conveyed an ancient Turkish time. Especially beautiful was one of Medora’s tutus that had a spectacular gold top layer.

In addition to PA Ballet’s sharp Corps de Ballet, elite students from The School of Pennsylvania Ballet danced in the production. In the Jardin Animée section of Act III, the small children nearly stole the show for a time. They ran out and dove into their choreography like one sees from students of NYC Ballet’s School of American Ballet – little stage animals, completely aware that everyone was looking at them instead of the grownup professionals behind them. The student dancers who were mixed in with the corps de ballet were excellent and indistinguishable from the professionals.

If there was a weakness observed in this production, it might have been the orchestration which sometimes killed the momentum of the action on the stage or did nothing to spur it on. Several different pieces of music with less engaging and less energetic melodies were used in Act I than is customarily heard in the ever-popular staging by Anna-Marie Holmes which is performed by ABT and Boston Ballet. We observed an ongoing problem of the ends of variations not meeting ends of music which we’ve noted before. Sometimes it appeared that the dancers fizzled while waiting around for the end of the music. Other times it was just the opposite problem — the music lagged or paused while waiting for the dancer. It really took the punch out of the moment, more so than if an outright mismatch of finish with music had occurred.

Le Corsaire has four three more performances this weekend (two on Saturday, one on Sunday) and then its final four performances begin next Friday. This is a "don’t miss” event if you are in or close to Philly.

The H.H. Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon Sterling Baca for his excellent debut as Ali. What joy it brought us to see him shine and to see the remarkable results of his past year of hard work.

Comments

[Kristen]

Thanks for the great review, Haglund. I also found it enjoyable. I saw both the Thursday night and Saturday matinee cast (Pineiro-Medora; Babayev-Conrad; Soca-Ali, Hughes-Gulnare). Like Thursday night, Pineiro and Soca were absolutely amazing. It's hard to be mad at all the turnover at PAB, when Corella has brought in amazing dancers like Mayara Pineiro. I thought Pineiro's Medora was even better than her Gulnare. Her Conrad was a corps dancer (Babayev) and he was also quite good (and can I just say how refreshing I find it that Corella gives younger dancers opportunities). I greatly enjoyed both Soca and Baca's Ali. As someone who lives quite close to the Academy of Music, I can't thank Kevin McKenzie enough for not promoting Baca and allowing him to flee to Philly. He has grown so much and it's a joy to watch him dance. I plan on seeing one more performance, because I need to see Baca's Conrad.

[Bryan]

Hello Haglund, high glycemic index for sure. I'm practially in sugar shock from attending opening night and the Saturday (March 11) matinee. An interesting tidbit that came from Angel Corella's preshow talk before the Saturday matinee - this is not an in-house production; PA Ballet is renting the sets and costumes. Upon inspecting the costume for Ali, Angel found himself dissatisfied with it, so he pulled out of storage the Ali trousers that he had as a keepsake from his career, that he had worn himself in many performances. The men dancing Ali in this production are not only receiving coaching from Angel, but literally wearing his costume!

I'm happy to report that the Saturday matinee cast was just as strong as the opening night cast. Mayara Pineiro was back as Medora, and she (arguably) has the best fouettes in the company. In act II, she was punctuating her fouettes with triple pirouettes at will. You could practically see the sparks flying off her pointe shoes. Arian Molina Soca was back as Ali, and the amplitude on his leaps was unreal. Ian Hussey and Alexandra Hughes had a wonderful Act I PdD as Lankendem and Gulnare, respectively. Aleksey Babayev was a heroic Conrad, and I don't think I've seen Craig Wasserman dance as well as he performed his Birbanto.

[Haglund]

Thanks, Kristen and Bryan. I knew I should have tried to get myself back on the Acela to Philly today. If the approaching snow storm wrecks my plans to go out to Orange County to see ABT's Whipped Cream next week, I'll definitely be hitting the rails to Philly to see more Le Corsaire.

Bryan, what a terrific story about Corella's dancers literally wearing his Ali pants! Imagine the effect that had on their psyches!

Kristen, I'm happy to hear that Aleksey Babayev did well and I hope he sticks around. (The press really tried to make a soap opera out of his parents leaving PAB's school to return full focus on their private school in Media, PA. It could not have been easy on him.) When he left PAB II to join the Stanislavsky, he danced the Bronze/Golden Idol in Makarova's La Bayadere, which was a role that Corella danced and has never been equaled except, perhaps, by the originator Johan Renvall. La Bayadere would be a huge undertaking for PAB, but they have the principal caliber right now, and I would not be surprised if it showed up during the 2018-2019 season. By then, all of these dancers will be the envy of the world.

[Kristen]

I didn't know he danced with the Stanislavsky. Explains why he appears so polished on stage. I thought he held his own technically next to Pineiro and Soca, which is no small feat.

[Haglund]

Kristen, here's a link to photographer Jack Devant's photos of Babayev as the Golden Idol: http://www.jackdevant.com/aleksey-babaev-as-golden-idol-in-la-bayadere/ By the way, he's dancing Ali this afternoon.

[Angelica Smith]

Wow, the gold paint really brings out Babaev's muscle definition! I'll know to look for that the next time I see Bayadere live.

[SherryD]

I saw the Friday night performance and was enchanted! Baca as Conrad and Maslova as Medora makes me hope that Angel will do an R&J with them in the title roles. They oozed young love! I loved the sets (as did the audience) and the costumes. I am going again on Friday to see Baca as Ali. The whole company did Angel proud. One of the great things the company does is offer a "Preludes" talk before each performance. It has always been of great interest. Why does ABT not do the same thing???

[Ellen]

Hi, Haglund,

I went down to Philly today for the Sunday matinee. My cast was Medora/Yuka Aseda, Conrad/Craig Wasserman, Gulnare/Nayara Lopes, Lankendem/Harrison Monaco, Ali/Aleksey Babayev and Birbanto/Etienne Diaz. Diaz is still applying too much force; he almost toppled to the floor at one point and had to put a hand down to save himself. The Odalisques were not in sync with each other. The overall impression was a few too many rocky moments. I'd say the afternoon was a solid B with a big A for effort. Aseda and Lopes were excellent; they had a bit more stage presence than the men. The men, especially Harrison Monaco, were just a little too lackadaisical in their entrances. Monaco was great in his mime and really sold his character, but only once he reached center stage. He just kind of ambled on, not making a strong impression from the first step. I think all these guys will mature into the roles. They just need more experience and I agree with Kristen that it is refreshing that Corella is giving all this young talent such opportunities. I'm glad I made the effort to get down to Philly to see this.

[Haglund]

SherryD, glad to hear that Baca and Maslova did so well on Friday night. Oksana Maslova has quite an instrument. Her feet are so hyper-arched and strong that she sometimes appears not to be wearing pointe shoes. Her Odalisque on opening night (the middle one) was gorgeous. She has a gymnast's capabilities with a classical ballerina's sensibilities - not a bad combination to have.

Ellen, how was Aleksey Babayev's Ali? It seems that much of the cast you saw (Monaco-Lankendem, Wasserman-Conrad, Lopes-Gulnare, Iseda-Medora) was the least experienced and is getting a single shot at their roles. But as everyone is saying, how great it is that Corella is giving them an opportunity to dance. I'm sorry not to be able to see Albert Gordon and Peter Weil who are trading off on Ali and Birbanto in four performances.

[Ellen]

Haglund,

Babayev was the best of the men, I think; he certainly got the most applause at the curtain calls, but then it is also the flashiest role. In terms of technique I can't say anything, since I have no ballet background; I can only say who made me go oooh and who didn't. The men all had solid B performances; no one had an OMG knock it out of the park moment, but all showed promise, which in and of itself was worth seeing. They lacked authority or as a friend put it, oomph. It wasn't their dancing that let the men down so much as it was their lack of stage training, in my opinion. Monaco needs to learn he can't start being Landendem when he starts miming to the Pasha; he needs to be Lankendem the second he appears on stage and he has to stride on purposefully, not just stroll on casually. All the men need to study clips (if they exist) of Alexander Minz stealing a whole act of Bayadere just by staying in character as the Rajah playing a game of chess on the side of the stage. One has to be always in character, even when the spotlight is on someone else. I saw enough promise in all these men to think that this will come when they have more experience, if they get the proper guidance, and I can only assume they will under the leadership of Corella.

Iseda and Lopes were the stars for me. They managed to take their one shot at the roles and go for it in a way the men didn't; they had command of the stage that the men lacked. It's their performances I take away from yesterday.

(Apologies if my previous post was a little incoherent; I was very tired when I finally got home last night.)

Ellen