Lakes have life cycles. Once a lake is formed by glacial, fault, or volcanic activity, it immediately begins to evolve through its life stages. The constantly changing balance of nutrients in the water affects which aquatic life thrives and which eventually succumbs to stress. And so it goes with ABT’s Swan Lake which has evolved through its 22 year run through constant, though not always careful management of its ecosystem. Years of replenishing with guest artists – an invasive species – proved fatal to parts of the natural habitat.
Of late, though, we’ve seen some stirrings of new life in ABT’s old lake. Skylar Brandt, in an astonishing Odette/Odile debut Wednesday evening, revealed every classical detail with remarkable clarity. As the music cued the iconic moments, she delivered the anticipated phrasing, poses, and temperament of both Odette and Odile as carefully set on her by Irina Dvorovenko and Max Beloserkovsky. Like the daughter whose mother insists on a high level of social courtesy in everyday life but who won’t come to realize the full value of those manners until she matures, we can expect Skylar’s interpretation of Odette to deepen as she absorbs what Irina and Max have so generously given her. Meanwhile, we are simply blown away by the delightful trickery of her Odile — a swindling Harold Hill in black sparkly tutu. Smooth and seductive, balancing brilliantly on her outrageous lie, and spinning a story with fast-talking fouettes, this Odile had little trouble getting Siegfried's wallet, watch, and Social Security number.
Skylar is the Odette/Odile that Herman Cornejo should have had much earlier in his career. She is now at a technical level where he was a dozen years ago. But they still make for an awesome match and for that, we are grateful. From his entrance at the top of the staircase to his fatal leap into the lake, Herman’s intensity and energy raised the level of the entire cast’s performance. All of sudden, everyone on stage had extra spark and color. If this was Herman’s local sign-off of Siegfried, it was a darned good one. There is still plenty of juice left in his legs and he delivered the requisite turns and leaps, if not always at the level of his youth. We felt Siegfried's anguish and confusion. His Act IV relentless quest for Odette sunk our spirits which had been soaring since Act II because, well, we already knew how it would turn out even if he didn’t.
The Wednesday matinee cast of Christine Shevchenko and Calvin Royal III enjoyed similar highs. Here we had a very different Odette - an old soul through whom we felt the sorrows of past Odettes. She brought our breathing to a stop with her exquisitely beautiful port de bras and the lengthening of lines that seemed to be pulled even longer by the generous conducting of Charles Barker. The gentle curves in her arabesques and attitudes were emotionally exposing. As Odile, Shevchenko maybe wasn’t as soulless or conniving as other Odiles, but she drew a clear distinction from her Odette. There were partnering issues that marred moments such as the famous line of step-over pirouettes that ends with a dramatic attitude pose. Odile ended up on two feet on the other side of Siggy. But the lifts in Act IV were incredible and all but made us forget about any of the awkwardness that preceded them.
This was Calvin Royal’s debut and at times he looked under pressure and his variations were under-powered. Given the fact that his second performance of Chaereas in Of Love And Rage was a spectacular improvement over the first one last week, we are confident that things will go much better for him at Monday’s matinee of Swan Lake. There was a sense of Calvin trying to figure out how Calvin fit into the character of Siegfried rather than simply adopting a theatrical characterization that has nothing to do with the performer’s own circumstances and empathies. Once on stage, it’s too late to be questioning what the character’s motivation is. But because the second performance of Chaereas was so strong, we don’t want to miss what might happen on July 4th.
The secondary principals, soloists and demis at the Wednesday performances were a mixed bag. Andrii Ishchuk’s conservative debut as Von Rothbard showed only a glimpse of what we can expect to come. He was hesitant to take the character over the top – which is an absolute must – but the dancing was quite fetching. In the evening, Gabe Stone Shayer chewed up the scenery rather successfully, we thought. It was our first time seeing a short-ish Von Rothbart; so it was kind of a shock. But somehow, Gabe made the character outlandish and cinematic, and it all worked well.
Thank goodness in the evening we stumbled upon Breanne Granlund in the Pas de Trois who seems to be that rare woman at ABT who can manage entrechat-six. What is going on here? How does someone get into the corps of ABT (or get hired back!) without being able to do a few entrechat-six in a row? Granlund, Zimmi Coker, and Patrick Frenette delivered a very respectable PdT full of verve and style. Frenette’s Benno was expertly danced and we look forward to finally seeing much more of him in significant roles. He has such danseur noble potential that it has been almost heartbreaking to see him underused for so long. However, there are a couple of issues that need to be addressed. First and foremost are the odd quick-changing facial expressions that look calculated & unnatural and a proclivity for over-emphasizing details that one does in class in order to get the message into the muscles but shouldn’t do on stage. Then there is the overuse of make-up. Frenette is unfairly handsome and doesn’t need excessive rouge and eye shadow to make that any more clear than it is. Why is ABT’s make-up team trying to make him look clownish?
The swan corps de ballet at each performance appeared well-drilled. The Cygnettes did not disappoint. And oh do we love the new Tutor who strode into the village: Ruben Martin (formerly of SFB, now JKO). Big, big theater chops. Hope to see more of him.
Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Louboutin crystal-embellished stiletto, is bestowed upon Skylar Brandt, Christine Shevchenko, and Irina Dvorovenko for packing such beauty and artistic integrity into ABT's Swan Lake.