These are my 'official' reviews for BalletTalk. I will supplement them with less official impressions as time allows.
Donizetti/Faun/Midsummer/Agon
6 March 2010, 1:30 PM
Eisenhower Theater, Kennedy Center
Orchestra R109
I would like to gibber incoherently for a moment at the truly excellent quality of dancing by the company. These dancers seem genuinely happy to be dancing, and that joy permeated their performance and made their steps glow.
Donizetti Variations is a piece that, were I to hear it too many times, would likely incite me to shoot my stereo system. On a faint acquaintance, however, it is merely relentlessly happy and looks as if the Paquita grand pas de deux had been transplanted into Act One of Giselle. The May Queen (Kendra Mitchell) welcomed us to view her courtiers (romanticised peasants all) as they showed off their fine ankles and calves in various permutations of humanity.
Mitchell's May Queen was content to let her court frolic, but her courtiers knew that they celebrated at her sufferance. For those slightly unclear, one good solo soon settled who was boss. In comparison, Michael Cook's performance was less authoritative. The technical demands of his solo looked as if they had defeated him, but his determination to _finish_ reminded me of Albrecht amidst the Willis. The trumpet joke, as Jack noted, was muted, but it worked out fairly well once the audience figured out what was going on.
There's nothing quite like a beautiful set of muscles rippling into awareness as the Faun began his exercises for the day. Mladenov, substituting for Henning, capitalized on his height in every languid stretch and pose, creating stark shapes that resonated in afterimages long after the performance ended. This Faun was clearly and comfortably the ruler of his little domain, but it was clear that he wanted (or anticipated) something unexpected to break up the monotony.
Mirroring Mladenov's anticipation, Magnicaballi carried herself like an unfurled flag. I thought she nearly vibrated with suppressed excitement as she entered the studio, subtly shifting the Faun's fascination from his reflection to the awareness of something 'other' (and similarly beautiful) in those mirrors. Their awareness of each other was like a physical entity keeping them in orbit around each other, which in turn seemed to diminish the initial impact of meeting each other's eyes due to its inevitability. Instead, the real shock was reserved for the moment that they managed to break their study of each other, back to a less complicated admiration of their reflections together. When the Girl finally flees, it seemed like an affirmation, of both rejecting the complication and intensity of being together. Instead the Faun goes back to sleep, content with a faint memory of the girl and the dangerous temptation of kissing.
Violeta Angelova and Ted Seymour substituted for the Act II pas de deux from Midsummer. The choreography is unexpectedly delicate despite the difficult partnering, and seemed to show (with greater feats of trust in each other) that the dancers' affections and destinies are intertwined. I would like to say more, but unfortunately was defeated by the lighting, with whom I was in unwitting competition.
Agon, already difficult musically, was more than a little off in my only viewing this weekend. The trumpet was ahead in the music in spots and the woodwinds' tuning seemed wholly discordant instead of merely dissonant. The first pas de quatre opened with a short definition of open and closed positions and needed greater clarity from synchronisation. Overall the corp gave a very competent performance. The choreography flowed organically though I think some of the shapes (amidst the confusion of limbs) could be, again, better defined.
In the first Pas de Trois, Michael Cook danced on the edge of restraint. If this were a contest then he definitely won in energy but not refinement against Holowchuk and Brandt. In fact this was a recurring theme throughout the two performances that I saw - that he had the _idea_ of execution, but that his performance of it wasn't as clear as his energy alone would allow.
Violeta Angelova shone in the second pas de trois. Her Bransle Gay flowed languidly from one position from another, achieving impossibly etched positions and sharp angles without becoming staccato in her phrasing. The juxtaposition was a great reading of the choreography and marks it as a performance to remember.
Mladenov and Magnicaballi are well-matched in essentials, both being long of limbs and bursting with dance intelligence. They did not dance the pas de deux as a competition in brute strength and flexibility (and given the advances in training over the past fifty years, nor should they), but instead treated it as an challenge in projecting ambiguity. Who dictates the moves? Who decides what comes next?
The pas began as a simple contest between Mladenov and Magnicaballi in asserting dominance, with Magnicaballi willingly - even gladly - losing. But as Magnicaballi is bent into a back attitude against Mladenov's shoulder, she bends just a bit further and presses into his face. Mladenov flinched, as if realizing (with more than a little apprehension) that perhaps his victory had not been as clear-cut nor as desirable as he had thought.
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