Where Were You Sitting?

Style Points

"Giselle"
The Kirov Ballet of the Maryinsky Theatre
Opera House, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC, USA
June 13 & 15, 2006

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright ©2006, Alexandra Tomalonis

There were moments this weekend when the Kirov’s corps de ballet danced with such sweet, sonorous uniformity — arms joined in a heartless meandering line to point Hans (Hilarion to the rest of the world) to his doom, bodies as alike as sisters and as individual as only beautifully trained dancers can be — that all seemed right with the world. It wasn't perfect. The company’s production of “Giselle” looks musty and under directed; mime speeches we don’t need are there in full while those we do need are cut or muffled, some of the costumes are gorgeous while others are way past their prime, and, most important, the second act is danced like an abstract ballet, totally devoid of drama. But at its best the corps breathes life into this old, Romantic ballet. During the curtain calls Thursday night, Daria Pavlenko and Igor Kolb, who had danced Giselle and Albrecht, each went to a corner of the stage, turned, and bowed to the corps, and the tribute was indeed well-deserved.

A Cacophony of Notions

"Swan Lake"
The National Ballet of Canada
Opera House
John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts
Washington, DC,
January 19, 2006

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright ©2006 by Alexandra Tomalonis

Occasionally in these troubled times, friends will read the news, sigh and say, “Maybe it’s time to move to Canada.” A tempting thought. But, then, they haven’t seen the National Ballet of Canada's “Swan Lake.”

The production, by former Artistic Director James Kudelka, was the sole ballet in repertory for a week's worth of performances by NBoC last week. It was billed as a traditional version and the photographs the company provided do catch the odd minute or two when the production recalls "Swan Lake," but aside from the music, of course, the characters' names and the general scheme of the acts, the production has been rechoreographed (Kudelka even messes with the usually sacrosanct Ivanov second act) and the story is obscured by a proliferation of notions. The result is a "Swan Lake" that is sadly unmagical.

A Nearly Lost Masterpiece Settles In: "Balanchine's Don Quixote"

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet (with The National Ballet of Canada)
Opera House, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC, USA
June 23 and June 25, 2005 (matinee)

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright ©2005 by Alexandra Tomalonis

For those of us who hadn’t seen Balanchine’s “Don Quixote” when it was in the repertory of the New York City Ballet in the 1960s and ‘70s, this week was a wonderful opportunity to discover a “new” Balanchine ballet. It’s a very rich, complex work, and it’s not surprising that the opening night performance lacked detail. The ballet had begun to tighten at its second performance Thursday; by the Saturday matinee (the last I saw) it was definitely beginning to jell.

Awesome Moves, Dudes!

"Le Corsaire "
Kirov Ballet of the Maryinsky Theatre
Opera House
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
July 5, 6 and 9 (matinee), 2005

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright ©2005 by Alexandra Tomalonis

When the Kirov Ballet brought its sumptuous, lovingly camped up production of “Le Corsaire” to the Kennedy Center about 15 years ago it was a marvel. The company had turned a 19th century tale of pirates and slave traders and harem girls that audiences had then found “beautiful and moving” into an over-the-top melodrama, and before you had a chance to be nonplussed by this, the dancers charmed you into submission. If anything could be called an All Star Extravaganza, this was it; a performance from that era starring Altynai Asylmuratova, Evgeny Neff, Konstantin Zaklinsky, Faruk Ruzimatov, and Elena Pankova is now out on DVD and it’s well worth watching. Sadly, it’s also a reminder that the Kirov is a very different company now.

Glamour Girls

"Swan Lake"
American Ballet Theatre
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC, USA
February 12 (matinee) and 13 (matinee), 2005

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright © 2005 by Alexandra Tomalonis

American Ballet Theatre did pay tribute to the Forties (the stated theme of the Kennedy Center this year) after all. The two ballerinas dancing “Swan Lake” at this week-end’s matinees— Michele Wiles, in her debut Saturday with Maxim Beloserkovsky, and Veronika Part, dancing with Marcelo Gomes on Sunday— both have the kind of glamour girl looks of '40s stage and screen actresses. Wiles is a big blonde with a gorgeous 90-degree arabesque; Part is that rarest of creatures, the vulnerable seductress. It’s easy to imagine her slinking around nightclubs in World War II movies, falling in love with young pilots while cold-bloodedly fingering spies.

Weekend Debuts

New York City Ballet
"Theme and Variations", "The Four Temperaments", "I'm Old Fashioned"
Opera House, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC, USA
March 5, 2005 (matinee)

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright ©2005 by Alexandra Tomalonis

It's been an uneven week. An exciting "Glass Pieces" Thursday, and a glorious "Divertimento No. 15" Friday; a decidedly less than glorious "Theme and Variations" opening night. Last year, the trouble spot was "Concerto Barocco;" this year it was "Theme." Perhaps Andrea Quinn's conducting, which surely broke a speed record, was partly to blame. Saturday afternoon, she outraced the orchestra for a few seconds, let alone the dancers. But there were too many stumbles, too many falls off pointe, at both performances of "Theme" that I saw to be accidental. The ballet didn't look particularly underrehearsed, just badly underdanced by the corps and soloists. They don't seem to have the technical strength to get through it.

What We See is What We See

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright © 2004 by Alexandra Tomalonis

Judged by the Washington ballet audience’s response to last week’s visit of the New York City Ballet, the one act ballet isn’t dead yet. Nor is it necessary to do pop ballet to sell out the house; I saw only a handful of empty seats in the orchestra back. After a season where several companies played to less than full houses and tickets were released to the half-price booths to fill seats, this must have been welcome news to the Kennedy Center and ballet lovers here alike. And what a nice 100th birthday present: Balanchine sells!

Glimpses of Romanticism

"Giselle"
American Ballet Theatre
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC, USA
February 1, 2005

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright © 2005 by Alexandra Tomalonis

American Ballet Theatre opened its Kennedy Center run (two weeks this year!) with “Giselle,” currently its most solid production of the 19th century classics. This “Giselle” (staging uncredited) is choreographically sound and blessedly bereft of fashionably kinky notions, either of design or dramaturgy. The characters retain their original genders and are complex free, and there’s a serious attempt by the company to capture the spirit of Romanticism.

Wasn't It a Time?

Wasn't It a Time?
New York City Ballet's Forties Night

"Theme and Variations," "The Four Temperaments," "I'm Old Fashioned"
New York City Ballet
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
March 2, 2005

By Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright ©2005 by Alexandra Tomalonis

Every time I see Balanchine’s “The Four Temperaments” I’m astonished at how modern it looks and wonder what it looked like to an audience when it was new (aside from the quickly discarded elaborate costumes; I mean the bones of it). Its spare construction and poetic imagery must have been a shock in 1946, when the Ballets Russes’ character and demi-caractere ballets were the standard fare.

Song and Dance

Song and Dance

"Kirov Spectacular"
The Kirov Ballet, Opera and Orchestra of the Maryinsky Theater
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
January 18, 2005

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright © 2005 by Alexandra tomalonis

When the Kennedy Center announced a few seasons ago that its President, Michael Kaiser, had signed the Kirov Ballet for ten years of annual appearances, it seemed not only a personal coup for Kaiser, but the beginning of a much needed renaissance of Kennedy Center ballet programming. The modern dance series was consistently bringing a good mix of established and lesser known companies; it seemed there was always something interesting going on. But the ballet season had been a dispiriting run of “Draculas,” “Merry Widows,” and their ilk, and Washington was being treated by visiting companies as a very provincial tour stop. Bringing the Kirov every year would turn this all around, showing audiences the highest standard of excellence in classical dancing.  That was the theory, and it was a sound one. Somehow, though, it hasn’t turned out that way, at least not yet.