When performed with blistering, glistening technique and imperial grandeur, Balanchine’s Theme and Variations will thrill like few other ballets in the repertory. At Wednesday’s matinee, Sarah Lane delivered the extraordinary moments, with some aid from Daniil Simkin, and proved for the umpteenth time that she is an artist in whom ABT should be investing for its future. Whether as the grand ballerina in Theme and Variations or the heart-stopping Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, she is an artist who brings us running back to the theater time and time again. She could be ABT’s world class ballerina who companies all over the world want on their stages, if only ABT would stop giving her dancing opportunities to inferior imported guests.
When the curtain rose, there was Sarah standing in the tightest, flattest fifth position that you’ll ever see. In contrast, the night before, Haglund observed while watching from the monitor in the Met’s gift shop that the import, Polina Semionova, must still hold the one-time popular philosophy of not “forcing” your fifth position. When dancing Balanchine in New York, Folks, make your fifth or be done away with.
In her variations, Sarah performed chainé turns with the tight positions and fast speed that we observe in Ashley Bouder at NYCB. Likewise, her arabesques just appeared without our seeing any effortful path to them. Her pointes were delicate, yet strong and accurate. Her lines from the tips of her fingers to the ends of her toes were unbroken by distractions. Her pirouettes were secure. Semionova, even with the aid of an embarrassingly glacial tempo, could not neatly finish pirouettes or always maintain her balance.
At this performance, Sarah seemed determined to have full confidence in Daniil’s partnering even when a couple of overhead lifts looked like they could go either way. Fortunately, he did not fail her, but it doesn't seem that he will ever be a danseur who loves showing off his ballerina, not when there exists the irresistible opportunity to show off himself. It is unclear why Daniil thinks that striking an arabesque on DEMI POINTE and holding the pose instead of finishing the choreography is so awesome. An arabesque balance on DEMI POINTE – really? What 12-year-old girl at SAB or JKO can’t do that? To his credit, he managed a series of double tours/double pirouettes cleanly, and going forward, we will of course expect to see them every time. In contrast, the evening before, James Whiteside nearly fell on his face trying to complete the series with single pirouettes and bumbled other turns as well. Let’s all lift our ABT glasses for a toast to more classroom practice.
It’s almost too difficult to talk about what ABT has done to Balanchine’s Duo Concertant. A few years ago, Maria Riccetto made ABT proud with sparkling and vibrant dancing in this brief ballet. Yesterday, Paloma Herrera danced with such artificial sweetness and was so mellowed-out that she seemed Prozacchrine. Maybe when she was standing behind the piano with James Whiteside, she was thinking how far her career has tumbled. Once she had the most brilliant dancers on the planet as her partners – Bocca, Corella, and Carreno – who inspired her to deliver equally brilliant performances. Now her career has come down to Whiteside – whose face was made up as though he belonged in Gaite Parisienne and who is a freakish-looking, Marfanish specimen on the ballet stage. But it was really impossible to tell what was going through Paloma’s mind. All that can be said is that her performance was a total sleepwalk. She could not even manage clarity in the opening arm movements. This most gifted dancer, another artist who should have become the toast of the classical world, has been failed by insufficient, uninspired, undemanding coaching at ABT. McKenzie could never see past the beauty of Paloma’s feet and legs to demand artistry and classicism in her upper body. He expected all of us to be so blown away with what was under the tutu that we wouldn’t care about what was above it. Today, he repeats the same foolish mistakes with the unprepossessing Isabella Boylston.
Gaite Parisienne received an enthusiastic performance from all. Christian Lacroix’s costume designs – a brilliant collection of what doesn’t fit together but somehow does – are as interesting and fun to see as they were decades ago. Haglund thinks that the ABTers handled Gaite Parisienne as well or better than the Paris Opera Ballet might handle Agnes De Mille’s Rodeo. The corps de ballet had more spirit – if too wholesome – than the original corps from this revival decades ago during which the ladies shouted really lame woo-hoos during the can-can. But this is a ballet that could use a little crowd banter on stage – kind of like what the National Ballet of Cuba does in Don Quixote – but in French, of course.
Craig Salstein pretty much stole the show with his Peruvian. At one point, he was observed upstage behind the main dancing lying on his back with his feet and hands up in the air quite possibly begging for a tummy rub. His oily optimism in winning the not-to-be caught Glove Seller, portrayed by the ever-teasing, might-go-left-or-might-go-right Veronika Part, gave him the slick & slither of a Fuller Brush salesman from the 1950s. Veronika was selling exactly what all the men wanted to buy – and also gloves. But it was the guy wearing the most amount of pink who won her heart, at least for the moment. Jared Matthews was Veronika’s fantastic partner who lifted her with such ease and security, and supported her turns with the skill of Ivan Nagy supporting a much taller Cynthia Gregory. His own dancing, always in character with clean, unforced technique, was a pure joy to watch.
Misty Copeland was a charming flower girl with sparkling personality and vibrant dancing. Christine Shevchenko in her flag-colored can-can dress led the ladies with high spirit and a dizzying twirl of fouettes and jetes en manege. Eric Tamm’s dancing master was another highlight. He vaulted and swaggered in front of the crowd always with an eye to what was going on behind him. He danced handsomely as a demi-soloist in Theme and Variations, too. Some of the other men – Luis Ribagorda and Calvin Royal in particular – looked so good and had such handsome lines in their white tights that it stunned the eyes. Why isn’t this Ribagorda matched up with his wife, Sarah Lane, in principal roles? What a loss.
All in all, nobody really got their money’s worth in this rep program. Only El Cheapo ABT would try to claim that Duo Concertant is one-third of a performance. Even with a late start to the matinee, a very long intermission, long pauses before the curtain came back up for bows after each ballet – still, we were out of the theater before 4pm. Cheap cheap cheap.
But Haglund is not going to go cheap on the Pump Bump Award. Not for Sarah Lane who deserves so much more. Her perfect fifth position and luminous performance in Theme and Variations earns her this diamond-encrusted First Position Pump Bump Award from the House of Borgezie which everyone else can buy for $337,000 + tax.
8 responses to “ABT – T&V, Duo Concertant, Gaite – 5/21 mat”
Not forcing your fifth position is something applied to training children (or anyone) very new to ballet, in order to develop their ability and strength to control and hold their turnout the correct way, with the correct alignment. But not to professional dancers who have already long completed their training and are anything but new to ballet. Even less so when these professionals are principal dancers at a major company.
A very very tight fifth position is among the things that I can ignore if I don’t get it, in case the dancer has something great to offer otherwise, something which more than makes up for it. And Polina is in a position where she is not only bland in my eyes, but there are also others with fewer opportunities who cannot only offer the tighter fifth position, but all the extras that go into the whole package as well.
Though, taking a look at all the other sad stuff going on at ABT, one can still be glad that Polina is at least only bland and doesn’t have that kind of freakish mannerisms.
Not forcing your fifth position is something applied to training children (or anyone) very new to ballet, in order to develop their ability and strength to control and hold their turnout the correct way, with the correct alignment. But not to professional dancers who have already long completed their training and are anything but new to ballet. Even less so when these professionals are principal dancers at a major company.
A very very tight fifth position is among the things that I can ignore if I don’t get it, in case the dancer has something great to offer otherwise, something which more than makes up for it. And Polina is in a position where she is not only bland in my eyes, but there are also others with fewer opportunities who cannot only offer the tighter fifth position, but all the extras that go into the whole package as well.
Though, taking a look at all the other sad stuff going on at ABT, one can still be glad that Polina is at least only bland and doesn’t have that kind of freakish mannerisms.
Hi, Kallima.
True, a tight fifth position may not be necessary for non-Balanchine rep all the time. In New York where the standard for dancing Balanchine is currently very high at NYCB, it simply isn’t acceptable to offer a substandard version on the stage next door. ABT really needs to up its game and put its real Balanchine ballerinas on stage more often.
Kallima, did you get to the Stuttgart recently?
Hi, Kallima.
True, a tight fifth position may not be necessary for non-Balanchine rep all the time. In New York where the standard for dancing Balanchine is currently very high at NYCB, it simply isn’t acceptable to offer a substandard version on the stage next door. ABT really needs to up its game and put its real Balanchine ballerinas on stage more often.
Kallima, did you get to the Stuttgart recently?
Haglund, I’ve been an admirer of yours for some time now, and I’d like to thank you for your wonderful review. I attended the 5/21 matinee performance too, specifically to see Sarah Lane, my favorite dancer. With the exception of Herman Cornejo, Lane is the only ABT performer I will pay money to see, and I try never to miss her performances. I love her classicism, perfectionism, and her ability to radiate joy through dance, which is in short supply at ABT right now. I made certain to see both her Sleeping Beauty performances, six years apart, and still marvel at how much she’s grown as a dancer, how much richer and nuanced her dancing has become. I was so blown away by that amazing, vibrant Aurora of hers last year that I still describe it to friends and family as “holiday fireworks onstage” (it was a July 3 show I recall). You can well imagine how utterly dumbfounded I was when the critic from the NY Times described her as “losing steam” in the second half. It made me wonder if I had attended the same show he did. Later on, I wondered if he had actually been there at all. I was really looking forward to yesterday’s T&V with Lane & Cornejo, the “dream team,” and was so disappointed when he was replaced by Simkin. The only time I’ve ever seen Lane falter on stage was because of someone’s poor partnering, and usually that partner is Simkin. Thankfully he didn’t drop her this time, but I always cringe when he attempts a lift. I was rather impressed by his performance yesterday; I thought he managed to check his ego and grin at the door and performed Balanchine rather than Simkin-flavored Balanchine. I’m really looking forward to Lane’s Coppelia next week, notwithstanding another turn with Simkin, but after yesterday I feel that there’s hope for him in the future as he matures and becomes less of a merry prankster and more of a serious artist. Keep up the excellent work with your blog; it’s great to know there are others out there who are also dismayed at the lack of recognition afforded to Lane and so many other wonderful artists at ABT.
Haglund, I’ve been an admirer of yours for some time now, and I’d like to thank you for your wonderful review. I attended the 5/21 matinee performance too, specifically to see Sarah Lane, my favorite dancer. With the exception of Herman Cornejo, Lane is the only ABT performer I will pay money to see, and I try never to miss her performances. I love her classicism, perfectionism, and her ability to radiate joy through dance, which is in short supply at ABT right now. I made certain to see both her Sleeping Beauty performances, six years apart, and still marvel at how much she’s grown as a dancer, how much richer and nuanced her dancing has become. I was so blown away by that amazing, vibrant Aurora of hers last year that I still describe it to friends and family as “holiday fireworks onstage” (it was a July 3 show I recall). You can well imagine how utterly dumbfounded I was when the critic from the NY Times described her as “losing steam” in the second half. It made me wonder if I had attended the same show he did. Later on, I wondered if he had actually been there at all. I was really looking forward to yesterday’s T&V with Lane & Cornejo, the “dream team,” and was so disappointed when he was replaced by Simkin. The only time I’ve ever seen Lane falter on stage was because of someone’s poor partnering, and usually that partner is Simkin. Thankfully he didn’t drop her this time, but I always cringe when he attempts a lift. I was rather impressed by his performance yesterday; I thought he managed to check his ego and grin at the door and performed Balanchine rather than Simkin-flavored Balanchine. I’m really looking forward to Lane’s Coppelia next week, notwithstanding another turn with Simkin, but after yesterday I feel that there’s hope for him in the future as he matures and becomes less of a merry prankster and more of a serious artist. Keep up the excellent work with your blog; it’s great to know there are others out there who are also dismayed at the lack of recognition afforded to Lane and so many other wonderful artists at ABT.
Thanks, Laurel.
Yes, that Sleeping Beauty of Sarah’s will live in the memory for a long, long time. Here’s hoping that she and Stella not only are awarded Auroras next year in the new Ratmansky production but receive the premieres on the West Coast and in New York.
Thanks, Laurel.
Yes, that Sleeping Beauty of Sarah’s will live in the memory for a long, long time. Here’s hoping that she and Stella not only are awarded Auroras next year in the new Ratmansky production but receive the premieres on the West Coast and in New York.