ABT – Symphony in Zzzzzzzzzz – 4/10

Haglund and his friend settled into their seats for a cozy three and a half hour ride down to Washington DC on the pokey Amtrak Northeast Regional to attend ABT's second evening of repertory works.  At about the one hour mark, we had eaten all the food we brought with us, drank our water bottles dry, and had run out of things to talk about.  At a train stop somewhere in South Jersey, a bunch of passengers boarded and made their ways down the aisle in search of empty seats.  A tall distinguished looking gentleman of about 50 years old walked by wearing a neat bow tie, suspenders, and sporting a cropped, gray beard.

Haglund's friend:    That's Carl Lewis who just walked by!
Haglund:                 No way.
Haglund's friend:    I'm sure of it.  It was Carl Lewis.
Haglund:                Carl Lewis?  (Laptop flips open. Tap, tap, tap W-i-k-i-p-e-d-i-a)
                            OMG. You're right.  It's Carl Lewis!

As soon as the train car door shut securely, we tripped down the aisle toward the back looking for him.

Haglund's friend:      Mr. Lewis, Mr. Lewis, did you hear that Natalia Osipova jumped to
                                the Royal Ballet?
Mr. Lewis raised a single eyebrow toward us:  How many feet?
Haglund's friend:      Two feet.  She just jumped to the Royal Ballet in London.
Mr. Lewis:                 She jumped to London?  That's a heckuva lot farther than two feet. 
                                 Somebody should probably check her for illegal use of
                                bronchodilators. 
Haglund's friend:     Yeah, okay.  Uh, Mr. Lewis, shouldn't you really be on the Acela?
Mr. Lewis:                 That was then, and this is now.

We scored a round of fist pumps with him and went back to our seats.

To be truthful, everything that happened after we checked Wikipedia is really a little fuzzy, but there's no doubt that Carl Lewis was on the train with us today.

Upon arriving in DC, it became immediately apparent that government cuts were in full swing:

It was hot as this picture taken from the Potomac's shore suggests:

Yes, yes, yes, there was some mighty hot dancing at the Kennedy Center along with some that fizzled as well.  So, let's get to the good and the not so good.

The New York City Ballet refers to Symphony in C as their signature piece.  They spend oodles of money, time, and effort keeping it in tiptop shape.  It is an absolute thrill to watch them tackle it at Mach speeds like only they can do.  In the past year or so, NYCB has presented many spectacular performances of the ballet in their brilliant new Swarovski costumes.  They have set the bar very high where this ballet is concerned, and while some of the leads fielded by ABT tonight were competitive with what NYCB fields, the corps and most of the demi-soloists were not.

The 1st Movement was led brilliantly by Stella Abrera and Eric Tamm.  This woman is a world class ballerina who simply and tragically isn't getting the respect, recognition, or opportunities that she deserves from ABT.  She offered the most authentic, most secure interpretation among the four movements tonight.  Her legs stretched and reached far for their points.  She took delight in the off balance maneuvers and relished in their risk.  Her feet were crystal clear and her pointes were prickly. Her whole performance was, in a nutshell, beautifully authentic and alive.  Eric Tamm was her excellent and noble partner who banged out some pretty nice triple pirouettes with saute grand ronde jambe.  His jumps had beautiful shapes, and he had loads of charisma. 

The dancing of the corps and demi soloists in the 1st Movement was at times musically ragged and most of the time very, very small.  There was no stretch or reach of the legs, no sense of willingness to go beyond the comfort zone.  The exceptions to this unhappy scene were Courtney Lavine and Melanie Hamrick (3rd Mvmt) who possessed the energy that one expects to see in a Balanchine ballet.  Some of the costumes didn't even appear properly fitted.  Throughout the night, the pointe shoes were terribly noisy.  When the ladies performed grand jetes, particularly in the 3rd Movement, one heard clearly that they all were landing at different points on the music.

Speaking of the music, ABT managed to find an even worse horn player for this tour.  Maybe the corps and demi-soloists in the 1st Movement were off their games because they knew the dreadful, sour notes were coming.  It was horrible, just horrible.  Beginning now and going forward, these people get named, because when their work stinks it reflects poorly on the artists on stage.  According to the Playbill, the principal horn players were John Peiffer and Peter de Boor.  Speaking of the Playbill, what a dreadful moment it was to see Vasiliev as Ali on the cover instead of one of ABT's own dancers.  He's also featured on huge posters inside the Kennedy Center which were sickening to see.  What a way to devalue your own dancers, ABT, way to go.

The 2nd Movement as led by Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes had all the dreaminess, grandeur, sensitivity, and sensuality that marks this most perfect partnership.  Veronika was completely secure in her variations including the rapid double pirouettes in the coda.  Her performance was marked with gorgeous arabesque lines, wonderful battement fouettes that finished at their height instead of boinging up and dropping down, a deep relationship with the music, perfect harmony in her positions, and that ultimate communication with her partner.  Marcelo was in the unusual position of not having to carry an entire ballet on his shoulders as he must do frequently.  It was refreshing to see that he could still embed himself in the ensemble as so much of Balanchine's work requires its principals to do.  He looked great at the apex of the triangle of men in black performing huge sissonnes in the finale.  His lifts of Veronika made her seem light as a feather.

Quibbles with the Second Movement included the first entrance from the middle wing instead of the upstage corner.  It seemed a little odd and was much, much less dramatic.  Also, the final moments when Veronika lowered into Marcelo's arms while he rotated around didn't seem to end quite the way it should have.  It was a little labored and the ending pose where the ballerina bends her back over the man's knee was decidedly turned toward the audience way too early. 

Yuriko Kayjia and Joseph Gorak led the 3rd Movement with bright energy.  There was some awkwardness in the partnering, and they didn't seem particularly well matched for grand allegro.  Yuriko has very respectable elevation, but Joe's is so extraordinary that the image of them jumping together sometimes seemed out of balance.  The noise from the corps's shoes in this section was really obnoxious. 

Simone Messmer and Craig Salstein started the fireworks of the 4th Movement.  Simone's hair or wig looked like it was out of Ashton's Birthday Offering – way too elaborate for this particular party.  It may seem like a small matter to complain about, but it was distracting to her overall performance.  Simone's allegro had a nice snap to it.  The diagonally moving line of pirouettes with renverse was serviceable but nothing more.  That difficult movement of pirouette, open the leg to the side and end on the knee was not the stunning moment that it's intended to be.  Craig's grand allegro was noticeable for its energy, clean lines, and elevation which would have also looked nice in the 3rd Movement opposite Yuriko.  There is something immediately likable about him when he arrives on stage — maybe it's a strong connection to the audience — and he makes you pay attention instantly to what he is doing, not just that he's on stage jumping around.

The coda wasn't too bad.  Spacing was off and there was no space-devouring energy in the corps and demi-soloists.  The four sets of principals were more along the lines of two sets on the left and two sets on the right in terms of coordination.  It wasn't marred badly, but it wasn't the quality of what we see at NYCB.

While there were some fine principal performances, it is painfully clear that ABT's version of Symphony in C doesn't compare favorably with what we are accustomed to seeing at NYCB.  It's not a matter of just being different; it's a matter of style and quality in the corps and demi-soloists.  What a mistake it will be to present this JC Penney knock-off at the Met this spring.

The Moor's Pavane was riveting with its cast of Roman Zhurbin, Thomas Forster, Simone Messmer, and Xiomara Reyes.  As has been a problem with past performances at the Kennedy Center, the stage didn't have enough light.  From the balcony, the red dress didn't make the impression that it did on the City Center stage.  But Simone was quite wonderful while wearing it.  She didn't have the dramatic weight that Veronika Part had at City Center last fall when she stole the show, but it was a moving portrayal.  The piece is a brilliant concoction of drama, music, and movement — one of the most perfect dance dramas in ABT's rep.  Hopefully, we'll see it again this fall when the company moves to the Koch Theater.

Haglund couldn't stay for the Ratmansky Symphony #9 because he had to make the last evening train back to New York or else wait in Union Station until 3:15am for the next one. 

The Pump Bump Award, a Swarovski design, is bestowed upon Stella Abrera, a brilliant artist who has yet to have her rightful spotlighted moment on stage in spite of the fact that her talents and accomplishments exceed so much of the riff-raff that ABT pushes at us.