ABT – La Bayadère – Kennedy Center 2/4

Haglund is risking life and limb to file this report on last night's unbelievable performance of La Bayadere at The Kennedy Center.  It's 5:34 am here on the Amtrak 150 heading from Union Station in DC home to New York.  That may not sound so bad except for the fact that this train's terminating point is Boston and this Quiet Car is loaded with Patriots fans.  It could get ugly at any moment –  even another Patriot Act gone haywire.  Even.

Saturday night's cast of Veronika Part, Marcelo Gomes, and Stella Abrera was the strongest cast that ABT can currently field in La Bayadere, but unfortunately it is not a cast that will be presented during the week of La Bayaderes for the 2012 Met season.  So there was a sense of urgency about getting down to Washington DC to see this remarkable trio – you never know when it will be your last chance ever to do so.

As Nikiya, Veronika embodied the soul of the temple dancer whose love for Solor was so deep that she would rather die than go on living without him.  In Act I her torso quivered and pulsed with passion as she danced with the water vase around the sacred fire.  The agony in her heart was palpable as she performed at the grand celebration of the engagement of Solor and Gamzatti.  The classic PdD with the long scarf in Act II was glorious.  Those difficult en dedans turns with the scarf in hand went off without a hitch.  The double pirouettes concluding in arabesque during the variation were less precise, but Veronika did not hesitate in executing them.  Act III saw Nikiya's spirit in soaring grand jetes, desperate to disrupt the wedding of Solor and Gamzatti.   It may be that all of the hard work involved in that most difficult Ratmansky choreography in The Nutcracker has made Veronika much more secure in at least one of her signature Petipa roles.

Marcelo worked his Solor magic on the rather stiff Washington DC crowd.  By nature, this audience is no where nearly as passionate about ABT as the Met audience in Manhattan.  Midway through Act II, Marcelo launched into overdrive and when he ended a variation to the knee and threw his head back nearly to the floor, the audience became unglued.  His series of double saute de basques, each one a Xerox copy of the last, were as pretty as they could possibly be. 

Of the three principals, Solor must work the hardest: PdDs with both Nikiya and Gamzatti all night long and huge, taxing variations of his own.  Marcelo pretty much carried the show on his broad shoulders – as he seems to be doing more and more lately.  He performed five times during the course of ABT's six day run at the Kennedy Center, including two full length roles.  Now, he's off to London to fill in a cast for a performance of The Dream at The Royal Ballet, an emergency created by Sergei Polunin's sudden resignation which was fueled by the RB's inability to release him to accept ABT's  and other companies' invitations to dance.  It's a great opportunity for Marcelo, but he's adding to his huge workload because ABT is out creating mayhem in the dance world by throwing around its Koch money at guest artists instead of nurturing the talent within its ranks.

The highlight of the evening was seeing Stella Abrera return to action after spending the fall at the Royal New Zealand Ballet starring as Aurora in more than ten performances of that company's massive new full length production of Sleeping Beauty.  The positive impact of her stint down under where she had several fine coaches watching over her was immediately evident.  Most notably, the strength and stability in her arabesque position that Solor maneuvered in a promenade was impressively solid and unwavering, and the shape of the arabesque itself was classically curved much like Julie Kent's lovely line.  It has been way too long since we've seen Stella's Gamzatti.  Even from her very first performance in this role, her variation in Act III has always been the most heartfelt, passionate interpretation that Haglund has ever seen. Her portrayal of Gamzatti last night was a multi-layered, intricately shaded characterization that not only showed Gamzatti's steely side, but also her human need for love, her passion, and her willingness to do whatever it took to land Solor where she wanted him.  It was a most thorough and detailed characterization conveyed via beautifully shaped dancing. 

Stella's Italian fouettes were perfect, as expected.  However, an exit that was supposed to be composed of repeated grand jetes looked a little awkward, like she was trying to modulate them from small to large but the music was too slow for her to do that.  But then she returned to execute her regular fouettes to the left.  They weren't as pretty as when she does them to the right, but they were serviceable.  Perhaps the objective was to not use the same supporting leg for both the Italian and regular fouettes.  Nonetheless, Stella is one of the strongest and most complete artists in the company and has long deserved promotion to principal and a chance to dance the role of Nikiya. 

The corps de ballet danced very well as Shades but less well in The Candle Dance.  That one unlighted candle that someone always has to hold is really getting under my skin.  This time, Courtney Lavine had to carry it.  Why in blazes can't ABT get all of its lights on when it's time for The Candle Dance?  

As the line of Shades descended the ramp and began winding around the stage, Haglund became fixated on watching the first Shade's foot, which belonged to Gemme Bond, as it peeled off the floor on its way to arabesque.  You could actually see the articulation of her foot through her shoe box. 

Craig Salstein's Bronze Idol is definitely making great progress.  He's got a good handle on the start-stop movement quality that both Herman Cornejo and Angel Corella mastered beyond what seemed humanly possible.  Their's are big shoes to fill, but Craig may end up doing that this year in the Bronze Idol IF he can get enough performances, and IF McKenzie doesn't give the role to Ms. Osipova.  Not kidding. 

The week during the Met season when ABT presents La Bayadere usually hits Haglund's wallet pretty hard, because it's one of his favorite ballets and the company's bonafide members dance it so well.  Unfortunately this year, at least eight roles in six performances of La Bayadere are being squandered on guest artists.  Haglund doesn't want to spend money on guest artists, especially when they are not as good as ABT's company dancers.  So, it looks like he'll only go to a couple of La Bayaderes.  Hopefully the casting of Herrera/Stearns/Abrera will be moved from its ridiculous Wednesday matinee slot to the evening and the neophyte cast that had such problems in Saturday's matinee will be rescheduled for a matinee slot at the Met.

The Pump Bump Award, this uniquely beautiful Gianmarco-Lorenzi classic stiletto sandal, is bestowed fittingly upon lovely Stella Abrera: