ABT’s Swan Lake at The Met

It’s like when you’ve been driving the old Toyota around since 2000 and it just hit 321,000 miles. There’s rust on the bumper but the vehicle gets you where you need to go so long as you don’t ask too much of it. Drop it on top of a new set of tires and it rides like a dream. It would be nice to have a new car, but there are other more important things on which to spend your money. No need to buy a new car until you really need one. 

That’s kind of the situation with ABT’s Swan Lake, a 26-year-old production conceived by Kevin McKenzie. McKenzie claimed that the story of the Swan Queen was finished; the important story was now about Siegfried. But let’s be truthful – McKenzie made a Swan Lake for Siegfried because he had at his disposal Siggies like Carreno, Bocca, Corella, and Gomes who were captivating the public with their unapologetic flashy tricks and Latino charisma. But here we are 26 years later, and those guys are gone. The heart of Swan Lake has returned to the Swan Queen. But Siegfried still has to do all that choreography that McKenzie devised when he was trying to elevate Siegfried to the top of the marquee. The prince has to mope and question and be serious in thought while cleanly landing those arabesque endings after turns in the air. 

During ABT’s opening run of Swan Lake last week, Haglund saw four performances. While most of the Siegfrieds faded in the presence of the Swan Queen, one artist broke free from all expectations to create his own best version of Siegfried from his own imagination. Aran Bell displayed a fresh freedom of interpretation that was unconstrained and conveyed the indisputable authority of his own talent. We saw the artistry, not the staging. Opposite Chloe Misseldine’s brilliantly blossoming Odette/Odile, Bell responded to the Niagara Falls-inspired emotion of his partner with an intense, full spectrum of his own. One could not justifiably ask for anything more than what was given by these two artists. It’s rare when one can watch two performers who are so technically skilled that they can lay aside serious concerns about steps and just dance and act their hearts out. 

Jarod Curley’s debut as Siegfried opposite Devon Teuscher revealed immense possibilities if not at the same level as last year’s exceptional debut by Michael De la Nuez. (Why aren’t we seeing him again this year?) Curley has been working hard to bring up his technical level to star level, and it showed in his turns and grand allegro. If the clean tours landings to arabesque were classroom-careful, he had a point to make with them. Soon he should start to let go and trust the result the way Bell has been doing. Meanwhile, Teuscher’s return after coping with a long-term tendon issue looked like she was on the right path. Confidence was almost high enough even if the arabesques may not have been. However, we would rather see a modest, perfectly placed arabesque than the throw-the-hip-open cheating line to get the leg up that the absent ABT ballerina employs. Teuscher’s lines were gorgeous. Port de bras – to die for. Overall presentation of Odette was soft and dreamy whereas Odile was conniving. We are so happy and relieved to see this ballerina back on the stage.

The other pairings that Haglund saw — Skylar Brandt & Herman Cornejo and Christine Shevchenko & Calvin Royal III — delivered high-level performances with predictable artistry. At this point, it feels as though we have seen everything that these pairings have to offer, and there needs to be a shakeup. Given the depth of untapped talent at ABT, there isn’t much justification to continue allotting Siegfrieds to these two danseurs. They’ve produced exceptional performances in the past for which we are grateful, but the time has come . . .

A nod goes to Cy Doherty for his delicious von Rothbart swamp-thing in Act IV. Oh my goodness, we were so rooting for him to take out Aran Bell’s Siegfried and make off with Chloe Misseldine’s Odette. Let’s just see what happens in Round II on July 18th. There’s more story here. Joseph Markey’s purple Von Rothbart made the strongest impression in that particular role during the performances which we saw.

The Swan Corps was in generally good form. The Pas de Trois of Lea Fleytoux, Yoon Jung Seo, and Jake Roxander danced like a principal casting. Roxander’s Neapolitan with the blazing Takumi Miyake was startlingly brilliant. And what a joyful surprise to see the young apprentice Max Barker soar in another cast; what a fine Mercutio he will make someday. We were impressed with Zhong-Jing Fang’s steely portrayal of The Queen Mother as well as her stints as a Big Swan and in Czardas. Her character artist work is as vivid as Roman Zhurban’s and as valuable to ABT. We were very happy to see Brooks Landegger dancing so strongly and clearly in the corps and in the Spanish section. We certainly need to see more of him and more of Finnian Carmeci, YeonSeo Choi, and Elisabeth Beyer.

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, a gold-marked stiletto from Throne Kingdom, is bestowed upon Aran Bell for taking his superlative Siegfried to yet another level.