ABT—Dark the Soul, Bright the Stars

Julie Kent & Marcelo Gomes in Othello. Photo: Gene Schiavone

We love ballet because it can defy mortality. The grace and ease with which the pros do the most difficult steps refutes gravity and the way most of us clump along, meat bags with a few muscles and bones. On the other hand, many of the full-length ballets in ABT's current Met Opera House season underscore the frailties and downfalls of being all too human.

Lar Lubovitch's Othello is revived every so often in part to showcase a powerful male dancer at the peak of his powers, and ABT has no better embodiment than Marcelo Gomes. Although the role was set on Desmond Richardson, it seems built for Gomes. As the curtain rises, simply sitting on his throne, clutching its arms, head bowed, he commands attention. The muscles on his bronze breastplate may not be his, but we don't doubt the power implied (we're also familiar with Gomes' strength).  

Xiomara Reyes, soon galloping into the sunset, in Rodeo. Photo: Gene Schiavone

It never hurts to have a good tale behind a story ballet, and Shakespeare's deeply troubling examination of loyalty and deceit reveals the darkest side of man's nature. James Whiteside made for a believably sinister Iago, slithering and scything his way around the stage's perimeter like an angry shadow. Julie Kent's Desdemona is effectively naive, and Stella Abrera, as Emilia, perfunctorily foreboding. The addition of Bianca (Misty Copeland) and Cassio (Joseph Gorak), who become vehicles for betrayal, flesh out the stage action while clouding the narrative. Still, these two magnetic dancers have some of the best sections of dancing, unchained from the text. The white scarf becomes a searing emblem of love; the more hands that touch it, the more tainted it becomes as a symbol of devotion. 

Agnes De Mille's Rodeo, on the other hand, begins with its lead cowgirl, Xiomara Reyes, longing for the camaraderie of the posse of cowboys, but being ignored until she accedes to at least some feminine conventions. Xiomara Reyes is retiring this season, but her lead performance makes that hard to believe. She's as sassy and tomboyish as ever, in this, one of her best dramatic vehicles. It highlights a buoyant sense of humor that can be buried in formal ballets, albeit where she excels technically. She will be missed in this role. James Whiteside danced the role of the cowboy who moves from buddy to beau, including a lighthearted tap segment.

Isabella Boylston as Giselle. Photo: MIRA

Giselle as well ponders the foibles of the heart, both figuratively and literally. Albrecht falls for, and guilelessly deceives, the frail Giselle, who after death is consigned to join the Wilis (basically, ghosts of unmarried women who taunt men and make them dance to death). Certain ballerinas are born to perform the role of Giselle, and Isabella Boylston is one of them. Her size, her ballon, and flexibility all contribute to a fine characterization. But it is her sublime delicacy that distinguished her rendition in May 23's matinee. When she lifted her leg in an arabesque early in the Act II duet with Alex Hammoudi (Albrecht), the movement was barely perceptible, floating upward steadily, like a feather on the slightest pulse of wind. Battus resembled the beating of a hummingbird's wings. Other dancers—particularly Russians, it seems—milk the drama more, or emphasize athleticism, but Boylston gives a nuanced, quietly magical performance free of histrionics.

Hammoudi, a soloist, is maturing into his princely physique. He is on the way to becoming a much needed leading man of a large size. His long legs only accentuate the height of his grand jetes, and he can finesse the details in traveling steps with beats. It can't hurt to play against the company's finest character dancer, Roman Zhurbin, who succeeded in bringing some empathy to the beleaguered second fiddle, Hilarion. This young cast supplied rewards of a different kind than expected from the company's headliners—a variety of stars populating ABT's galaxy. 

A company is always in transition, but it feels as though ABT is going through more changes than in recent memory, with three principal women retiring (Kent, Herrera, and Reyes), a recuperating David Hallberg out for the season, the oft-cast Polina Semionova injured, and young dancers being groomed for promotions. So while there is Gomes, a fully matured artist in complete command of the repertory, we watch for greatness to emerge from surprising places. 

Late Model Corsaire

The Corsaire. Photo: Gene Schiavone

Check out this photo of the new pseudonymous ship in ABT's new production of Le Corsaire. Quite a bit more impressive and true to scale than the old version, which looked more like a toy boat than a pirate ship.

Some other notes about the new production which premiered in 2011 at Teatro Colon, Argentina, staged by Anna-Marie Holmes (as was the company's previous version).

Production:

• Sets by Christian Prego make good use of the capaciousness of the Met. In the bazaar, rugs and rickety wooden bridges hang overhead. The grotto scene is from a viewpoint inside the cave looking at the corsaire on the ocean. And the huge room where the final scenes take place is decorated with huge hanging lanterns. 
• The palette has shifted from pastels toward darker gemstone and metallic hues. Gone are the famous turquoise harem pants for Ali, now purple, which I have to admit is a bit disorienting. Medora's tutu is gold, her casual gown pale blue and beaded. Conrad still basically wears all white, for how else would we know he's the big guy?
• The dream sequence, an endless set of variations by women and children bearing floral props, is slightly less cloying, color-wise. And Medora now simply steps into the middle of a floral hoop, rather than having to open a gate of a strange knee-high pen. It's still fairly interminable, coming just before the finale.
• This production is not a revolutionary departure from ABT's prior production, but its more tasteful palette and new sets are a welcome change.

Cast notes:

• Herman Cornejo, now 32, has developed into a very good romantic lead. He's always exuded an inner complexity and sensuality to add to his great naturalistic bravura technique. His arcing leaps and on-point turns appear effortless. But in this age of a so-called "arms race" in ballet (or more accurately, arms and legs race), his highest leaps look merely very good. 
• Ivan Vasiliev danced Ali with the effortful humility required of a principal male at the top of his form wearing sparkly purple harem pants and a feathered headband. (He and Cornejo exchanged roles in another cast.)
• Daniil Simkin is maturing in good ways, filling out and shedding some of his puppiness for yet more confidence. 
• Both he and Vasiliev possess the kind of ballon that arrests movements at their apex. Simkin floats, Vasiliev gets a puff of energy and is more human about descending, but all this extra air time lets them both do one extra, gasp-inducing move per jump.
• Xiomara Reyes' gifts include lightness, quickness, and a sweet expression. 
• It would be interesting to see Sarah Lane, who danced Gulnare exquisitely, in the lead role; unfortunately I thought this many times during the ballet
• Arron Scott danced Birbanto with thrilling verve and precision