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A Fresh Look at a Few Old Masters
Miami City Ballet
Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.
Opening night (Tuesday May 29, 2001)
Les Patineurs, Duo Concertante, Sylvia pas de deux,
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
by Alexandra Tomalonis
The youngest ballet on Miami City Ballet's opening night bill was Balanchine's Duo Concertante, one of the hits of the 1972 Stravinsky Festival. Others were from the 1930s (Ashton's Les Patineurs, 1937 and Balanchine's Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, 1936) or 1950s (Sylvia pas de deux, 1950), but they were danced with such a fresh attack and zest that they seemed new. The ballets looked cared for and -- another old-fashioned virtue -- each ballet was given a satisfying, complete performance, even if there were minor bobbles or technical weaknesses.
The two ballets at the program's center (Duo and Sylvia) received especially fine performances. Jennifer Kronenberg and Eric Quilleré were the couple who listen to Stravinsky's Duo Concertante, then dance for the musicians and for each other. It's a delicate, intimate pas de deux which this pair danced playfully. Kronenberg's dancing was extraordinarily clear without being astringent and she has a beautiful way of lingering in a movement. Quilleré was more a playmate than protector and his dancing was a bit underpowered, yet the two were so at ease with each other and with the choreography that it didn't matter. Sylvia pas de deux is one of Balanchine's rare classical showpieces, and Deanna Seay and Carlos Guerra danced it in the grand manner. (One of the greatest pleasures of the way the Balanchine works on this program were danced is that everything didn't look like Agon.) There's a wittiness to Seay's dancing -- she could be Aurora's sophisticated French cousin -- along with the beautiful footwork and turns. Guerra, if not quite a bravura dancer, was a fine cavalier.
The final Balanchine work, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, is quickly becoming a repertory staple in America's smaller and midsized companies. Oddly, it doesn't look dated. There's a story, but a simple one; it taxes neither dancers nor audiences. It's funny, it's fun, and the girl gets to be slinky. The company's director, Edward Villella, is taking the part of the Gangster in this run (he gets to speak a few lines at the beginning, then sits in the audience, poised to murder The Hoofer, who stands in the way of the man who would be the company's Premier Danseur Noble.) The company caught the fun of the piece; Michelle Merrell, with her mass of black curls and long, long legs, was the embodiment of the naughty-and-nice character of the Strip Tease Girl and Yann Trividic was an endearing Hoofer.
Like Slaughter, Ashton's winter divertissement, Les Patineurs, would seem an unlikely candidate for survival, especially in America. It's hard, technically and stylistically, and it looks old-fashioned in its design and conceit. (This production uses the original designs by William Chappell, with its lacy trellises and chocolate and ice blue costumes for the corps.) And yet it endures, moving from company to company, staying for a few years, disappearing, then popping up again someplace else. The ballet has a great male role (The Blue Skater), danced last night with a lot of joy, if not always control, by Luis Serrano, and several good parts for female soloists.
In some ways, this was the most troublesome work in the program. There could be more emphasis on épaulement and musical phrasing. Ashton's works are textural rather than sculptural, and the steps are usually phrased through the music, neither quite before, nor quite behind, the beat. Miami dances Ashton with a staccato attack rather than with a smooth, creamy legato. Whether this is their Balanchine heritage or the stager's direction is impossible to tell, but this looked more like post-MacMillan Ashton than how Les Patineurs would have been danced in its heyday. In addition, there wasn't a clear differentiation among the characters. The Blue Girls are bravura dancers, the "Friends," with their heart-shaped bonnets, sweeter and more innocent, in both personality and skating skills. The Lovers (the couple in white) could be more of a contrast -- they're only on the ice to be with each other, not to show off, and aren't the speed demons the others are. But the outline of the ballet was there, with all the promise that it will be polished and the dancers given the chance to master it.
The same casts will perform all three nights of this mixed bill, an indication of strong direction and a wish to show the ballets at their best rather than shuffle its roster through the repertory. All in all, a fine evening of ballet. The company will peform Balanchine's Jewels Friday and through the weekend.
To take part in a conversation about this performance, and to read other views, come to Ballet Talk.