The American Ballet Theater’s “Swan Lake,” which ended Wednesday at the Metropolitan Opera House, can feel choppy, as if swans were pushing through the stormy waters of the year. This work has been performed by Kevin McKenzie, who will soon retire as artistic director of the Ballet Theater since 2000. Is it time for his “Swan Lake” to leave the company? In the back pocket of the artist Alexei Ratmansky during his stay, there is an already made “Swan Lake” jewel.
Mackenzie’s staging diminishes dramatic and playful moments. In particular, it is a violent temptation scene between the evil wizard von Rothbert and the princess of Act 3. His debut, Gabe Stone Shayer, seemed to swing his cloak like a hungry vampire and try to defeat the Queen with glare. At a later performance he toned it down, but it wasn’t enough. His dance was fragile, unfinished and suffering.
In another debut, Skylar Brandt played Odette, the princess of the Rothbert spell, with her little frame heavyned by the darkness of the soap opera. She was confused. What happened to Brandt, who is usually less coerced, although the drama sensation is clearly taken into account? As Rothbert’s deceptive daughter, Odile, she was more dynamic — glittering and glamorous, enjoying the speed of her turns, the speed of her feet.
A few days later, there was some real magic. Soloist Catherine Harlin made her debut as Odette Odile on Wednesday afternoon, and her “Swan Lake” was nothing else.this flied. Stirring innocent Odette — Harlin’s face was sometimes softened with a gentle smile hint — and the cheerful Odile not only listened to the music, but played naturally. Playing the opposite Juwon-an as Prince Siegfried — a very handsome, talented yet bland border — she has delicacy and authority, from long-legged arcs to eloquent backs and eloquent shoulders and willow arms. It was an image of.
Harlin is the future of ballet theater, a dancer who has a fresh take on story ballet, company bread and butter, and even dry ballet. Is there such a natural ballet dancer? She’s even better than before the pandemic break. She is more sophisticated and more feminine. What hasn’t changed mercifully is her glorious abandonment. Although it was her major debut, she shines all year round.
Devon Toisher was also dancing Odette Odile with Anne, which was great — especially with her amazing lines and arrangements, shining like Odette. Christine Shevchenko, on the other side of Calvin Royal III, made her buoyant and boyish debut as a prince and was her usual talented self. But what if Shevchenko could add some lushness to her technique? Her position is solid and she is always right — sprinkling seconds is a very part of her skill set — but she is more memorable when she is naive, expressive and vulnerable. Will remain.
The company entered a more modern territory with a hybrid bill on Thursday. It started with George Balanchine’s “Themes and Variations” and ended with Jessica Lange’s “Zigzag”, featuring the eloquent Teuscher on the other side of Anne. It is less than ever and is even more apparent in its proximity to the Balanchine classic created for the Ballet Theater in 1947 and set in Tchaikovsky.
Balanchine was a glittering display of feat and musicality, and Chusher was dignified, except for a small wobble from the turn. The upper body is clean, transparent and spacious. Her partner Anne didn’t work that well. Sliding here and slipping there, he was out of his depth.
Wedged in the middle of the program is a more mysterious dance that premiered in New York. Alonzo King’s delicate and spiritual “single eye”. The name was inspired by Bible poetry. It is full of light. “
With seven sections, the ballet is set to music by jazz composer and pianist Jason Moran. Elegant scores were sometimes generous, more propulsive to others, and included recordings by Bernie Krause.
In solos and duets, major couples wandered in and out of the stage, and in the state it looked like contemplation and confrontation. The duet, which opened the second section of Isabella Boylston, was smoothed with a yellow unitard and ended when Thomas Forster slowly and resolutely pushed it into his wings. Herman Kornejo took over the stage solo and continued to lose balance. He pushed the sky as if he had defeated the devil. His twists and turns hinted at something more inner than the usual dance anxieties.
The whole ballet had the quality of looking inward, using the body, and using the mind with it, as a vessel for a purpose more important than the dance step. The lack of pretending was absorbed. It’s a ballet full of subtle shadows that seem to be inspired by the natural world, with twists, bends, bends, and other subtle shadows that wash the stage in an ever-evolving way. At the beginning, the members of the cold ballet, at pointe, descended into a deep plier and crossed the stage like a bug.
Befitting, Robert Rosenwasser’s background — he also designed the costume — took the dancer to a different world landscape. He felt like he was dropped into a shimmering golden forest. Jim French lighting, in at least one example, took the stage with a mottled glow in the early morning. In the end, Brandt and Royal often held their hands tightly together, moving closer and further away from each other, expanding and contracting, fighting and succumbing to weight. The tension gradually eased, and I calmed down and turned my back on the audience. More than the lights that go out at the end of ballet, it was as if the planet had fallen asleep.
Throughout the “single eye”, there was the concept of spiritual awakening and prayer to the natural world. And fascinating, especially with a powerful dance from the ballet company, we performed here with a more distinctive and snappy performance than the ballet theater repertoire often allows. Powerful and fiery interludes woven throughout, including the airy Brainne Greenland, Quiksilver, and the bold zips across the stage in her striking blue leotard. There was even. Chloe Miserdin (some tutu, some shorts) with delicate fish fins sticking out of his waist was almost supernatural in the tranquility of the balance. And Michael de la Nuez suddenly sliced his free leg back and forth while spinning on the Pirouette a la second. It was dazzling. It came out of nowhere.
Or did you do it? King said that when a dancer “enters it”, that is, when he actually enters his body, he loses his self-consciousness. When this happens, they are singing their song. What was most appealing about “single eye” was that it wasn’t just one body that sought light, but the communities dancing to each other. Together, they set foot on their song.
American Ballet Theater
Until July 16th at the Metropolitan Opera House abt.org.
