| Fizz,
Fun and Fog
The
San Francisco Ballet at Stern Grove
July 27, 2003
reviewed
by Alison Garcia
Last weekend, on a characteristically foggy Sunday,
San Francisco Ballet made its annual appearance free
of charge at the summer festival held at Sigmund Stern
Grove, before the customary crowd sitting in folding
chairs, at picnic tables, and high up on the grass.
Although there were few pullovers and legwarmers in
evidence during the ballets, as has sometimes been the
case in the past, the vagaries of San Francisco summer
temperatures, or the lack thereof, made themselves felt
as the afternoon went on. After a lengthy second intermission,
SFB's artistic director, Helgi Tomasson, came out to
make the official announcement that the performance
would have to be cut short. So a much-anticipated Paquita
with Kristin Long and Vadim Solomakha did not happen,
but the audience of approximately 10,000 did get to
see and enjoy the first three items on the program:
Allegro Brillante, an excerpt from In the
middle, somewhat elevated, and an abridged version
of Peter Martins' The Waltz Project, conducted
by Andrew Mogrelia in his debut performance as the company's
new music director and principal conductor.
Vanessa
Zahorian and Zachary Hench gave a fizzy performance
of Balanchine's Allegro Brillante. I missed
Zahorian's debut in this role last season and so was
especially pleased to catch this; the role is perfect
for her, and she was quick and precise, displaying wonderful
multiple pirouettes without losing any of the fluidity
of movement that makes the perpetual motion aspect of
this work effective. Hench, as well suited to this ballet
as to another Balanchine exercise in allegro, Ballo
della Regina, was there with her every step of
the way, and so was a splendid ensemble. The pianist
was Roy Bogas.
Muriel
Maffre and Pierre-François Vilanoba followed
immediately in an excerpt from William Forsythe's In
the middle, somewhat elevated, moving with ease
through the knotty partnering. Taking the pas de deux
out of context doesn't benefit the piece, making it
look like mere clever calisthenics, but the choreography
holds its own interest, especially with dancers like
these lending flow to the sculptured poses, making each
seem to grow inevitably out the next.
After
the first intermission came a truncated version of Martins'
The Waltz Project, here reduced from eleven
to seven parts. Some of the spikier sections of the
music did not come through well in Stern Grove's less-than-perfect
acoustics, which are better suited to heavier orchestrations
(and in general this very urban item seemed like an
odd work to be presented in a vernal setting with shrubbery
on either side of the stage, although at one point David
Arce made an agreeable bit of stage business out of
plucking off a piece of shrubbery and chewing as he
cast a jaded eye on his bouncy partner, Amanda Schull).
Both of them were crowd pleasers in this, and Julie
Diana gave a limpid performance of the slow number with
Brett Bauer, making his debut in this role.
During
an unusually long second intermission, the cast for
Paquita emerged and began warming up. Presently,
a huddle gathered to the left of the stage, and it appeared
a vote was being taken. For a short time, it seemed
as if the performance might proceed, but after some
consideration Tomasson came to the microphone and announced
the termination of the performance, with apologies.
The dancers and audience graciously applauded each other,
and then the crowd made its way back up the hill.
copyright
2003 by Alison Garicia
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