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San Francisco Ballet opens with a bang

Opening Night Celebration
San Francisco Ballet
Lincoln Center Festival
New York State Theater
New York, NY
July 25, 2006

by Susan Reiter
copyright ©2006 by Susan Reiter


It’s a familiar format: a string of brief excerpts, mostly pas de deux, designed to showcase a ballet company’s leading dancers. It can easily trade on the overly familiar (yet another “Dying Swan” or “Corsaire” pas de deux) and often threatens to grow tedious. But the exhilarating night of exceptional dancing and — more often than not — interesting choreography that made up San Francisco’s opening night performance in every way merited the label “Celebration.”

It celebrated the company’s array of strong, personable dancers, imbued with a gift of showcasing fluency and technical expertise without every seeming to push or strain for effects. Clean, crisp, artfully phrased dancing was there in abundance. The program also celebrated the diverse, intelligently chosen repertory that artistic director Helgi Tomasson has acquired over his 21 years directing this splendid troupe. When ABT opens its Met season with a gala, it offers a sampling of what’s to come as the season unfolds. Since SFB is only here for a week, and is seen here so sporadically, this collections of excerpts served to represent the troupe's repertory in microcosm, cluing us in to what we’ve been, inevitably, missing by not being able to see them with any regularity.

Certainly, some works must have been selected to ensure that specific dancers got their opportunity to perform. And despite SFB’s stature as a company that performs a significant collection of Balanchine and Robbins works, these choreographers were only glancingly acknowledged (and were not to be represented on the week’s single mixed bill, which focused on works created for the troupe).

Still, it was both charming and informative to see Balanchine’s 1950 “Harlequinade Pas de Deux,” which SFB added to its repertory earlier this year. One can recognize the characterizations that were to be given much fuller treatment 15 years later in Balanchine’s two-act staging, here brought to life with charm and effervescence by Tina LeBlanc and Joan Boada. Oddly, LeBlanc was costumed more like the Pierrette character than Columbine, but her piquant, precise dancing, as effortlessly musical as ever, communicated blossoming delight in the transforming power of love triumphing over obstacles. She steered clear of anything resembling cuteness, charming us with her gracious ease (not to mention smooth, secure pirouettes) rather than any forced mannerisms. Boada employed his plush attack and warm personality to fine effect.

The program’s first half opened and closed with works for five dancers, offering a perhaps unintentional but neat symmetry. William Forsythe’s familiar, densely-packed “The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude” received a crackerjack performance by a cast of exceptional technicians. From the moment the curtain rose on the twin but contrasting figures of Guennadi Nedviguiine and Gonzalo Garcia, who bounded exuberantly yet with classy modesty, the piece raced along, veering at times towards the hectic but always maintaining its decorum. Vanessa Zahorian, Katita Waldo and particularly Kristin Long brought their own zesty attack and exhilarating verve to the proceedings.

Tomasson’s 2003 “Concerto Grosso,” a fluent, invigorating male quintet, proved an inventive choice to close the first half, and earned one of the most heartfelt ovations of the evening. No surprise, given the innately pure and noble display of classical technique that always rode elegantly along on the Geminiani music. Pascal Molat was the central figure, but each of the others — Garrett Anderson, Jaime Garcia Castilla, Rory Hohenstein and Hansuke Yamamoto, all soloists — served notice that we would be eagerly watching for them as the week unfolded.

The Pas de Deux from David Bintley’s “The Dance House,” which featured a cameo appearance by another man who glides his way along a red ballet barre upstage, makes for a rather inscrutable excerpt, but it did introduce the gorgeously fluid phrasing and mesmerizing presence of Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun and the suave gravitas of Tiit Helimets. He gave further proof of his partnering skills a bit later, in “Swan Lake”’s Act II Adagio, in which Yuan Yuan Tan’s flowing cantilena line and shimmering purity were remarkable. It was preceeded by a buoyant Act I Pas De Trois, which featured the expansive ease of Frances Chung along with the gracious Rachel Viselli and the invigorating Joseph Phillips.

Yuri Posskohov, who was giving his final performances this week and was recently named SFB’s Choreographer in Residence, was represented by a duet from “Reflections,” in which Muriel Maffre’s gleaming white tutu evoked a kinship with “Swan Lake” as Damien Smith, seemingly representing another century in his black tank leotard, enfolded and worshipped her, only to lose her in the end.

The program’s second half was not as consistently scintillating, although it got off to a lovely start with Tomasson’s reflective, sleek “Chaconne for Piano and Two Dancers.” LeBlanc and Davit Karapetyan, initially isolated in separate pools of light, came together through a brisk series of Handel variations (some of which sounded amazingly like the “Goldberg Variations”). The duet radiated a naturalness and spontaneity that suggested a kinship with Robbins, and the cumulative effect was refreshing and deeply satisfying.

Possokhov looked rather lumbering in the “Purple” duet from James Kudelka’s “Terra Firma,” as he and Long repeatedly seemed to be jogging in slow motion through some heavy impediment, breaking out occasionally for a playful lift. Long’s alert, knowing presence imbued it with more drama than it might have had otherwise. The Pas de Deux from Tomasson’s “The Fifth Season,” his most recent work, further showcased Tan’s expressiveness in adagio, and Smith’s solid presence as a partner. Performed in front of two panels with smoky smudges, it made a less distinctive impression, form this excerpt, than his other works on the program.

Gonzalo Garcia slinked and gamboled through his “I’m a danseur being casual” solo from Lar Lubovitch’s “Elemental Brubeck, his sunny openness conveying as much warmth as his fire-engine read costume. Val Caniparoli’s not to Hollywood romance, “No Other,” deftly reflected the tango-flavored, unfamiliar Richard Rodgers selection (from “Victory at Sea”).

The only old-school fare on the program was a sedate “Chopiniana” pas de deux, danced by Molly Smolen, who could have been more plaint and yielding, and Ruben Martin, and an oddly joyless “Don Quixote” pas de deux in which Lorena Feijoo danced with expert efficiency but seemed to have little interest in her partner, and radiated a chill disdain towards the audience. Joan Boada was rather muted here.

It was a nice gesture to cede the final spot on the program to the corps de ballet, but the final movement of Robbins’ “Glass Pieces” lacked the earthy, primal attack it requires. Still, its charging, intersecting lines and vivid stage picture brought the evening to a bright close. The brisk two-and-a-half hours introduced us to a company clearly at a new peak — with a notable assemblage of talented men — and set the tone for what promised to be an invigorating week.

Photos:
Tina LeBlanc and Joan Boada in "Harlequinade." Photo: Eric Tomasson.
Kristin Long and Pierre-Francois Vilanoba in "The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude." Photo: Eric Tomasson.
Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun and Tiit Helimets in "The Dance House." Photo by Stephanie Berger.
Muriel Maffre and Damien Smith in "Reflections." Photo: Chris Hardy.

Volume 4, No. 29
July 31, 2006

copyright ©2006 Susan Reiter
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©2006 DanceView