Deadly Sins
"Carmen", "Combate", "Don Quixote Grand Pas"
Ballet Concierto
Tribeca Performing Arts Center
New York, NY
October 15, 2010
The program danced by the Argentine company founded by the former Royal Ballet dancer Inaki Urlezaga included lust ("Carmen"), violence ("Combate"), and old-fashioned show-offs ("Don Quixote"); not morally uplifting, perhaps, but certainly riveting. It will come as no surprise to New Yorkers familiar with the Latin American explosion in companies like ABT that this small company was full of fine dancers with warm and gracious performing styles. The character of Carmen, though, is not really warm and gracious; this version was choreographed by Alberto Alonso for the Russian dynamo Maya Plisetskaya, using a suite written by her husband Rodion Shchedrin using themes from the opera. The choreography is expressionistic, emphasizing the emotions more than the plot (and eliminating the Michaela character, surely one of the most extraneous people in all opera and substituting a figure in a black leotard called Destiny). Eliana Figueroa as Carmen had a leggy charm, but her air of eager innocence, while appealing, was a bit fresh-faced for the doomed gypsy. Urlezaga, however, as Don Jose, gave a rich and subtle performance, showing the gradual disintegration of Carmen's victim from the proud soldier, to the tempted man fighting his feelings, and finally to the weak and helpless murderer. His anguished solo, as he tried to keep his honor, was a haunting display of weakness expressed through movement; he used his body to illustrate his every thought just by tilting his head or relaxing his shoulders. His stunned stillness as he sat by Carmen's dead body was far more moving than any amount of mimed wailing, and this was an unforgettable performance.
"Combate" is the Spanish title of William Dollar's best-knows work. Originally "Le Combat" when it was done in France, it became "The Duel" when set, in 1950, on the New York City Ballet. It is based on an incident in the Tasso poem "Gerusalemme liberata", where, during the First Crusade, the Christian knight Tancredo kills Clorinda, who has disguised herself as a Muslim knight (maybe it makes more sense in Italian). Dollar doesn't try to tell the story, it to was an almost Expressionist rendering of their feelings. The choreography was simple but effective, as four anonymous knights prance around looking for someone to fight. The steps make it clear that they are on horses without the literal and almost cartoonish galloping that De Mille used for her cowpokes. Clorinda, danced by Macarena Gimenez, is a powerful role, as she charges, with lots of jumps, through any man she meets. (I wonder if Robbins may have had this example in mind when devising "The Cage.) The medieval visors the dancers wore meant that all the emotion had to come from the dancing, without relying on any emotive expressions, and all the dancers, including Franco Cadelago as Tancredo, made the story very clear. This was an interesting novelty and well worth reviving.
"Don Quixote" is certainly not a novelty, but it is a sure-fire barn burner. Urlezaga and Figueroa were the energetic couple, with Anahi Araujo and Manuela Bruno as the stylish soloists. Figueroa was a charming Kitri, and delivered a fine set of fouettes, and Urlezaga was an elegant Basilio.
copyright © 2010 by Mary Cargill
