Souvenirs

"AfterEffect", "The Nutcracker pas de deux", "Souvenir d'un Lieu Cher", "Mozartiana"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
July 8, 2017, matinee.

The final Saturday matinee's all-Tchaikovsky program was a real souvenir program, with a ballets set to the composer's "Souvenir de Florence", his "Souvenir d'un Lieu Cher", his "Nutcracker", with its cosy memories, and his "Mozartiana", his salute to the earlier composer. But it was also a souvenir for the audience, as Veronika Part gave her final performance and the audience got a last glimpse of that unique and glorious artist. "Mozartiana" had been tactfully reprogrammed to end the performance to allow for the curtain calls.  This did mean that the audience had to sit through some rather derivative pieces, but they were rewarded with Balanchine at the end.

Marcelo Gomes choreographed "AfterEffect" to Tchaikovsky's romantic "Souvenir de Florence", a long, lush, but somewhat undramatic score. Gomes tried to ramp up the drama by a dark, jagged, Expressionist backdrop (by Françoise Gilot, completely at odds with the romantic music), an enigmatic dedication "To those who have fallen...and those who prevail", and symbolic titles complete with capitalization (The Man, James Whiteside; His Loss, Misty Copeland; His Hope, Zhiyao Zhang). The choreography, with its twitching, rushing, and anonymous emoting, was generic. There were many pools of light, an odd flapping hand motif, and the apparently inevitable woman-as-a-sack-of-potatoes pas de deux.

Despite this, the dancers were vibrant, committed and compelling . Whiteside as the put-upon Everyman gave each gesture a fraught and personal energy.  Zhong, still in the corps, was an aptly named Hope, dancing with a smooth authority and floating jumps. The large corps danced energetically, especially in the short series of solos for some of the women, which let them show off their jumps and turns--they had lots to do and did it stylishly. Copeland, as Miss Loss, was carried on by a group of men (there were several echoes of "Serenade" and "The Unanswered Question"), danced a convoluted pas de deux, kissed Whiteside, and was finally carried off to Cliche Heaven.

Gomes the dancer appeared with Hee Seo, in Alexei Ratmansky's "Nutcracker" pas de deux, where his expansive and noble partnering set off Seo's radiant lyricism.

"Souvenir d'un Lieu Cher", new to ABT this year, was choreographed in 2012 for the Dutch National Ballet and is another Ratmansky/Tchaikovsky ballet. The four dancers, Devon Teuscher with David Hallberg and Cassandra Ternary with Tyler Maloney, were all making their debuts and they pranced impeccably through the choreography, though Hallberg looked a little awkward in the final somersault (a souvenir of Jerome Robbins, perhaps). Ratmansky doesn't seem completely comfortable with the romantic nostalgia of the music; the title means "Memories of a Dear Place" but nothing seemed rooted or dear.  Though there were many Ratmanskyisms (slides on point, wary entrances, whispering women), it didn't have the urgency and multi-layered ambiguity of his works to Shostakovich, and much of the drama seemed imposed on the music as the two couples struggled, fought, made up, and snuggled seemingly at random. The costumes by Keso Dekker were rich dark velvet with an autumnal feel, which though lovely, did reinforce the feeling that those leaves had faded.

There is nothing faded about Balanchine's "Mozartiana", and Part's Preghiera had an unusual urgency. This was not a prayer whispered in serenity but a plea propelled by the music, as her backbends seemed to pull her to the ground and her arabesque reached up almost in vain.  It was a reminder that a prayer can be tinged with despair. Part has always favored adagio but her solos in the Theme and Variations were beautifully phrased, emphasizing the quick and witty changes of direction.

Blaine Hoven, her partner, had notably agile footwork, and he combined speed with dignity. The always musical Arron Scott danced the Gigue with grace and style, pausing to let the elegant little hand positions register.

Part has always been a dancer of incandescent isolation, with a mysterious self-contained air as if she were from another world, and "Mozartiana" with its air of two equals meeting without human entanglements suited her and was a fitting, if too early, farewell. Her most memorable full-length roles, "Swan Lake" and "La Bayadere," both have magical heroines visiting from another realm and she gave them both a tragic and regal solitude. Her unforgettable Myrta and Lilac Fairy, though moral opposites, one ice cold and the other full of super-human warmth, are both independent, super-human figures. These roles showed off her uncanny beauty and ability of fill out a phrase with those long gracious arms and luxurious back.  As I walked out of the theater I could only think of Winterreise's wanderer looking up at those suns and thinking the best of them has gone.

copyright © 2025 by Mary Cargill