Stories, complete and incomplete
“Donizetti Variations”, “Octet”, “Fancy Free”
New York City Ballet
New York State Theater
New York, NY
February 11, 2006
Balanchine’s “Donizetti Variations” is an Italian bon-bon, obviously inspired by the fleet, gracious, and warm-hearted dancing of Bournonville. Like so many of Balanchine’s plotless romps, it gives the feeling of starting in the middle of a longer work, one set in some mythical land where Spain, Italy, and Denmark meet, and where everyone is young and beautiful. Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette made their debuts as the anonymous couple with lots of energetic friends. Bouder’s legs went out from under her as she shot on for her first entrance, but she shrugged the mishap off like a pro and danced with an exuberant femininity, tempering her power (her extended leg in the pas de chat volé seemed to reach beyond her head) with graceful details and elegant grace notes. Veyette, too, seemed inspired, and his beats, in the deceptively difficult variations, were clean and sharp and his demeanor elegant and generous.
The trio of men, Antonio Carmena, Craig Hall, and Amar Ramasar, were utterly engaging. Elizabeth Walker stood out in the corps for her vibrant stylishness, and she fortunately did not overplay the comedy interlude where she tries, oh so unsuccessfully, to imitate Bouder’s jumps on point.
If “Donizetti Variations” seems to be a glorious part of a long-lost exciting story, Peter Martins’ “Octet” seems to be a complete version of a very dull one. Set to Mendelssohn’s “Octet” for strings, the music is far greater than the bouncy Donizetti fluff from which Balanchine spun his gold, but great music, as has been proved so many times, does not have anything to do with great, or even interesting, choreography. “Octet” has ten dancers (so why, other than affectation, is it called “Octet”?) with two lead couples, an energetic one (Megan Fairchild and Joaquin de Luz), and a droopy one (Sara Mearns, replacing Darci Kistler, and Jonathan Stafford). These seem to be leading a group of corps members, differentiated by color (one group is olive green and the other is dark pink); there is no other distinguishing quality, and each group spends the ballet wafting energetically back and forth repeating steps; there is none of the shifting architectural structure that makes “Donizetti Variations” so compelling.
Fairchild stood out for her feathery delicacy and Mearns for her gracious interpretation of Kistler, but both of them, andtheir partners, deserved much better.
“Fancy Free” is a compete story, brilliantly told. The memorable performances leave the audience feeling the sailors have actually been in combat together and will be again very soon, not that they are giving a performance. This afternoon’s rendition did not quite get there—the interactions between the sailors could have had a more ad lib quality, and the actual dancing seemed more vivid than the mime. But the dancing itself was wonderful. Daniel Ulbricht was the first sailor, and he has developed a real character, a feisty, quick-tempered showoff. Tyler Angle, as the middle sailor, danced his solo with a melting lyricism and openhearted sweetness that was winning.
Benjamin Millepied got the rumba as well as the pas de deux. As a rule, I think that the hesitant and slightly awkward pas de deux suits shyer middle sailor’s character better, but Millepied danced his solo with a sense of put on bravado, of false courage, which made dramatic sense. This meant, however, that there wasn’t as much contrast between the second and the thirdsailor’s characters, and the more macho approach by Damian Woetzel, or over at ABT, by Marcelo Gomes or JoseManuel Carreño is probably more what Robbins had in mind.
Georgina Pazcoguin was the girl with the red pocketbook; she was a bit overly flirtatious at the beginning, swinging her hips too provocatively for an office girl looking for an evening’s casual encounter—this is the 1940’s after all, when good girls knew how far not to go. But she caught the fun of the purse snatching, and gave the impression she knew these boys would not get out of hand. Rachel Rutherford was wonderful as the Gimble’s sophisticate, slightly condescending but gently understanding. It is a story that can be told over and over, and is always fresh.
copyright ©2006 by Mary Cargill
