"Carmina Burana"
"La Bayadere Act II"

Dance Criticism by Anjuli Bai
www.ballet.co.uk

Monday, March 10, 2008

As I watched City Ballet of San Diego perform Act II of the ballet La Bayadere, (choreography: M. Petipa) it reminded me of the interview with Artistic Director Steven Wistrich in which he told me that for his Bar Mitzvah he was taken to New York City to see his first show on Broadway and fell in love with dance.  The second act of La Bayadere is much like a coming of age - a test - an important milestone.

Though the names of the principal dancers head a company's roster, a ballet company as an artistic entity is not judged by the principal dancers but by the quality of the corps de ballet.  Only by nurturing that entity, shaping it to fit the vision of the artistic director, do the ingredients for a worthy corps de ballet - and therefore a company - become a reality.  It can be affirmatively argued that developing this aspect of a company is the most difficult of the challenges facing an artistic director; one can hire a principal dancer to come in as a guest, but not a corps de ballet - that must be a resident component.  Principals come and go - but the corps de ballet is truly the living soul of a company.

Of the classical ballets which test this concept La Bayadere is surely one of the most difficult.  Act II, Kingdom of the Shades, is the supreme test for the corps de ballet - they are the undisputed stars.  Over and again they repeat the same slow enchainement and while each of the dancers enters individually, she immediately becomes part of the whole.  And as a single whole they move.  One hand out of place, one head held at a slightly different angle, one leg one inch higher - and the body is fragmented.

Solor's drug induced dream must drug us, too - mesmerize us - completely; or it fails.  For any ballet company to undertake this is a forbidding challenge; the ultimate test of the corps de ballet and therefore of the vision - and ability - of the artistic director.  Though City Ballet did not use the traditional ramp upon which the dancers come into view - it is not mandatory - they fulfilled the requirements of style and design.

As each dancer stretches forward into arabesque allongé the skirt of her classical tutu tips up and lined rank on rank, the costumes thus become part of the choreography - a further test of the exactitude demanded.  But the most difficult test comes in absolute stillness - when each dancer stands in a simple arabesque, holding the balance while flat in her pointe shoe; against all odds of natural balance, without moving, for what must seem like an eternity.  The observer is treated to the quiet sculpted beauty that hidden strength provides - it's probably one of the most technically naked moments in ballet's repertoire.  Conversely, when all the dancers were executing sequential entrechat it was quite wonderful to see twenty pairs of legs doing this - all off the floor at the same moment, every foot fully stretched - equal in time, equal in energy.

In each of these tests - moving and still - the corps de ballet of this company has much upon which to congratulate itself.  Let's hope the sixteen members of the corps grow to twenty four - there's no reason why not - the artistic vision is there.  The pas de trois danced by Alexis Risi, Shannon Stobbe, Kate Spaulding, each brought gifts to her variation.  Risi was a pleasure.  Stobbe was especially sprightly.  Spaulding had the daunting task of accomplishing a pirouette from a dead stop fifth position - probably the most difficult of the positions from which to impel into a rotation.  Though she did well, it helps when the core is more totally engaged from the previous pas, which lessens the hesitation before the pirouette.  The step before the pirouette is the preparation for the pirouette - there is no "rest" between.

Janica Smith and Taurean Green danced the pas de deux with aplomb.  Her lines were never exaggerated (there is all too much of this in the ballet world); she respects the classic milieu, and thus she transmits its beauty through her movement. captures the stage.  He uses the music - he breaths it - and so he becomes it.  He dances through the music, retards, and then nails it.

Janica Smith in Carmina Burana

In the past couple of years this company has shown it has the talent in the principal rank to dance what it will, now it can be said it has the corps the ballet to lay claim to full maturity.  Until that happens no company truly exists.  City Ballet of San Diego truly exists, not only as a collection of individuals, but as a body of dance.

The real jewel in this company's crown is not seen on stage; but her hand is everywhere: resident choreographer Elizabeth Wistrich.  To be able to call on this kind of talent, to have it close to hand, is a blessing other companies can only dream about.  Her production of Carmina Burana is a test of another kind.  It premiered in 1984, but this is the first time City Ballet has performed it.  It is a lengthy work using Carl Orff's powerful music which could easily overwhelm a lesser choreographic talent or lesser dancers.  But the dancers were ready - nurtured - carefully grown into undertaking an opus such as this.

The choreography is never inventive for its own sake - it doesn't obviously "do what the music says" but it always serves the music; showing other ways and windows into it.  Pirouettes have meaning - not just a showcase for rotating in space.  Intricate petit allegro, often sadly neglected by other choreographers for tricks of the trade, are happily explored by Wistrich.  She uses the full stage, doesn't allow her dancers to overstay, connects the parts and then erases the seams.  Her movement flows, is never there to push virtuosity - its organic to the music.  Sometimes she splits her groups - each doing something different to the same music and so we get to see two visions of it.  And both look right.

My only complaint - though the costumes were interesting, flowing, and at times brilliant reds - they were also at times too muted against a dark background.  When a costume designer thinks "black" and the stage is less than fully lit - the designer should think again.  Now that I've dispensed with my curdled complaint - the rest is cream.

The company fields a stage of exemplary men, but again in Carmina Burana, Taureen Green caught my eye with his sense of musicality.  And here I need to emphasize that all the men are a pleasure to watch; each is a distinct personality - moving with power and conviction.

And now to the problem... in Carmina Burana there were so many dancers, and it was so well done, I'd have to name all of them.  Led by Tara Formanck, Ariana Samuelsson and Janica Smith, everyone contributed in full measure and was part of the success.

I'm looking forward to watching this company grow even more - how exciting.

The music for both ballets was taped; Carmina Burana on the brink of aural discomfort.

City Ballet's
"Carmina Burana" Performances

Carmina Burana and La Bayadere
	Birch North Park Theatre Friday, March 7, 2008 8:00pm Saturday, March 8, 2008 8:00pm Sunday, March 9, 2008 2:30pm Tickets: $29 - $39 - $49 - $59
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