Comments: Metropolitan Classical Ballet’s Summer Gala 2008

Watching two seasons of So You Think You Can Dance does not qualify me to review ballet. Hence, these “comments.” My knowledge of ballet is limited to a couple years as a child at the YWCA and watching a friend’s daughter who had trained all through her teens. And the aforesaid TV show.

You can learn a lot that way, but it doesn’t an expert make.

On the other hand, I know what I like – and I liked the Metropolitan Classic Ballet Summer Gala 2008 very much. One thing I noticed, beyond how beautiful the dancers and the dancing, was how graceful their hand and arms moved. One of the judges on Dancing with the Stars has commented on hands and arms which brought it to my attention, but several years ago, I attended a play put on by profoundly deaf actors. Again, I noticed how gracefully the actors moved as they were signing. It is easy to think of dancing as something done only with the feet, but the whole body produces the effect.

Since I know next to nothing about the dancing, I’ll mostly confine my remarks to the staging.

The staging of the first ballet, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, was very effective. I have watched in admiration a couple of directors who moved their characters around the stage almost like a ballet. Some of the techniques used here could be borrowed to use theatrically. I particularly liked the huge “X” made by the Corps de Ballet to separate the lovers. The moving spirals were almost as good. It was amazing how much of the story can be told with nothing but movement. (Of course, the music helped.) Paul Mejia did the choreography.

The Divertissements again demonstrated how little need there is for elaborate props and scenery. Eighty-five to ninety per cent of any show is the people. The bare stage with a statue of Cupid (or Pan or whoever) upcenter was sufficient for the audience to grasp the basics of the stories. I like the way the choreographers used the whole stage and the lighting designer, Tony Tucci, set the mood with unobtrusive lighting. Of course, a little more scenery would enhance the individual shows. Like the decorations on a cake, an added value, an increase in pleasure, but just as delicious without. And anyway, who cares about the story?

I think I’ve made it clear that I really don’t know much about ballet, but I want to mention the performance of North Texas native, Shea Johnson, in Diana and Acteon. He leaped into the air, and I involuntarily murmured “wow.” A collective gasp rippled through the audience. It was spectacular. It may have been “showy;” I don’t know. (But the choreographer, Agrippina Vaganova put it in the dance.) I was impressed, and I wasn’t alone. And then he did it again. We were wowed again. I hope to see more of him.

I’m looking forward to many more interesting and memorable performances in the coming year. I am especially looking forward to Spartacus in the fall since I had a little taste of it.

Romeo and Juliet:
Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreograper: Paul Mejia
Juliet: Olga Pavlova, Principal Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet
Romeo: Yevgeni Anfinogenov, Principal Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet
Tybalt: Andre Prikhodko, Principal Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet

Divertissements:
Grand Pas Classique
Music: Daniel Auber
Choreograper: Victor Gzovsky
Dancers:
Olga Volboueva, Guest Artist, Royal Ballet of Flanders
Howard Quintero, Guest Artist, Royal Ballet of Flanders

Spartacus:
Music: Aram Khachaturian
Choreograper: Yuri Grigirivich
Dancers:
Marianna Ryzhkina, Guest Artist, Bolshoi Ballet Theater
Alexei Tyukov, Guest Artist, Colorado Ballet

Spring Water:
Music: Sergei Rachmaninoff
Choreograper: Asaf Messerer
Dancers:
Marina Goshko, Principal Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet
Yevgeni Anfinogenov, Principal Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet

Gopak:
Music: Soloviev-Sedoi
Choreograper: Rostislav Zakharov / Alexander Vetrov
Dancers:
Assaf Benchetrit, Company Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet
Oleksandr Kryvonis, Company Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet

Diane and Acteon:
Music: Caesar Puni
Choreograper: Agrippina Vaganova
Dancers:
Maiko Abe, Company Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet
Shea Johnson, Company Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet

White Fog:
Music: Johan Sebastian Bach
Choreograper: Eric Bortolin
Dancers:
Olga Volboueva, Guest Artist, Royal Ballet of Flanders
Howard Quintero, Guest Artist, Royal Ballet of Flanders

Swan Lake:
Music: Peter Tchaikovsky
Choreograper: Marius Petipa
Dancers:
Olga Pavlova, Principal Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet
Alexei Tyukov, Guest Artist, Colorado Ballet

Don Quixote:
Music: Ludwig Minkus
Choreograper: Alexander Gorsky
Dancers:
Marianna Ryzhkina, Guest Artist, Bolshoi Ballet Theater
Andre Prikhodko, Principal Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet
1st Variation: Marina Goshko, Principal Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet
2nd Variation: Liliya Aronov, Company Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet
Dancers: Melinda Morton, Company Dancer, Metropolitan Classical Ballet; Sunny Wright; Brittany Bollinger: Kayla Giard.

Lighting by Toni Tucci