CORSAIRE at ABT

Wednesday May 21, 2008 matinee - Starting off my ABT season with something I'd never seen before, I watched a procession of favorite dancers in the Company's colorful  production of LE CORSAIRE. David Hallberg as Conrad (photo) was one of the main attractions of the afternoon. David is a dancer I had the pleasure of meeting when he first came to New York City and it has been so wonderful to follow his development from a very promising youngster into a real prince of the dance. I wonder if, when he started out on this path, he ever thought about stardom and having a legion of vociferous fans?

It's due in large part to Julie Kent that I have embarked on my enhanced ABT season this year. Watching her on DVD in the pas de deux from CRUEL WORLD with Robert Hill I thought that I really wanted to see her onstage again after her superb Nikiya and Odette/Odile in recent seasons. CORSAIRE being a ballet I'd never seen made it a logical choice. Looking thru the ABT brochure  I found myself saying, "I really should see Marcelo, too...and David...and Herman..." and soon enough I had constructed a little 'season'. There are other things I'd love to see but financial considerations have me in check at the moment. One of the nice things about this CORSAIRE was that I could see both Julie Kent and David Hallberg along with Ethan Stiefel, Misty Copeland, Craig Salstein and Sascha Radetsky all at one fell swoop. Waiting for the performance to start I was thinking of the main reason why I don't go to ABT very often: the distancing effect of the Metropolitan Opera House which for some reason seems twice as big for the ballet as it does for opera. I don't know why this illusion prevails; possibly because I am used to the cozy warmth of the New York State Theatre. Basically I feel very 'far' from the dancers at the Met, despite my trusty opera glasses. Nevertheless, when the lights went down I felt a little shiver of anticipation.

Read the illuminating Wikipedia page about CORSAIRE here. This is a really good choice for someone who doesn't like a lot of mime and dislikes seeing dancers standing about. It happens to be a dance-dance-dance ballet with only brief interludes of story-telling between numbers. Adolphe Adam is usually credited as the composer of CORSAIRE but ABT uses the music of five composers, including Drigo and Delibes. Together they provide a succession of melodious, rhythmically varied numbers with plenty of exotica (and piracy) woven in. Against this musical setting, the dance  flows naturally. Of course there is "padding" and probably no one would say that this score is great or even particularly memorable music. But it certainly makes for a panoramic afternoon of enjoyable, even thrilling sounds. The plot  - akin to that of Verdi's opera IL CORSARO - is rather bloated and not very logical; but who cares? We are there for the dancing.

Julie Kent has a lovely role in Medora, one which shows off her elegant technique as well as the many different facets of being a ballerina: Medora is very funny in Act I as she teases the Pasha. Later she is the pure classic ballerina in the pas de trois, romantic in the 'bedroom' pas de deux, a refined vision in the Jardin Animee, and a courageous and steadfast lover in the end. Julie's dancing had the beautiful polish that always marks her performances and in the coda of the pas de trois she swirled thru an exciting set of fouettes; she seemed about to stop when she suddenly spun into another series. In the 'bedroom' pas de deux she and David created a really beautiful atmosphere. David's dancing all afternoon was remarkable; he covers space with a great sense of freedom and full-blown lyricism and his nobility of bearing saves the bravura passages from being mere opportunities to show off.  He and Julie were joined in the pas de trois by Ethan Stiefel as the slave Ali. Ethan looks super and the three of them danced up a storm and enjoyed repeated bursts of applause from the audience. The only slight gaffe was Ethan needing a hand-down when he went to the knee at the end of his solo. In the fourth leading role, Misty Copeland made a very attractive Gulnare. She seemed just a bit tense at first but very quickly smoothed into an impressive level of technical security and exotic appeal.

Sascha Radetsky acted very well as the slave dealer Lankendem and he danced impressively, too. He almost lost control of Misty in one flurry of supported pirouettes. Craig Salstein was made-up so effectively as the traitorous Birbanto that he was onstage for five minutes before I realized it was him. Craig is an excellent actor and presence and his classical technique shines thru in these folk-like dances. Sarawanee  Tanatanit as his pirate lass matched him for spirit and bravado. Roman Zhurbin was a comical Pasha.

In the lovely pas de trois for the Odaliaques in Act I (wearing an especially nice shade of blue) Melanie Hamrick, Maria Bystrova and Melissa Thomas created a beautiful, purely classic interlude.

There were a few blips from the orchestra (conducted by Ormsby Wilkins) and the ABT dancers have a tendency to milk applause sometimes. There were acres of empty seats on every level - ample room to seat the half-dozen NYC dance bloggers and get some free buzz out of it. Were it not for four groups of school children the Family Circle would have been almost empty.

Photo of David & Craig after the show by Robin. I was happy to find Susan at the performance so she could help me figure out who some of the girls were. It's going to take time to become as familiar with these faces as the ones at NYC Ballet. I did find Matt Murphy's friend Jackie Reyes and I thought I had located Sophie Bromberg who was supering as a servant girl - but it turns out that her alternate appeared in the matinee. Reading through the names of the corps girls I thought 'Simone Messmer' sounded interesting - like 'mesmerizing'  -  and by coincidence I was introduced to her after the performance (her headshot on the website doesn't do her justice by far!) so slowly but surely I'll get to know  these dancers. Here, at any rate, are today's Gulnare and Odalisques: Misty Copeland, Melanie Hamrick, Maria Bystrova and Melissa Thomas:

   

Comments

[jose]

That was worth the wait. I hope KMc or anyone from ABT reads this review and realized that the more people read about the ballet, the better is the chance of increasing the audience.

[Philip]

I'd like to be able to go more frequently but unless ABT finds a way to accommodate the bloggers I will be limited to five performances this season.
ABT doesn't seem to have an equivalent to NYCB's 4th Ring Society and oddly they do not even sell their top tier of side seats (which corresponds to the NY State Theatre's 5th Ring) because of the limited view. It IS a very steep angle but I sat there yesterday (to escape the school kids) and it was not so bad, really.

[jolene]

Great review! I feel like I was there, and I wish I was. :) Julie Kent is one of my favorites too, thankfully her performance as Medora is captured on ABT's DVD of Le Corsaire.

That's interesting they don't sell their top tier of side seats. I'm sure there's always someone willing to buy them for a discount price.

[Philip]

If you have that ABT CORSAIRE on DVD, hold onto it! It seems to be out-of-print.

I would think if someone was willing to sit in a limited-view seat they should be able to get it at the box office. Some folks migrated there anyway to get away from the school kids in the Family Circle.
Why not just sell them at a low price? I'd go often at $15 a pop...