ETUDES/RABBIT & ROGUE at ABT

Wednesday June 4, 2008 matinee - ABT's new Twyla Tharp ballet, RABBIT & ROGUE shares the bill with ETUDES and makes for a great opportunity to watch the Company's dancers in very contrasted works and dancing to radically different music. 

Harald Lander's ETUDES develops from a classroom exercise into a full-blown classic. Using music by Carl Czerny orchestrated by Knudaage Riisager, Lander creates a ballet based on the progression of steps from ballet class. I chose today's performance especially to see Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky in the leading roles. (Irina and Max in a Mira photograph from SLEEPING BEAUTY). ETUDES seems a bit dated, and about ten minutes too long. The Riisager orchestrations area little cheesy (xylophone!); there is a segment that is an obvious homage to LA SYLPHIDE. Fortunately, Irina Dvorovenko danced with such class and dazzle that other concerns went out the window. Prima ballerina to her fingertips, Irina reigned like a benevolent queen over the stage with her textbook delivery of the steps and the the complete ease with which she weaves them all together. Sustaining balances with remarkable security, Irina was superb. Max and Mikhail Ilyin (replacing  Jared Mathews) were excellent cavaliers and the corps went thru their paces with flair.

I saw lots of Twyla Tharp's work up at the Pillow in the 1980s and 90s as well her BEETHOVEN SEVENTH for New York City Ballet. I had the honor of meeting her while I was working at Tower since - like all choreographers - she was ever on a quest for music, music, music. For RABBIT & ROGUE, Tharp (in a photo from The Gap) has chosen a score by Danny Elfman. This is a large scale work and although there were a few cast changes over the rehearsal period, the presentation was dynamic and seemed thoroughly rehearsed. I wish I could be more enthusiastic about the result but I simply couldn't connect to it.

Above, ABT soloist Craig Salstein in RABBIT & ROGUE (photo: Rosalie O'Connor). The Danny Elfman score is very cinematic and falls pleasingly on the ear. The composer provides reams and reams of colorful, rhythmically varied music for which Ms. Tharp creates reams and reams of choreography to all of which the dancers gave their complete commitment and energy. Perhaps it was a case of too much of a good thing but about halfway thru the 40-minute piece I found my attention wandering; as each dancer or group wheeled onto the stage in wave after wave of combinations it began to seem endless. There were no peaks or valleys; some moments of humor but nothing to really hold onto to from an emotional standpoint. The music and the steps were all perfectly pleasant but a little too facile or slick. I had the feeling that they could have gone on for two or three hours churning out endless solos, duets and ensembles in the same vein. There was no sense of climax - or maybe there were too many climaxes -  and nothing where I felt that "wow-I-really-want-to-see-this-again!" feeling. Nor did I ever think: "I'd love to see ______________ or _____________ dance in this ballet." 

The dancers were fantastic in every way and gave it their all. Marcelo Gomes has everything: face, body, style, technique, heart and soul. Watching him in anything is always thrilling and he was on peak form today. Likewise Sascha Radetsky (love the tattoos!) gave a very powerful performance. Marcia Riccetto has stepped beautifully into the role crafted on (the injured) Diana Vishneva; Maria and Jose Manuel Carreno are the most 'balletic' couple in the work. Maria reeled off endless gorgeous pirouettes and Jose Manuel is ever the striking cavalier. Kristi Boone and Cory Stearns were slinky and superb as the Ragtime couple. Misty Copeland, Sarah Lane, Craig Salstein and Jared Matthews had an awful lot to do all afternoon, including several costume changes. Craig had the most witty moments in the ballet - I would say that Tharp observed Craig and just built the role around him.  He acts as a sort of commentator or mediator at times. His dancing was lively and technically fluent and no, I'm not just saying that because we're friends.

I wish I had felt differently about RABBIT & ROGUE because the dancing was pretty spectacular.

Comments

[tonya]

Interesting; I'll be seeing it later this week. Craig was the centerpiece of Baker's Dozen too, I thought. He's perfect for Tharp.

[jolene]

It's just really hard to see other dancers dance Tharp after you've seen Tharp dancers dance Tharp. The experience of the original Broadway cast of Movin' Out and comparing it to ballet dancers dancing Tharp is just worlds apart, and the Movin' Out cast completely embodied Tharp's choreography to a tee. In my mind, it's like comparing the State Ballet of Georgia dancing Balanchine's Duo Concertant and then seeing NYCB dance Duo Concertant. Granted, not all choreographers lend themselves to being so particular to one group of dancers, but some choreographers really do call for a stylistic specialization that is hard for dancers not completely familiar with that style to emulate in great detail.

The picture is amazing though, is Craig Salstein lifting David Hallberg? (I can't tell who's in the air.) Given a chance to see ABT though, I'd watch them dance almost anything. :)

[Philip]

I think that Craig might be lifting Ethan Stiefel in the photo.