San Jose Center for the Performing Arts
December 8th, 2012
With its brand new “Nutcracker”,
Ballet San Jose continues to inject life, vision and vitality into the South
Bay’s performing arts scene. Choreographed by BSJ’s own Karen Gabay, this
full-length holiday extravaganza is a thoughtful and fresh interpretation of
E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story, complete with elegant dancing and striking originality.
Following the orchestral prelude, the
audience is welcomed to a Christmas Eve celebration. Dr. & Mrs. Stahlbaum,
Fritz and Marie are enjoying the festivities with their friends and
anticipating the arrival of Drosselmeier. In Gabay’s version, the child Marie is
danced by an adult, Maria Jacobs-Yu at this performance. Though present in many
“Nutcrackers”, this age discrepancy can come across as strange, melodramatic
and badly overacted. Not here. Jacobs-Yu was, in fact, one of the best Maries I
have ever seen, making a complete theatrical transformation. Her buoyant
movements expressed and created a true, youthful joy - the ballon in her Act I battement
jetés providing a particularly fantastic example. And, the childlike wonder and
amazement that she conveyed when the Nutcracker became the Prince late in Act I
was both palpable and incredibly genuine.
Party scenes frequently contain an
‘entertainment’ portion for the onstage guests, usually facilitated by the
mysterious Drosselmeier. Often a type of magic show, Gabay’s “Nutcracker” opted
instead to stage ‘The Hard Nut’ story for the party guests and the audience. ‘The
Hard Nut’ makes up the middle third of E.T.A. Hoffman’s “Nutcracker” book, yet
is often left out of the ballet entirely. It was delightful to see this narrative
brought to life and put back into the ballet where it helps to explain the link
between the Nutcracker and the Prince. Particular attention must be paid to the
two suitors in this scene (Akira Takahashi and Peter Hershey) for their amazing
precision and unison work. The choreography for this duo (and for many others
throughout the ballet as well) also revealed Gabay’s clear talent for incorporating
ample batterie in both men’s and women’s variations.
As we moved beyond the party into the
snow and forest scenes, there were some noted cast omissions: no snow queen, no
snow king and no sugar plum fairy. Though surprising at first, Gabay’s choices
were both smart and narratively sound. Without a snow queen, king or sugar plum
fairy, Marie and the Nutcracker Prince (Ramon Moreno) retain the primary focus and
remain the stars of the ballet, which is of course, right on point. To that
end, Jacobs-Yu and Moreno danced many different pas de deuxs throughout the
evening, all of which were absolutely lovely: interesting lifts coupled with an
innovative treatment of arabesque at its varying heights. Occasionally, the
duets got a little busy, almost like there were too many steps for not quite
enough music. But the majority of their dancing was a joy to watch and the
choreography highlighted their individual strengths: Moreno’s powerful jump and
Jacobs-Yu’s classic pirouettes (a completely square preparation without any hint
of ‘winding up’).
Photo: Robert Shomler |
Act II journeyed to ‘A Christmas
Forest’ for four inspired divertissements: Spanish, Arabian, Chinese and
Russian (French was missing for some unknown reason). I am a sucker for any
dancemaker who utilizes the full petit allegro oeuvre, including such unsung
heroes as temps de cuisse and entrechat trois. Along with the presence of
second position in choreography (certainly an ode to Balanchine), Gabay has
turned these traditional vignettes into her own combination of accuracy and newness. Next came the Waltz of
the Flowers, which in Ballet San Jose’s “Nutcracker” is a dance for eight women
and eight men. With so much flow and physicality, this partnered group sequence
oozes elegance. And because of the numerous lifts, the ‘down, up, up’ pulse of
the ¾ time signature was given much more of an emphasis, leading to an
important, and albeit too rare, interdependence between the music and the
movement. The Nutcracker Prince and Marie danced the leads in the Waltz, again
propelling them to where they were meant to be: at the center of the ballet.
Accompaniment by Symphony Silicon
Valley was the icing on the cake.
Under the direction of conductor George Daugherty, the music was
dynamic, articulate and interactive, exactly what is required of and demanded
by a Tchaikovsky score. Daugherty and the musicians of Symphony Silicon Valley
were adept in creating a conversation between the instruments, allowing for a
more complete understanding of the subjects, themes, answers and counterpointe
present in the entire “Nutcracker” composition.
For more on the "Nutcracker", read my review of E.T.A. Hoffman's book on Dance Advantage:
http://www.danceadvantage.net/2012/12/10/nutcracker-book/
For more on the "Nutcracker", read my review of E.T.A. Hoffman's book on Dance Advantage:
http://www.danceadvantage.net/2012/12/10/nutcracker-book/
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