San Francisco Ballet - Program 8

War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco

May 3rd, 2014

San Francisco Ballet’s final mixed repertory program danced through the latter half of the twentieth century. The tour began with George Balanchine’s 1957 “Agon”, moved forward to 1966, and his “Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet”, and ended with Jerome Robbins’ “Glass Pieces” from 1983. A series of work from master choreographers; a perfect ending to a delightful 2014 season.

“Agon” epitomizes the Balanchine style – deconstructed theatrical elements, Balanchine ballet vocabulary, stage patterns and dance architecture. Though “Agon” is known for the famed central pas de deux, the entire work is filled with moments of brilliance. When translated into Greek, agon means ‘contest’, yet the majority of the ballet is quite playful, even fun. In Part II’s Gailliard, Jennifer Stahl and Grace Shibley perfectly demonstrated the specificity of Balanchine’s technique. As they both extended their legs into a relevé long, they were careful to pay proper attention to every step of the process – first tendu, then attitude (with the knee higher than the foot), and finally, into full extension. In the Bransle Simple, Jaime Garcia Castilla and Hansuke Yamamoto outlined Balanchine’s intricate understanding of timing, through a complicated recurring canon. And then came the pas de deux, danced at this performance by Yuan Yuan Tan and Davit Karapetyan. It is in this duet that the ballet’s title comes through. On the one hand, Tan and Karapetyan are definitely working in concert, cycling as a team through the near-impossible Balanchine partnering. But at the same time, the choreography communicates a sense of control and struggle from both. While certainly slow and meticulous, ‘the contest’ was still very present and palpable.

With “Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet”, the audience gets to see a very different side of Balanchine; a much more classical one at that. Separated into four individual sections, the underlying traditional esthetic is maintained, yet each also incorporates its own unique spirit. Led by Lorena Feijoo and Castilla, movement number one is elegantly mature, but not at all restrained. Maria Kochetkova and Vitor Luiz followed with a youthful, joyful variation. Flowy and romantic, the movement was peppered with surprising Balanchinian elements, like Kochetkova’s fouettés, featuring a forward working leg. Dores André and Joan Boada brought regality to chapter three. Boada’s tours en l’air were truly magnificent but the highlight of this vignette was Rebecca Rhodes, one of the three featured corps dancers. Rhodes exudes genuineness in every moment onstage, and has a keen awareness of what is happening around her. “Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet” closed with Sofiane Sylve and Luke Ingham leading the corps de ballet through a high-energy cultural folk dance. Sylve and Ingham were powerfully hypnotizing and the stage percolated with life, but this last movement seemed out of place with the rest of the ballet.    

Program 8 closed with Robbins’ “Glass Pieces”, a contemporary ballet triptych about community. As the piece began, opposite forces became clear. While the cast walked quickly all around the space, three solo couples emerged. Order was being drawn out of commotion and hubbub; stylized movement out of egalitarian pedestrianism. The contrast continued as Kristina Lind and Tiit Helimets took the stage in ‘Facades’ slow, introspective pas de deux. Lind and Helimets expertly wove through the serious and contemplative variation – their long, lean extensions went on forever; their series of overlaid promenades, immaculate. The entire corps (led by the men) returned in the third movement, reinstating Robbins’ notion of community. Through a variety of stage patterns and unexpected choreographic surprises (the women’s arms in the circular turning sequence), “Glass Pieces” celebrated the collective, and each individual’s contribution to that group.    

San Francisco Ballet in Robbins' "Glass Pieces", Photo ©Erik Tomasson

Smuin Ballet

“XXcentric”

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco

May 2^nd, 2014

Smuin Ballet kicked off the final chapter of its twentieth anniversary season with their “XXcentric” program. For this Spring Dance Series, world premieres by Val Caniparoli and Amy Seiwert (“Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino” and “But now I must rest”, respectively) shared the stage with an invariable crowd-pleaser, Michael Smuin’s 2001 work, “Dancin’ with Gershwin”.

Val Caniparoli’s “Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino”, which translates to ‘everything but the kitchen sink’, certainly lived up to its title. Over eleven individual sections, the choreography morphed between classical ballet, contemporary movement, humorous theatricality, stylized gestures and pedestrian sequences. While the work certainly spoke of all these different dance types, “Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino” is still at its core, a neo-classical work. But Caniparoli’s is a new, dynamic brand of this choreographic genre; a more modern and current take on neo-classicism. One of neo-classicism’s trademarks is how the choreography emphasizes the score. Vivaldi’s musical compositions were well reflected in the movement,

Smuin Ballet in Caniparoli's "Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino"
Photo: Chris Hardy

though Caniparoli took things a step beyond the typical stressing of chords and staccatos. Not only were particular musical motifs accented throughout, but there was also a sense of the highs and lows of each musical phrase being interpreted on stage. “Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino” included some lovely, yet subtle details: Jane Rehm’s coupé derriere supported pirouette, a crossed fifth position in the air where one foot was pointed and the other flexed. In variation seven, Erin Yarbrough and Aidan DeYoung demonstrated how neo-classical pas de deuxs (which are often filled with unusual and difficult partnering sequences) can look effortless. The key is having a sense of the ‘in between’, and to that end, mastering the transitions. Assignment accomplished.     

With every new work, choreographer-in-residence Amy Seiwert is exploring ballet’s identity in the twenty-first century, and how it converses with the larger dance world. “But now I must rest” took ballet and exported it into a grounded, passionate, tribal environment. An ensemble work for ten dancers, there was a constant sense of energy radiating out from deep within the body, extending far beyond the fingers and toes. As the cast cycled through this incredibly tactile work, electricity transferred between them, fueling their movements. This constant energy flow was present in the various featured vignettes, as well as in the piece overall. “But now I must rest” was comprised of a number of different parts, but there was no feeling of start and stop to it. Instead, the ballet was an uninterrupted stream of raw physical consciousness. 

Closing the evening was Michael Smuin’s “Dancin’ with Gershwin”, a revue-style celebration of dance. As nine well-known Gershwin selections sang through the theater, different movement styles were highlighted. From flowy classical ballet to chorus girl vaudeville to old-school performance tap to comic follies to lyrical modern, every number was right on point. Guest performer Shannon Hurlburt’s percussive tap solo to ‘The Rhythm Medley’ stole the show with its intricate combination of five-, six- (and even the elusive) seven-beat riffs, double pull-backs and riffles. “Dancin’ with Gershwin” is an essay of sophisticated glamour, cheeky charm and debonair charisma. And the audience loved it.

San Francisco Ballet - Program 7

War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco

April 30^th, 2014

With the final two programs now running concurrently, San Francisco Ballet’s 2014 season will soon be a memory (May 11^th to be exact). For the penultimate mixed repertory program, SFB has paired Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson’s “The Fifth Season” (2006) and Serge Lifar’s “Suite en Blanc” (1943) with the world premiere of Liam Scarlett’s “Hummingbird”.

Opening the evening was Helgi Tomasson’s stunning “The Fifth Season”. A suite of dances, “The Fifth Season” brought gorgeous performances by the entire ensemble and creative neo-classical choreography. Tomasson aptly captured the style and character of each individual variation: waltz, romance, tango, and largo. But he didn’t stop there; “The Fifth Season” reaches deeper and grasps the essence of physicality. Being adept in translating style and character into movement is a necessary skill for choreographers, but not all possess the ability to simultaneously reveal the underlying spirit of the music and score. Tomasson made it happen in “The Fifth Season”. Neo-classical ballet vocabulary punctuated the score throughout – Mathilde Froustey’s series of developpé grand battements; Lorena Feijoo and Vitor Luiz’s staccato arms; Froustey and Sarah Van Patten’s travelling rond de jambes en l’air. The largo section (danced by Van Patten and Tiit Helimets) was by far the highlight of the entire ballet. Highly emotive, it was both expansive and delicate at the same time. The two were so in sync that their connection was like breathing; an automatic, fundamental function that is still, incredibly complex. In one of the quietest moments, Van Patten and Helimets wrapped their arms around each other; you could have heard a pin drop in the War Memorial Opera House.

SFB premiered Serge Lifar’s “Suite en Blanc” early last year and I know I’m not the only one who is thrilled that it made an encore appearance this season. A picturesque work of classicism, everything in Lifar’s “Suite en Blanc” is sculptural. While the choreography is very specific in its placement, ample stylistic variety abounds - romantic vignettes give way to flirty, cheeky dances and culminate in a regally grand finale. “Suite en Blanc” is elegance and grace personified, and there is nothing stuffy about it. Jaime Garcia Castilla and Vitor Luiz shone in the pas de trois. From the unison in their changement/pirouette sequence to their beated cabrioles, every moment had the ‘wow factor’. The four men from the pas de cinq (Max Cauthorn, Esteban Hernandez, Francisco Mungamba and Wei Wang) also knocked their batterie out of the park, particularly the lengthy brisé pattern. And if ever there was a ballet that highlighted the architectural element of classical dance, it is Lifar’s “Suite en Blanc”.

Program 7 concluded with the world premiere of “Hummingbird”, choreographed by The Royal Ballet’s current Artist-in-Residence, Liam Scarlett. This new full-length work for nine couples (three principals, two featured, and a chorus of four) was a concept-ballet, all about action and emotion. Neither abstract nor story-based, verbs took center stage as

San Francisco Ballet in Scarlett's "Hummingbird"
Photo ©Erik Tomasson

“Hummingbird” explored and revealed divergent responses to various actions – being open, being hesitant, being willing and being defiant. Frances Chung and Gennadi Nedvigin took the lead in the first chapter, and their theme was sliding. Scarlett created partnering that was purposefully off-center and off balance, with an intention that oscillated from deliberate to (cleverly appearing) accidental. The middle section of “Hummingbird” belonged to the pairing of Yuan Yuan Tan and Luke Ingham. With an abundance of plié, melting was their subject matter. Not disintegrating, but morphing from one state to another. In their lengthy and emotional pas de deux, we saw complete transformation at play: soft, graceful movements into quick turns, tender affection into absence; high energy into quiet walking. Dores André and Joan Boada served as the third couple in a flying, soaring duet. Not necessarily from a literal perspective (they weren’t jumping all the time), but more metaphorically. There was a consistently buoyant joy no matter what choreography they were performing. Overall, Scarlett’s movement vocabulary is fresh and innovative and his re-visioning of the traditional pas de deux relationship, a delight. And these gifts are reflected well in “Hummingbird”. But the ballet did come up against some obstacles and challenges. From time to time, the duets looked awkward, and the presence of the third couple seemed like an afterthought. And though Tan and Ingham gave remarkable performances, their section of the ballet went on far too long.