Midsummer Thoughts - Pt 1
I'm back from vacation! And one of my stops was a short stay in NYC where I saw Sylvia on the Met stage. Schvenko was scheduled for the 7/9 performance, but she was replaced by Misseldine! What a unexpected treat! Apparently, she and Royal had very little rehearsal time, but you'd never know it.
After having recently attended Houston Ballet's Sylvia (choreography by Stanton Welch), I can definitely say that I prefer Ashton's version, especially for the way he creates a clever and loving tribute to 19th century spectacle ballets with a wink to Orientalism. It's like a Faberge egg in ornate, antique scenery and characters, but well-formed and succint. It's easy to take in, clocking in at one hour and fifty-two minutes over three acts, which mercifully provides enough time for an early dinner beforehand and a decent bedtime aftewards.
Misseldine is a gorgeous dancer….there is really nothing to critique, although I've read that other ABT dancers are better storytellers in Sylvia. This was my one and only, so no opportunity for comparison. My only critique overall is that the female ensemble in Act 1 could have been more in sync.
The other big event this summer was the MIBC, which I felt rather ambivalent about at the beginning, and even more so by the finale. I'm just not a competition person. The highlight for me was seeing Tereshkina, Kim, and Shakirova perform the slightly different Mariinsky version of Legend of Love on the Bolshoi stage as the special kick-off performance for the competition. Talk about three dancers who are at the peak of their artistry and craft! Of the three stars, Tereshkina was…INCREDIBLE. She just turned (I think) four-four, and she just keeps getting better. What a goddess! I beleive the clip below if from the July 2 performance at the Mariinsky…not from Moscow but the form and feeling are so close.
As for the competition itself, I think the MIBC is trying to regain its global relevancy and not really succeeding. I had hoped that there would be more corps/corphyee dancers from the Mariinsky, Bolshoi, Perm and European theaters who wanted to try and grab the brass ring, but that didn't really materialize. Asian participants seemed to dominate, especially the Koreans. It's fine. They churn out a lot of excellent dancers who need to find work elsewhere. But with the political situation being what is in Russia, I imagine the competition in four years will have a similar make-up. [Added later] But Crystal Huang willing gold in the juniors division left me feeling….blah. Her dancing and stage presence just feels so disingenuous to me. Everything is calculated to the millimeter and I don't enjoy it. She's got the floor routine of ballet down pat.
Of the Mariinsky's three winners and bronze medalist, I like Ryoma Hudzeleu the best. He brought an array of classical styles and proved himself to the audience. But his promotion to first soloist along with Peneva and Orohovsky was shocking! All three are great dancers, but if I were calling the shots, I would have let them steep at 2nd soloist for a couple more years, while still casting them in Principal roles so that they could refine their style and build up on their repuations with less scrutiny. Being non-Russians, I suspect that they have to work twice as hard to gain the audience's respect and admiration versus any Russian. But did the trio's entry in the competition, their wins, and their subsequent promotions all felt a bit…"baked in," from that start? It's just speculation, and I do have a lot of questions. Like…dancing Basilio on a sprained ankle?! I don't think it was worth it! But maybe he felt like he had no choice but to justify a gold? Not sure... Anyway…this has turned into a long post. I have more thoughts that I'll share in part 2.
