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| Diamonds |
| Music: Symphony No. 3 (Polish ) Movement 2,3,4 & 5 (op 29) Composer: Tchaikovsky Choeography: Balinchine Costume Design: after Karinska Added Decor: Susan Tuohy Lighting Design: Perry Silvey |
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| "Jewels" is many things, among them a place to catch major dancing in minor roles. ... "Diamonds," though well danced by Yuan Yuan Tan and Zachary Hench, also drew the eye again to Winfield, to Peter Brandenhoff by her side, again to Garcia Castilla and to Leslie Young.
Hench was an elegant cavalier, at home as much in Balanchine's selfless choreography as in the "Diamonds" score, Tchaikovsky's "Polish" Symphony. Tan was technically near flawless, but it was curious and a little dismaying how she seemed to be dancing alone even when Hench held her by the waist. She gave him nothing. When the naughty French a while back would refer to Balanchine's "style Frigidaire," this is what they had in mind./ 03 Review |
| Yuan Yuan Tan and Roman Rykine in Diamonds. Photo by Weiferd Watts |
| For dancers, the problem with Jewels is incorporating tonal nuance. The path from late French Romanticism (Emeralds, to Faur� music) to astringent neo-classicism (Rubies, to Stravinsky) to Russian Romanticism (Diamonds, Tchaikovsky) is a long and instructive meander through cultural disparities, all of them experienced and subsumed in Balanchine's long career. A dancer simply doesn't partner his ballerina to Faur� the way he does to Stravinsky's Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra; (Possokhov, still the Ballet's finest dramatic presence, sensed the difference right away.) Rubies (which has been in the repertoire for several years) retained its frisky, competitive spirit. Rykine and Yuan Yuan Tan made something glittering and imperial out of Diamonds. Yet, the languorous phrasing of Emeralds, Balanchine's genius for conjuring poetry out of walking, the ineffable aura of fragility in this section were harder to communicate. The San Francisco Ballet has hired a new balletmistress for next year and improvement may be on the way for Jewels and the Balanchine repertoire in general. With a few exceptions, like Symphony in Three Movements, it hasn't looked so sharp and edgy since that great taskmaster, Bonita Borne, retired some years ago./ Review |
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| "Diamonds" aspires to its grandeur, to the lost world of Imperial Russia as imagined by an immigrant in a new land. "Diamonds" is set for 34 dancers and choreographed to Tchaikovsky's "Polish" Symphony, shorn of its first movement. It is a grand and moving tribute to Balanchine's classical roots. Yuan Yuan Tan lacked legato but was beautiful, elegant and musical. Roman Rykine was that and more. He was discreet but not cold. His brises were impressive, his partnering effortless, his interpretation very much his own./ 02 Review |
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