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| Program 4 |
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| SF BALLET 2008 75TH ANNIVERSARY |
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| All Jerome Robbins - All American. Jerome Robbins changed the way the world looked at America and the way America looked at itself. He gave us our voice and told our stories. |
| The 10th anniversary of Robbins' death will prompt celebrations across the country and around the world: Robbins triple bills at San Francisco Ballet (March 8-19) and Pacific Northwest Ballet (May 29 to June 8); the Royal Ballet in London's first revival of his "Dances at a Gathering" in more than 31 years; and, at New York City Ballet, a Robbins-based spring season featuring no fewer than 30 ballets, the largest-scale celebration anywhere of any single choreographer's works other than City Ballet's 1993 celebration of its founding maestro, George Balanchine./ Source |
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| CriticalDance Program 4 |
| Fancy Free - Jerome Robbins / last performed in 2007 In the Night - Jerome Robbins / last performed in 2005 West Side Story Suite - Jerome Robbins / New in 2008 |
| I had hoped that "Fancy Free" might click into place this year, especially after American Ballet Theatre's visit with an unforgettably rich rendition showed the Bay Area the pathos possible beneath this ballet's charm. Alas, Anderson, .. Karapetyan and ... Molat as the three lusty sailors on shore leave have the typecast qualities but not the spontaneity and sharp timing - they seem to do everything on cue. Erin McNulty, a corps member revealing herself as a fine character actress, shone as the purse-toting woman. In his more balletic mode, Robbins doesn't get more touching than "In the Night," his portrait of three kinds of relationships set to Chopin nocturnes (Roy Bogas on piano). Lorena Feijoo made a welcome return from injury in one of her best roles, the torrential lover throwing herself upon stolid Damian Smith, then kneeling at his feet before being scooped up with forgiveness. Elana Altman put her exquisite shoulders and precocious maturity to good use as the dignified woman in what, as Robbins makes us imagine, might be a more settled marriage to Tiit Helimets. As a measure of the complexity with which Robbins captures emotion in his deceptively natural movement, the moment when Helimets suspended Altman upside down with one leg quivering drew both laughs and sympathetic sighs. (Side note: And a "wow" from the man behind me.) Yuan Yuan Tan danced the most innocent lover prettily opposite Ruben Martin. "West Side Story Suite"...drew rock-concert cheers. Even the orchestra seemed to rally, brash and bleating under Music Director Martin West...This staging by Jean-Pierre Frohlich and Jenifer Ringer uncovers fresh talent in the Ballet's ranks. Two of Wednesday's leads were drawn from the corps: Dores Andre moved as sweetly as a lamb as Maria, while Shannon Roberts sashayed through a rendition of "America" to make even Rita Moreno proud - and let rip a wild and natural voice - as Anita. Soloist Rory Hohenstein has been on the rise for several seasons now, but as Riff he gets to show off his Broadway-baby instincts, crooning credibly and commanding a crackling performance of "Cool." Corps member Matthew Stewart took on the vocals for "Something's Coming," usually reserved for a professional singer... Garrett Anderson made a dreamy Tony. Yet to call out names would be an endless exercise: How to stop at gutsy Julianne Kepley, sassy Courtney Elizabeth, wiry Benjamin Stewart?- (Side Note: I really noticed Garen Scribner) Everyone matters./Review |
| Meet the Artist Interview with Jean-Pierre Frohlich - March 15, 2007
After staging Jerome Robbins' Fancy Free for San Francisco Ballet. |
| SFB�s Fancy Free has settled in since its company debut last season. The familiar cast, especially Pascal Molat�s buoyant gob, now more smoothly integrates steps with characterization. Anderson�s "audition" solo has an appealing awkwardness, while Davit Karapetyan has aced the rumba. The women, Vanessa Zahorian, Erin McNulty and Mariellen Olson, reprised last season�s assignments with distinction. Thursday evening was notable for another reason. It marked the first appearance this season of principal dancer Lorena Feijoo, who invested the third and most turbulent duet of In the Night with the passionate attack one expects of this fiery artist. She has been missed. In his role debut, partner Damian Smith was, as always, a model of empathy. The other couples quickly found and sustained the unerring tone of the ballet. Yuan Yuan Tan and Ruben Martin (role debut) brought a courtly aura to the skimming romantic lifts of the first section. Tiit Helimets (who is not flattered by Anthony Dowell�s copper-toned Cossack costumes) ably squired Elana Altman (an impressive role debut) in the folk-inflected middle section, during which an upside down lift comes out of nowhere and yet seems so emotionally right. The San Francisco Ballet has added handsomely to its impressive collection of Robbins� dances. The company�s acquisition of West Side Story Suite was a logical step..Robbins (and his assistant Peter Gennaro) fuse down and dirty jazz moves with the ballet language in the "Prologue." They import Latin popular modes in the "Dance at the Gym" and "America," while finding a lyrical solution to the concluding, Elysian Fields-like "Somewhere" ballet, a much more satisfying d�nouement than the ham-handed dialogue of Laurents� original. The gang numbers retain their momentum (has any choreographer ever culled so much excitement from three men slinking across the stage in unison?) and for all the naivete and studied informality of the finality, its sincerity is never in doubt. Here, you feel, was the genesis of Robbins� masterwork, Dances at a Gathering. For the first time this season, West Side Story Suite has offered the opportunity to the SFB corps to play something other than German peasants and the gang members and their gals seem energized Thursday. The suite doesn�t do everything that the show accomplishes. Maria, the Juliet figure, is a subsidiary character here, although Dores Andre brought charm and modesty to her initial meeting with Tony, the Romeo character, delivered appealingly by Garrett Anderson. Pierre-Fran�ois Vilanoba invested Bernardo (Tybalt) with brooding intensity; Shannon Roberts was all fire and spice as Anita. Rory Hohenstein�s Riff (Mercutio) had all the moves but seemed theatrically underpowered. /VOD Review |
| The evening opens with Robbins' charming Fancy Free, a rollicking tale of three wide-eyed sailors (at this performance exuberantly danced by Garrett Anderson, Davit Karapetyan and Pascal Molat) living it up on a drunken free night in New York City. ..In the Night, set to the lilting strains of Chopin's Nocturnes for solo piano. The piece consists of three partnered dances, which converge only briefly near the conclusion. Yuan Yuan Tan, Ruben Marten, Katita Waldo and Pierre-Francois Vilanoba..and supremely elegant style of Lorena Feijoo and Damian Smith...West Side Story Suite, Shannon Roberts stepped confidently into the role of Anita...Dores Andre gave the audience a sweetly endearing Maria, a role she was clearly born to play...Garrett Anderson, Rory Hohenstein and Peirre-Francois Vilanoba turn in steamy performances as Tony, Riff (leader of the Jets) and Bernardo (leader of the Sharks)./ Spark Review (Sat Eve) |
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