AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE’S ASHTON CELEBRATION

Herman Cornejo as Puck in Frederick Ashton's The Dream

In the closing weeks of the 2010 season of ABT, we are fortunate enough to be presented with a British invasion of sorts.  As Alistair Macauley points out in his take on the repertory programs presented this week, Frederick Ashton, Antony Tudor and Kevin McMillan all found a home at Ballet Theater, and their works remain as an integral part of the non-19th century program.

Wednesday’s program presented four of Ashton’s pieces of somewhat varying excitement, but showcasing a certain stylistic versatilty in choreography, mood and execution.  Birthday Offering set to a score of Alexander Glazunov was little fluffy piece mainly meant to highlight ballerina virtuoso footwork.  Stella Abrera and Eric Tamm were the central couple and she was lovely in her variation.  The men didn’t have much to do by comparison, and even spend a lot of time in the background watching the ladies’ variations, coming together for a rather unexciting Mazurka.  Mr. Tamm seemed not quite up to the spinning demands of his solo, I kept thinking oh Baryshnikov would never have hopped through his pirouettes just so, but of course, that’s not fair.

The Thaïs Pas de Deux set to that oh so famous Meditation by Jules Massenet is a beautiful tribute to an exquisite piece of music.  A veiled Hee Seo suddenly appears, floating on stage to briefly merge with Sascha Radetsky.  A series of lifts, arabesques and other balances lift this breathtaking adagio to the heavens.  As the ballerina bourrees into the wings at the end you cannot help but feel something like the male part of the couple must, sadness that it must end, that it passed by as if a dream.

And the evening did end with a dream: The Dream, a most delightful and beautifully rendered version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the well known music by Felix Mendelssohn.  A compact telling with David Hallberg as Oberon and Gillian Murphy as Titania, was brilliantly danced on a gorgeous fairy green set.  Herman Cornejo as Puck merited all of the ovations received given the pyrotechnics required of the role.  Hallberg was beautific when it came to long line but couldn’t quite excite in the faster passages where footwork had to be quick and crisp.  The fairy ladies were in perfect unison if a bit noisy (can someone invent softer but firm pointe shoes please!)  Julio Bragado-Young, en pointe, as Bottom was a marvel as well.  Everyone was lovely including the confused couples, the rustics, the fairies, a light and mischievous story, that is nonetheless unforgettable.