The National Ballet of Canada: Mozartiana, Pastorale, Solitaire At Hummingbird Centre in Toronto on Wednesday
Either by accident or design, a common thread runs through the three works in the National Ballet's fall mixed program. Not only is the lead ballerina the dominant figure, she is also a solitary woman alone in a crowd of dancers.
In George Balanchine's Mozartiana (1981), the delicate ballerina and her beautifully choreographed prayer set the tone of melancholy that pervades the evening. In James Kudelka's Pastorale (1990), the lead ballerina, beset by personal devils, is a figure of acute sadness. In Kenneth MacMillan's Solitaire (1956), a pert young girl cannot fit into the social games of her peers, and so is an outcast.
Solitaire's eloquent, silent sigh that ends the piece, takes us full circle back to Balanchine's ballerina and her heartfelt yearning. In between lies the Kudelka work, whose swirling passions are in sharp contrast to Balanchine's quiet musings and MacMillan's sweetness.
The epic Pastorale, set to Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, reintroduced Kudelka to Toronto audiences after a decade's absence from the National. The work is now danced by a new generation, but time has not tarnished Pastorale's lustre.
The key to the piece is Santo Loquasto's moody 18th-century garden setting. Barren trees and broken columns speak of a landscape that is anything but romanticized nature. Thus, the elegantly formal courtiers who arrive for an idealized country visit will leave dissatisfied.
The earthy rustics (Victoria Bertram, Tomas Schramek and a delightfully boisterous cadre of National Ballet School students) understand the meaning of unadulterated joy, while the court ladies and their swains remain trapped within their sophisticated artifice.
At the heart of the piece are five brilliantly contrasted duets, each differentiated by subtle nuances of relationships manifested in dangerous partnering.
Collectively, they travel the gamut of romance.
We first see Sonia Rodriguez flirtatiously enticing her serious young suitor, Ryan Boorne. The ardent Brenda Little and William Marrié who follow, are at a more intense period of courting, while Chan Hon Goh and Patrick Lavoie are deliriously in love. Martine Lamy and Geon van der Wyst are a more mature couple, caught in a struggle of passionate and conflicting emotions.
Alone among the gorgeously pastel-garbed ladies, Greta Hodgkinson is dressed in black, a woman whose majesty commands obedience, but not warmth. Her duet with van der Wyst is one of borrowed rapture. His heart belongs to someone else, and he partners her in cold formality.
The complex and fascinating Pastorale is a magnificent showcase for Kudelka's dancers, as well as being a Canadian ballet classic.
Created just before the master's death in 1983, the muted Mozartiana is Balanchine's reflection on his own memento mori. The stage is swathed in black drapery and so are the dancers.
Chan Hon Goh exquisitely performs a fervent prayer surrounded by four baby ballerinas from the National Ballet School. She is, perhaps, the muse of dance, and represents the dying choreographer's yearning for his lost creative years. The glittering Theme and Variations, performed wonderfully by Goh and Aleksandar Antonijevic, is vintage Balanchine with its demanding footwork and phrasing.
Malcolm Arnold's delightfully eccentric score is a perfect foil for MacMillan's quirky Solitaire. The work has an old-fashioned feel, but still brings a smile with its wacky dance vocabulary and bizarrely angled physicality that captures zestful youth. No matter how hard she tries, Solitaire, winsomely danced by Xiao Nan Yu, cannot fit in to the high jinks.
She has encounters with the perky Polka Girl (an adorable Stacey Shiori Minagawa), two testosterone-filled Flute Boys (the droll Avinoam Silverman and William Marrié), and the romantic Pas de Deux Man (Rex Harrington). The dancers throw themselves into the fun-filled spirit of Solitaire, while Yu, struggling to maintain her sunny disposition, never becomes a victim, and therein lies the charm of the piece.
Ormbsy Wilkins and the National Ballet Orchestra should be cited for their stylish sensibility in reading the diverse scores. This mixed program is an evening rich both musically and choreographically. The National Ballet's mixed program continues at Hummingbird Centre in Toronto through Sunday. For more information call: 416-345-9595.