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Review: Ballet Arlington keeps up the pace, grace at Bass Hall

Fleeting beauty

06/22/2003

By MARGARET PUTNAM / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH – Ballet Arlington was full of surprises Friday night at Bass Performance Hall, with nary a false step. Now a vibrant hybrid of Russian bravura, Balanchine finesse and drama from everywhere, it cast a warm glow on four brilliant works.

The dancers hit the ground running with George Balanchine's Valse Fantaisie, featuring one couple in white and a corps of four in knee-length peach tutus. If they looked pushed to the limits by Balanchine's speed, Maria Kudyakova and Andre Prikhodko soared across stage with bounding, effortless leaps while the corps rushed in and out like fireflies.

The Lithuanian choreographer Jurijus Smoriginas drenched Pieta, inspired by Michelangelo's sculpture, with atmosphere. Fog enveloped the stage and gradually lifted, revealing Mary cradling the limp body of Jesus. She gently lifted his arm and upper body, before he fell back. He came to life, they danced, and then he returned to his final repose. Mindaugas Bauzys and Vilija Putriute moved slowly and gravely, and the simplicity had a touching eloquence.

Asaf Messerer's spectacular Spring Waters, a staple of the Bolshoi, was all too brief. Alexander Vetrov and Marina Goshko, clad in brief Greek garments, tore in like colts out of the gate. She raced, impetuously, all the way across stage into his arms for a daring upward toss. He ran off carting her high above his shoulders, triumphant.

But the real thrill came at the end, with Alberto Alonso's Carmen Suite. It was sensational. A red sky and bull's head backdrop set the tone for impending disaster. The cloth lifted to reveal a bullring. This was a darker, more sinister Carmen than the opera, and the tension never let up, from the threatening, masked henchmen who lined the sides of the bullring to the figure of death who stalked the lovers.

What made this ballet so unusual, however, was the stylized wind-up toy sharpness. Carmen (guest artist Marianna Ryzhkina) swung around like a pendulum. Proud, cold and arrogant, she wrapped her legs around the knee of Don José (Mr. Vetrov) with cool aplomb. He looked startled. From his initial military confidence, he grew increasingly defeated, sinking to the side like a folded accordion.

It was Mr. Bauzys as the bullfighter Escamillo, however, who dazzled. He moved like liquid sculpture, from his bold stride to the forward tilt facing Carmen.

The ending was brilliant. As the forbidding Captain Zuniga (Ventzislav Petrov) reappeared in the ring, the bull (Ms. Putriute) rushed at Escamillo while Don José grappled with Carmen. Their deaths were simultaneous. Escamillo held the stiff, drooping bull while Don José, stupefied by his action, held the limp form of Carmen. Her death was as inevitable as the bull's.

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Lucia Lacarra and Cyril Pierre bring passion and technical brilliance to Paul Mejia's 'Romeo and Juliet.'

It's no secret that Ballet Arlington boasts some of the best classical dancers in the area. With classy émigrés from the Eastern Bloc, the company has turned into a Russian-styled powerhouse over the past five years. Unlike Texas Ballet Theater (formerly known as Fort Worth Dallas Ballet), which often spends money on shows that don't rise above the ordinary, Ballet Arlington invests in dancers and always seems to shine. The company's choice of repertory is restricted, but the performance impact is great.

A case in point was the company's recent outing in Bass Performance Hall to show off the husband and wife team of Lucia Lacarra and Cyril Pierre, Ballet Arlington's latest acquisitions. (A European panel named Lacarra best dancer of 2002, and she was decorated by Prince Albert of Monaco earlier this year.) The couple has been seen here in the past dancing an adagio duo, but they have never been seen integrated into the company. (Arlington saw the pair in a stunning performance of Balanchine's Bugaku, which we can only hope will be repeated sometime in Fort Worth.)

The couple's vehicle this time was Paul Mejia's Romeo and Juliet, an imaginative setting of the Tchaikovsky fantasy overture of the same name. A distillation of the Shakespeare classic, Mejia's version offered a pared-down interpretation of the story of the lovers and Tybalt, presenting the essence of the piece in a series of flashbacks beginning with the tomb scene. Lacarra was a captivating Juliet -- vulnerable, confused, and touching as events around her spiraled out of control, culminating in her suicide. Pierre seemed restrained in Romeo's exuberant moments, but the love duet found him ardent and secure. The only noticeable loose end was poor Tybalt, excellently danced by Alexander Vetrov, who was abandoned after his duel with Romeo to wriggle off stage as best he could.

While three principals are featured, a corps of 24, clad in black body stockings to the wrist and over the feet, is called for in this ballet. In a choreographic master stroke, Mejia arranges these shadowy dancers in various groups in the murky lighting to suggest props and scenery. Six dancers, three to a side, bend toward one another and become an arched window. Others become doorways or a bench for Juliet to perch on. Even Juliet's byre is made up of carefully stacked bodies. Adding a theatrical flourish of his own, Mejia reunites the lovers after death in a celestial wedding, complete with an enormous silk train floating behind as the curtain comes down. Shakespeare might have second thoughts, but it works as dance.

The evening opened with a shaky performance of Balanchine's Allegro Brilliante, the choreographer's 1956 setting of the Tchaikovsky Third Piano Concerto, superbly played by David Dubiel in the pit. An abstract classical ballet without a blade of grass to hide behind, the piece is new to the company, and the dancing seemed tentative, even cautious. The ballerinas also made an unwelcome racket with their toe shoes -- something TBT dancers do a lot but that I don't recall coming across with Ballet Arlington. The performance looked like a dress rehearsal, and you sensed that another go-round would have improved the performance tenfold. Mindaugas Bauzys held his own, however, in the male solos, including the wonderful running leap that calls for the dancer to flip around in midair and sail backward off the stage.

A suite from Don Quixote, staged by Vetrov to include the "Bolero" and "Fandango" in addition to the familiar Grand Pas de Deux, brought the program to a rousing close. The classic Russian repertory is the company's meat and potatoes -- and no one dances it better in the flamboyant Bolshoi style than Marina Goshko. Her technique is absolute. She spins and leaps with ease and tosses off 32 fouettes with double and triple turns without a bobble. But it's the joy with which she performs, the stylish attitude, the radiant smile that invites you to share in the beauty of the dance that's so special. She has found a young partner, Andre Prikhodko, who works well with her and dazzles with his own virtuosity. He's made amazing strides in the past couple of years and is a force to be reckoned with in the company.

Ron Spigelman conducted the Texas Chamber Orchestra in the pit, and, aside from the French horns coming unglued a few times, things were kept neatly under control by the conductor. This is his last season here, and his thoughtful musicmaking will be missed.

If you missed the program, the company returns to Fort Worth June 20, with Lacarra and Pierre dancing one of their adagio specialties, Gerard Bohbot's ethereal setting of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, which Bohbot created for the couple.

With Vetrov and Mejia reigning as co-artistic directors, the company has the best of two worlds: Vetrov staging and appearing in classic Russian ballets, and Mejia staging his own work and Balanchine's. The next program will feature the oddly orchestrated Carmen Suite, with its battery of marimbas, xylophones, and other exotica, in addition to Balanchine's Valse Fantaisies. The Carmen ballet was created for Mia Plisetskaya 40 years ago when she was prima donna asoluta of the Bolshoi Ballet. She still holds performance rights and guards them closely. Vetrov, Bauzys, and guest Bolshoi principal Marianna Ryzhkina, who will dance the title role, all worked in Moscow to learn the piece and to receive Plisetskaya's blessing. This should be a rare treat.

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Posted on Wed, May. 07, 2003
A magnificent opportunity for sheer showmanship By Wayne Lee Gay Star-Telegram Classical Music Critic   Ballet Arlington traveled downtown to Bass Performance Hall on Tuesday, once again proving itself a significant force on the regional dance scene -- and once again displaying artistic director Paul Mejia's genius not only as a company builder but as a choreographer. That Mejia is one of the outstanding champions of the work of his mentor, George Balanchine, was evident in the opening Allegro Brillante. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 3, with pianist Daniel Dubiel performing the solo with fluid brilliance, provides an ornate romanticism over which Balanchine built a tribute to Russian imperial ballet through a dazzling neoclassicism. Mejia tamed and directed the natural Russian virtuosity of a company dominated by Russian dancers into smooth, pure energy. Lithuanian dancers Vilija Putriute and Mindaugas Bauzys brought a unique intensity to the principal roles. For most ballet buffs, Romeo and Juliet means a setting of Prokofiev's evening-length score. In these parts, it also means Mejia's succinct and stunning setting of Tchaikovsky's concert overture. Bringing two of Europe's outstanding dancers, Lucia Lacarra and Cyril Pierre, to the title roles brought a new layer of virtuosity and passion to a work that may be Mejia's masterpiece. The evening closed with a Don Quixote Suite made up of an excerpt from the 19th-century ballet by the late Russian romantic choreographer Alexander Gorsky and a new prologue by Alexander Vetrov, who shares the title of artistic director of Ballet Arlington with Mejia. The result was a magnificent opportunity for sheer showmanship by dancers Marina Goshko, Andre Pirkhodko, Maria Kudyakova and Putriute, as well as a subtle lesson in the history of ballet, displaying gestures in Gorsky's section that reappeared decades later, in a different context, in Allegro Brillante. Conductor Ron Spigelman and the Texas Chamber Orchestra accompanied ably, with some weakness in the brass section but with an impressive string sound. Wayne Lee Gay, (817) 390-7756 return to top

03/02/2003
By MARGARET PUTNAM / Special Contributor  to The Dallas Morning News

     ARLINGTON – Ballet Arlington swept us past a remote castle, a park bench  and an army canteen Friday night at Texas Hall at the University of Texas  at Arlington in three ballets drenched in romance.    
       Les Sylphides premiered in Paris in 1909 as the first plotless ballet. Dreamy, vaporous, a cloud puff, it features a bevy of sylphs in little wings and long white tutus and a single danseur. Behind a background of lake and distant castle, the corps poses in a pretty tableau, while a soloist flits or soars though the air.         
       Frédéric Chopin's music, Tony Tucci's misty lighting and the airy movement take us up into an ethereal, idealized world.         
       Some variations are slow, others bolder. In black-and-white velvet Byron shirt and mop of curls, Mindaugas Bauzys bounds across the stage in a series of jumps and beats, as though propelled by wind.         
       Was it cigarette smoke or fog wafting over the stage in Bonjour Brel_

Choreographer Eddy Toussaint's clever treatment of Jacques Brel's five  songs makes angst the mood of choice. But not entirely.  RANDY ELI GROTHE / DMN                                

 "In the Mood" was one of the pieces in Ballet Arlington's production of Moonlight Serenade.
                        
       Mr. Brel's recorded songs may be French, but the emotions they carry are clear in any language. "Les désespérés" depicts a defeated Alexander Vetrov and consoling Olga Pavlova. She's as quick and precise as he is  powerful. They retreat to a park bench, lit by a street lamp. He's  morose in "Mon ami Fernand," but spirited enough to leap as high as the rafters and spin low. In the comic "Vezoul" she collapses and he struggles to pull her up upright. He never succeeds. "La chanson des vieux amants" shows trust and serenity         
       Paul Mejia's Moonlight Serenade turns up the volume and pours out the nostalgia with his tribute to wartime and the big band music of  Glenn Miller. It is a big enterprise – 31 dancers, a raft of extras and the Texas Chamber Orchestra, with all the men in army uniform. But the  big ensemble pieces look just busy, from the opening jitterbug to the chorus line at the end.         
       By far the best are "Song of the Volga Boatmen" and "Moonlight  Serenade." The Air Force gets its day in the first. The men from Ballet Arlington and Bruce Wood Dance Company imitate bomber dives and turns, arms stretched out, bodies tilted. It ends with them lined up in flight  formation.         
       Moonlight Serenade would be memorable for Maria Terezia Balogh alone. The former reigning ballerina with Fort Worth Dallas Ballet, she  returned to the stage this weekend after a five-year absence. Elegant in a long, black velvet gown, she looks almost rapturous as Lee Scoggins glides her aloft. They are followed by newlyweds (Andre Prikhodko and Marina Goshko) who disrobe before embarking in soaring, long-held lifts.  Most touching of all: Anne-Marie Clark drags her father's heavy duffel bag while her parents (Vilija Putriute-Bauziene and Mr. Bauzys) bid farewell.         
 

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Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
December 21, 2002
Section: News
Edition: FINAL
Page: 10


Ballet gives 'Nutcracker' new look
WAYNE LEE GAY
Star-Telegram Classical Music Critic

ARLINGTON--Just when we wondered whether someone would ever come up with something new in a Nutcracker, Ballet Arlington's co-artistic director Alexander Vetrov did it. In his version, which opened Friday night, Vetrov admirably combined a decidedly traditional approach to choreography with distinctly original view of plot and character. His Nutcracker rearranges the transformation and the battle scene slightly, and changes Act II, traditionally staged as a Kingdom of Sweets, into a Kingdom of Dolls under the Christmas tree, in which the dolls come to life at the wave of a magic wand.

Ballet Arlington is an ambitious new company, small but rich with imported, highly motivated talent, which Vetrov used skillfully in this version. Setting the party scene in a small German town in the 19th century, Vetrov also appeared as the magician Drosselmeyer, creating an energetic, truly balletic role for himself.

Student dancer Courtney Smith was an extraordinary Clara in Friday night's performance. Buryatiyan-born Marina Goshko as the Fairy Doll (the Sugar Plum Fairy in most productions) and Russian-born Andre Prikhodko as the Prince performed brilliantly in the classic tradition.

The various episodes of Act II each became a study in an htmlect of traditional ballet, exploring balance, mechanical energy and lyric elegance; the bonbon section was a wonderful example of simple but effective choreography for juvenile dancers.

Although not the most opulent Nutcracker in the region (Fort Worth Dallas Ballet's ongoing version holds that title), this presentation, accompanied by the Texas Chamber Orchestra and conductor James Rives-Jones, is a truly worthy professional project.

It is impressive both in Vetrov's conception and in the execution by the combination of well-trained students and professionals.

Ballet Arlington's Nutcracker

2 and 7:30 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Sunday, Texas Hall on the University of Texas at Arlington campus

Tickets: $10-$45

Call:

Wayne Lee Gay,

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Copyright 2002 Star-Telegram, Inc.

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Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
December 20, 2002
Section: Star Time
Edition: FINAL
Page: 27


Perennial favorite

Ballet Arlington's new star re-imagines 'The Nutcracker'
WAYNE LEE GAY
Star-Telegram Classical Music Critic

Unlike American dancers, Alexander Vetrov didn't grow up dancing in The Nutcracker every holiday season. But as co-artistic director of the ambitious Ballet Arlington, the Russian-born former Bolshoi star this weekend will do just about everything one person could do in a single production.

Vetrov choreographed, designed the sets and will dance two roles in the company's new version, which will be performed four times on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington this weekend.

Although The Nutcracker originated in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the 19th century, setting a fanciful tale by German poet E.T.A. Hoffmann to a masterful score by Tchaikovsky, the greatest ballet composer of all time, the show is not the ubiquitous holiday item in Russia that it has been in the United States since the 1960s. And Russian versions of The Nutcracker don't generally feature the dozens of children American productions usually include.

Though there are basic parameters for any Nutcracker, Vetrov has found some new ideas for his version. "I listened to the music of Tchaikovsky until I imagined it in a new way," Vetrov says.

The magician Drosselmeyer (which Vetrov will dance) will bring along three giant dolls instead of two, with longterm implications in the plot; the traditional Kingdom of Sweets will be replaced by a magical place inside the Christmas tree where dolls from many countries come to life.

Typical for any American Nutcracker, Ballet Arlington's version will be full of children, along with seasoned professionals. The Texas Chamber Orchestra will accompany, with James Rives Jones conducting.

The Nutcracker

presented by Ballet Arlington
7:30 p.m. Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday

Texas Hall

University of Texas at Arlington

Arlington

$10-$45



Wayne Lee Gay,
 

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Copyright 2002 Star-Telegram, Inc.
 

Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
December 12, 2002
Section: Metro
Edition: ARLINGTON
Page: 1


SUITE LESSON

'Nutcracker' performance blends fun and learning
MATT FRAZIER
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

ARLINGTON--A little girl named Clara fell asleep one Christmas night while clutching a wounded toy soldier nutcracker.  She had a most wonderful dream.

This dream pirouetted and kicked its way into the hearts of 1,700 third-graders Wednesday as they watched the story unfold on a University of Texas at Arlington stage.

"I was impressed," said Tyricha Cephus, 8, of Sherrod Elementary. "I liked it when the men [lifted] up the girls. I've never seen that before."

For three years Ballet Arlington and UT-Arlington have presented a truncated Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite to Arlington's third-graders. By the end of this week, about 4,700 third-graders will have cheered for dancing dolls and applauded Prince Nutcracker's triumph over the ravenous Mouse King.

Teachers say the ballet gives them the chance to get students excited about music, dance and learning.  In music teacher Traci McGrath's class at Sherrod, students learned five classic ballet moves and reviewed Tchaikovsky and his music.

"Many of these kids have not had the opportunity to go to a live performance," McGrath said. "They are so excited when they come back. It's a great opportunity." Students work on reading, writing and math problems based on the ballet in Sherrod Elementary teacher Allie Schulman's class.  "If they do something that has meaning to them, they will remember it," Schulman said.

And as Prince Nutcracker carries Clara to Jam Mountain, some students discover that Christmas dreams can come true.

Matt Frazier


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Copyright 2002 Star-Telegram, Inc.

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Posted on Sat, Sep. 28, 2002
Ballet Arlington's program deserves bigger crowd Marilyn Bailey Star-Telegram Staff Writer   ARLINGTON - Ballet Arlington's first program of the new season under new co-artistic directors Paul Mejia and Alexander Vetrov was a smash, artistically, with the troupe looking cohesive and well-rehearsed in a show of all-American choreography and timeless music. The highlight was Balanchine's Apollo, a ballet that is almost 75 years old but is still fresh and thrilling at every viewing. It depicts the birth of the god Apollo, and his growth and education as aided by three muses, and contains some of the great dance images of the 20th century. Mindaugas Bauzys (Apollo), Vilija Putrute-Bauziene (Terpsichore), Maria Kudyakova (Calliope) and Marina Goshko (Polyhymnia) were all fine, and the Texas Chamber Orchestra, led by James Rives-Jones, did a terrific job with Stravinsky's score. Val Caniparoli's Lady of the Camellias, set to Chopin, tells the story of the love between a courtesan and a noble. Although slight, it was flawlessly danced by Lucia Lacarra and Cyril Pierre, new Ballet Arlington principals. Lacarra is a wonder, impossibly lithe and lovely, and the number nicely displayed the couple's lyrical qualities and dramatic abilities. The program opened with Mejia's Brahms Waltzes, a charming piano ballet (accompanied by pianist Shields-Collins Bray onstage) in which ever-changing configurations of dancers interpret short pieces of varying moods and tempos. Highlights were duets by Lacarra and Pierre; the dancing of artistic director Vetrov -- presumably past his prime, he was powerful in a brief solo; and Robyn Salter and Dmitri Marasanov, delightful in their youth, energy and humor. The midsize crowd was a disappointment -- this program, repeated tonight, deserves a bigger audience. Ballet Arlington 8 tonight Texas Hall at the University of Texas at Arlington $10-$45 Marilyn Bailey, return to top

Posted on Sat, Jun. 22, 2002
Mejia brings vision to Ballet Arlington By WAYNE LEE GAY STAR-TELEGRAM CLASSICAL MUSIC CRITIC   FORT WORTH - In its first performance with Paul Mejia as co-artistic director, Ballet Arlington showed distinctive marks Friday night of the strong-willed ballet master's personality and vision. The performance marked the third annual visit by Ballet Arlington to Bass Performance Hall and displayed a company that is making the most of a relatively small budget and a short tradition. That tradition, planted by the recently deposed founding artistic director Svetlana Stanova, includes drawing on major outside talent and using live orchestral accompaniment. Under Mejia's regime, it will include the presentation of works by Mejia's mentor, George Balanchine, exemplified in this performance by his unique interpretation of Japanese culture, Bugaku. Lucia Lacarra and Cyril Pierre, until recently principal dancers with San Francisco Ballet and currently on the rosters of both Ballet Arlington and the Bavarian State Opera Ballet, danced the principal roles. In this ballet, sustained slow motion rather than speed is the principal technical challenge. Bugaku is also the most frankly sensual of Balanchine's scores, in which he deals straightforwardly with courtship and consummation. And it takes dancers of extraordinary dramatic power, which Lacarra and Pierre are, to carry it off. The evening continued with a set of classical ballet divertissements staged by Russian dancer and co-artistic director Alexander Vetrov. These showed off a series of guest stars, including Russians Maria Kudyakova and Andre Prikhodko in Bournonville's Grand Pas Flower Festival; Buryatiyan Marina Goshko and Lithuanian Mindaugas Bauzys in Gsovsky's Grand Pas Classique; and Kudyakova and Vetrov himself in the Pas de Deux from Petipa's Le Corsaire. Nothing profound here, but much glitter and dizzying virtuosity. The premiere of Mejia's own Notes on My Life, set to songs by Richard Adler (most famous as the composer of the Broadway hit Damn Yankees) closed the evening. A worthy successor to the tradition of Balanchine works such as Slaughter on Tenth Avenue or Who Cares_, Notes on My Life set Bauzys, Vetrov and Lithuanian dancer Vilija Putrute-Bauziene in an urban romantic triangle, with scenery provided in the form of wonderful lighting effects by Tony Tucci. As in the entire evening, conductor James Rives-Jones and the Texas Chamber Orchestra accompanied here nicely. Wayne Lee Gay,

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