ABT 2013 - Don Quixote

Monday night, I saw the third ballet in my ABT series - Don Quixote.  I've only seen this one once before, a few years ago, starring one of my uber-favorites, David Hallberg, and a then-new gal, Polina Semionova.  When the schedule came out this year, I saw that David and Polina would be pairing up again, so I changed my regular subscription ticket for their evening.  Unfortunately, David ultimately decided not to do a Don Quixote this year, so I saw Polina with new principal (and the gent I saw in my second Onegin), Cory Stearns.

Although Don Quixote has maybe a half hour of actual plot, that means there's over two hours of fantastic dancing!  There are a lot of spirited group numbers and some spectacular pas de deux for Polina and Cory.  This ballet is very light-hearted and high-spirited, both in the dancing and the acting.  I enjoyed myself very much, though I admit there were a few flaws in the evening.

Cory Stearns, while very attractive and elegant, just doesn't seem to dance with much verve.  That may have worked for the remote Onegin, but it doesn't really jive with the flirtatious Basilio.  So I did find him wanting, though there was nothing actually 'wrong' with his performance.  And he didn't seem to have much of a rapport with Polina, unfortunately.  They also seemed to struggle a couple of times with their partnering.  But maybe with some seasoning, these kinds of things will straighten out. 

Polina, once again, was spectacular.  She can hold positions, en pointe, seemingly forever!  She did one variation in the wedding pas de deux that made me exclaim out loud.  Yes, I became one of those people.  But it's like she's defying space and time, somehow.  Her leaps are gorgeous, her turns are fast and exciting, and her back and arms are beautifully supple.  I also found her acting, especially in the first scene, much improved from the last time I saw her dance Kitri.

I enjoyed Victor Barbee as the (non-dancing) Don Quixote.  I thought he was quite touching in his acting and his searching for his Dulcinea.  Julio Bragado-Young, as the foppish Gamache, was very funny and very charismatic.  James Whiteside, a new soloist at ABT this year, was wonderful as the matador, Espada.  He had verve and flair all over the place and I found myself wishing he were dancing the lead opposite Polina.  Oh well.  Hee Seo was a lovely Mercedes, but she seemed to flounder a bit as the Queen of the Dryads.  It seemed like she fell off-pointe a couple of times, unfortunately, though she did regroup quickly.  I found myself completely enchanted with Yuriko Kajiya as Amour.  She was light and quick, with soft arms and tons of charm.  I'm definitely going to keep a watch out for her the rest of the season.  She was quite a crowd favorite, as well.

 

Thankfully, my seat neighbors all behaved themselves.  The gent in front of me yelled 'bravi' after nearly everything, but that's ok.  At least there weren't a bunch of yucky know-it-all teenagers around me (oh, golly, I've turned into a 'turn down your music and get off my lawn' type of person!  yikes!).  Oh, and an update about that:  after a few people who read my blog suggested I should indeed register my complaints to ABT, I sent off an e-mail through their website.  Here is the reply I got:  "We are aware of this type of situation and make every effort to see that it does not happen."  Uh, ok.  At least they replied, I guess.  Hopefully, it won't happen again.  But all in all, I did have a good time at Don Quixote, thanks to a bit of spectacular dancing, if no fireworks from Cory.  Maybe next time!  There's lots of ballet to come this summer - hurrah!  :)