ABT 2019 - Swan Lake

Only two ballets left in my season - oh no!  I'm sad to see the season come to an end, I've enjoyed it so much.  Last night, the balcony was finally full; too bad it has to be an old workhorse that gets butts into seats.  But I'm glad the house was full for such a lovely performance, the screaming and cheering were thunderous throughout the performance of Swan Lake, which I hope made the dancers very proud.

I've seen Swan Lake a lot; I was just re-reading some of my previous blog posts about it.  It's fun to remember past dancer combinations and reactions - I mean, mainly my reaction is "I loved it!", but I have loved some performances more than others.  I really had a grand time at last night's rendition.  I'd have to put it up near the top of my all-time favorites, but it certainly didn't exceed my gold standard of all Swan Lake evenings (remind yourself of that one HERE).  

It was a happy coincidence that the dancer I most wanted to see dance Odette/Odile was the one scheduled on my regular night, Christine Shevchenko.  I've enjoyed her in other pieces and I was anxious to see her take on this classic.  I was a little less excited that her partner was James Whiteside, who I'm ever-so-fond of, but he can be lackluster in his characterizations (though his dancing and partnering are always first-rate).  I'm happy to report that Shevchenko and Whiteside were terrific together, very in sync and with tons of chemistry.  I'm sure as they develop as a pair, they'll get even better.  But they were already pretty great last night.

photo credit: Gene Schiavone

I admit I don't normally find Whiteside to be a compelling actor, but his throughline as Siegfried (I was surprised to see this was my first time seeing him in this role, I've seen him as Purple Rothbart in the past) was definitely more  sympathetic than I've seen before.  If I still feel he hasn't figured out some things yet (like, why does he leave his party? I don't see his reasoning), I'm at least glad to see forward movement in the acting area.  His dancing is always terrific, strong and powerful, yet extremely light and airy.  So I enjoyed his performance a lot, more than I thought I would, to be honest.  Joseph Gorak (who I was just complaining that I don't see enough) again played Benno, Siegfried's friend; I've seen him do the role a number of times and it's a nice one for him.  It shows his openness and natural ease with characterization and it gives him opportunities to dance beautifully without a lot of partnering (which I can only assume is the problem with his advancement/casting).  The peasant pas de trois was delightful, with Gorak, Cassandra Trenery and the sparkling Skylar Brandt.  They were all lovely and got huge rounds of applause.  Oh, speaking of huge rounds of applause, a great dancer from ABT's past, Martine Van Hamel, played Siegfried's mother and the crowd ate her up.  She was great, with wonderful mime.

photo credit: Gene Schiavone

Once we got to the lake, the first standout was the swan corps de ballet.  They were all terrific (I should mention here that as the lights went up before the start of the show, there was an announcement about many substitutions, I didn't get them all.  I'll only mention one a little later, but I won't be able to point out any of the individual swan dancers, since I have no clue if they were replacements or not), the four cygnettes were very uniform and clean, and the two solo swans were also lovely.  Christine Shevchenko was really lovely as Odette.  She was very soft and lyrical, with gorgeous arms and a beautiful back, and her mime was very expressive.  I could see the fear, then love come onto her face while Siegfried was wooing her.  I noticed she had a very birdlike head movement at the start and end of her first scene, as she was going in and out of her swan guise.  I thought she was gorgeous all around, though I will admit I didn't cry during that famous pas de deux.  I wasn't completely engaged emotionally, but again, I think that will come.  It was only her second go-round in the role.  The audience, however, adored her.  There was much riotous applause after all of her solos and duets with Whiteside.  He, as usual, was a wonderful partner, very attentive and secure.  I never worried for an instant during the difficult lifts, and I worry about most other principal male dancers.

They really pulled out all the stops after the intermission, in the Black Swan pas de deux.  They were both just powerful and fast and on fire.  Shevchenko's fouettes were terrific and she threw in some arm movements I hadn't seen before, which was cool.  And she had an unsupported arabesque that went on forever, it drove the crowd wild.  Whiteside was also leaping higher than I'd seen him leap before, which was also cool.  I had thought I was going to see Alexandre Hammoudi as Purple Rothbart, but apparently I didn't hear the announcement that Calvin Royal III would be playing him instead.  Well, Royal was also ON FIRE.  He was amazing, seducing everyone within his gaze, and his dancing was bold and sexy.  He had a problem with the unsupported arabesque, but he made it work inside his characterization.  I was tremendously impressed with him and it reminded me that I really want to see him as Siegfried someday.

photo credit: Rosalie O'Connor

After Siegfried has betrayed Odette and runs back to the lake, there's a little section of interpolated music with the swans in front of the curtain (while the set is being changed behind) that I normally tune out of, but it was quite good last night.  And the swans dancing was extremely thrilling after the deaths of Odette and Siegfried.  Thomas Forster was the Lizard Rothbart (and, again, how he can do so much great acting inside a rubber lizard suit, I'll never know) and he was incredible in that last scene.  My heart was actually racing and I'm normally just ready for the curtain call after the leads leap to the hereafter.  So that was exciting.  

The crowd was on their feet and gave a lot of love and loud applause to the company once the ballet was over.  My seat neighbor, who had grumbled about kids and their phones throughout the evening, leaned over and told me that I was the best person he had ever sat next to.  Actually, before the second act started, he leaned over and said "If I forget, I want to thank you for being an excellent seat neighbor."  I giggled at that, I must confess.  Then after the ballet was over, he sort of waxed rhapsodic about how he wished he could clone me and I was perfect to sit next to.  Well, there you have it!  Maybe from now on, I should mention MY qualities as a seat neighbor in a post!  You never know who's going to appreciate you!  He put a sweet little topper to a lovely evening.  I will never get sick of watching Swan Lake and I'm grateful to dancers who work so hard to learn, grow, and are ready to thrill me.