IN THE LOWER ROOM
A triple bill of unconnected masterpieces showcases the best and worst of “America’s National Ballet Company”
George Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial, which heads the triple bill of American Ballet Theatre’s Choreographers of the 20th and 21st Centuries program — which opened tonight at Lincoln Center’s Koch Theatre — was choreographed in 1941. A plotless, technically challenging ballet, it was conceived from scratch to show the prowess of American dancers (and cultural capital of the US) on a diplomatic tour to South America financed by the US State Department. Set to the lilting romance of Tchaikovsky’s Second Piano Concerto in G Major, one can think of this ballet as a teaser trailer of the “greatest hits” of classical ballet in 40 minutes: lines of dancers threading amongst each other, two soloist women partnered by the same demure cavalier, tutus, tiaras, and a parade of quick, brilliant unison jumps at the end, executed by the whole company until the curtain closes.
ABT’s version, placed first, likely, in order to prove the company’s classical chops before unspooling into contemporary territory, sadly squeezes all the remaining air out of this already deflated and dated ballet. Starting with the costumes, the 16 corps de ballet women wear greyish tutus and blue-edged silver bodices which recall Victorian lampshades. Their eight male counterparts don stiff jacquard vests in the same battleship grey, which make some of their formations look more like a flurry of scurrying waiters than the intended aristocratic vision. The corps’ dancing unfortunately does nothing to elevate this quotidian impression, as the crooked formations and out-of-sync darting legs, alongside flouncy fabrics and costume jewelry, push us into recital territory.
When the two female soloists, Christine Shevchenko and Chloe Misseldine, emerge on the scene, sparkling in their tiaras, designated as higher rank than the others, we are desperate for them to, again, elevate us. We hope they can remind us that they are peopling a stunning and moving score; we need them to, in addition to demonstrating stability and mastery in turns and jumps, show us what we should feel by not just executing but interpreting steps. Instead, we are let down in this vulnerable moment; not once does Christine or Chloe extend beyond herself, lose herself in a languorous port-de-bras, or sail in the air. Their jumps are labored and low to the ground, and the emotional and physical connection between them and their beleaguered partner, Calvin Royal III, falls flat and false.
In contrast, both Neo, a 9-minute entr’acte choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky, and the second half, In the Upper Room, Twyla Tharp’s 1986 masterpiece, showcase this company’s athletic prowess and musicality. Neo, a company premiere, features Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside at the peak of their careers, flexing arms and legs while flinging themselves sinuously against one another, in Ratmansky’s piquant blend of artful primitivism and communist aesthetics. In In the Upper Room, to the suite of the same name by Philip Glass, small clusters of dancers appear from a misty background, illuminated by columns of unearthly light, as if from nowhere. They enchant us with the contrast between jaunty, loose, swinging movements and tight, sharp ones. Here, the company moves together, though the women still hover a beat behind the men in precision and stage presence. Standouts here are Aran Bell, gripping the air as if it’s thickly textured, Carlos Gonzalez, whose velvet port de bras and quiet power astound, and icon Gillian Murphy doing a quadruple pirouette in sneakers. This evening is worth paying for and seeing, if just for the way they put everything on the line in this ethereal, unusual twentieth-century masterwork.
Choreographers of the 20th and 21st Centuries
American Ballet Theatre
George Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial
Alexei Ratmansky’s Neo
Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room
reviewed October 19, 2024
October 20 at 5:30 (sans Neo) and 7:30
October 25 at 7:30
David H. Koch Theatre, Lincoln Center
for tickets, call 212.496.0600 or visit ABT
coming up:
Crime and Punishment (world premiere by Helen Pickett)
October 30-November 3, 2024
Signature Works
Natalia Makarova’s The Kingdom of the Shades
Tharp’s In the Upper Room
selection of four pas de deux
October 26 & 27, 2024
