 |
 |
TORONTO - Sometimes, too much of a good thing is just great.
Case in point, the evening of mixed programming the National Ballet of Canada used to light up the stage of the Four Seasons Centre on Wednesday, to launch what is almost certain to be a too-brief run for fans of Canada's pre-eminent classical ballet company.
What's more, it is an evening that demonstrates in no uncertain terms just why it is they can lay claim to that title.
The evening begins with a modern classic -- George Balanchine's truly timeless The Four Temperaments, set to the music of Paul Hindemith. From the opening steps, danced with rapier-like precision by Bridgett Zehr and Patrick Lavoie, it is a dance lover's dream, expanding the Zehr/Lavoie envelope of excellence to showcase NBOC stars such as Zdenek Konvalina, Heather Ogden, Aleksandar Antonijevic and Xiao Nan Yu.
Best of all, with Piotr Stanczyk guesting in exotic locales, Four Temperaments also offered a leg up for McGee Maddox.
A gifted young dancer who recently joined the corps de ballet, Maddox got the chance to step into the spotlight. Happily, it was a task Maddox accomplished to such explosive effect that it is easy to imagine he won't be out of the company's spotlight, or off artistic director Karen Kain's radar, too often in the future.
|
Hard on the heels of Balanchine's timeless work from the 1940s came a spanking new work from choreographer Aszure Barton, Watch her. Set to music by Lera Auerbach. Watch her is a sort of story ballet without a story, told in shades of crimson and grey.
With Sonia Rodriguez joining Ogden and Zehr in principal roles, Barton leaves it resolutely unclear throughout as to just which "her" we should be watching, but on this night Zehr seemed to recognize that, even in dance, nature abhors a vacuum.
Almost unobtrusively, Zehr seemed to claim the central role, commanding the stage once again with a mixture of presence, precision and grace that proves riveting.
Watch her proves a fascinating, if overlong, work that showcases a hugely talented company, with particularly fine work from its trio of primas, supported opening night by fine work from Lavoie, Noah Long and Brett Van Sickle.
To close an evening that had already showcased an excess of richness, artistic director Kain no doubt had to look long and hard to find the perfect vehicle to send her audience homeward-bound, wreathed in satisfaction.
She certainly found it in Glass Pieces, a work in three parts that marries the choreography of Jerome Robbins and the music of Phillip Glass in a union made, if not in heaven, then in at least in New York on a picture-perfect day.
Opening with Rubric, perhaps the quintessential definition of a New York state of mind, it moves through Facades -- yet another showcase for Zehr's flawless technique, this time beautifully paired with Konvalina -- to conclude with the spectacular Funeral from Akhnaten.
Under the baton of music director David Briskin, the NBOC Orchestra ensured that Glass' music fairly sparkled, while Robbins' choreography added form and dimension.
It was an evening to remember -- a dance banquet certain to delight even while it challenges, proving in the process that when it comes to the National Ballet of Canada, too much of a good thing is a very good thing indeed.