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O good, I’m glad to see that Miami City Ballet’s tour is getting noticed. Gripped in another me, too, compulsion after reading Azlan’s review, I’m posting some excerpts of my notes from Miami City Ballet’s performance earlier in the year in Washington, D.C. O yes, and I am planning on seeing them on this tour.<P>Jewels Notes 6/1/01 to 6/3/01<P>Miami City Ballet at the Kennedy Center<P>“Emeralds”<P>Mary Carmen Catoya and Carlos Guerra<BR>Shannon Parsley and Yann Trividic<BR>Tricia Albertson, Arnold Quintane, Callye Robinson (Friday)<BR>Paige Fullerton, Arnold Quintane, Callye Robinson (Saturday matinee)<BR>Corps of 10 girls<P>At the Friday evening show, I was in the third row center, which is good to see detail but at my height, the strip of lights at the front of the apron cut off my view of the floor (couldn’t see any pointes except in the back). At the Saturday and Sunday matinees, I was in row L and the people sitting in front of me were also at the perfect height so I could see over their heads.<P>The curtain raises to reveal the ensemble of the corps behind Mary Carmen Catoya and Carlos Guerra. The backdrop is black with a nebula of green stars behind the dancers making the dancers look like they’re dancing somewhere in space with that superblack black that is infinity behind them. However, upon closer look (row G or Row L) I can make out a grid that is probably part of the material of the backdrop. The backdrop is what really seems different from the New York City Ballet production where the back is a beige backdrop with greenish metal diamonds arranged in a pattern. In other words, the New York City Ballet production looks like it is on a stage rather than in outer space.<P>The entire audience went, “oooooo,” both times upon seeing the ensemble. Mary Carmen is exceptionally focused and beautiful. She looks every so often at Carlos and at the audience. That awareness is what seems different from her portrayal versus Merrill Ashley’s on the video and the performances in New York. The first movement is a subtle drama of romance and this is the act that I think of with Mimi Paul’s words that the dance is “underwater quality.” I caught how the girl finds and leads the boy through and around the corps. Particularly like when the corps form in a diagonal line with the principal couple backstage right. The corps line separates into two lines through which the couple dance while the corps girls slip through the form of their raised arms. Another place, can make out where Mary Carmen holds her hand up, palm outwards and is met by Carlos’ hand up, palm outwards to meet her palm. Makes me think of the line from Romeo and Juliet’s first meeting.<P>2nd movement is for Mary Carmen. This emphasizes the port d’ bras. I think this is the movement that the reviewer was thinking of when comparing this movement to what Balanchine thought a beautiful woman did in the privacy of her bedroom. But, as in the first movement, Mary Carmen looks out at the audience as if sharing a secret and the secret is herself. She shows one arm to the audience first across her body then out to the front side, then this arms is hidden so she can show the other arms with beautiful ballet hands. Later on, she poses in 4th position one foot in front and gathers the very edge of her tutu skirt to present steps to the audience with a little look conspiratorial look or perhaps teasing look out at the audience.<P>“Rubies”<P>1st movement: The curtain rises to reveal the stage darkened except for bright red on the back of the stage and the back drop. The back drop has changed into a red nebula of stars. The girls and boys of the corps are visible backlit for a moment. As the piano starts the light changes to we can see the corps dancers clearly. The back drop now has red sparkles that make out the image of three arches with three chandeliers. With the lighting change it’s easy to make out the corps dancers dressed in red with red gemstone trim. No skirts but red tag tassels that make little clipping noises as the girls dance jauntily. The two lines of the corps form a “v” with the soloist at the middle. For Friday and Saturday performances, the soloist is Michelle Merrell and for Sunday matinee is Andrea Spiridonakos. Michelle is terrific, dancing with a lot of verve and panache. Andrea reminds me very much of Julie Diana as a soloist. She has that same, lean, beautifully proportioned ballet body and projects a very similar sense of personality that says, watch me dance because I love dancing. She appears to be shorter than Michelle though neither appear to be tall. I am trying to remember who I have seen dance the soloist part in San Francisco Ballet and I am thinking that Yuan Yuan Tan was a soloist when Elizabeth Loscavio was a principal during the 1997 season with “Rubies” performed either at Zellerbach Hall or Yerba Buena.<P>I don’t understand why only “Rubies” and “Diamonds” got separate curtain calls in front of the curtain for the principals.<P>“Diamonds”<P>Friday and Saturday were Deanna Seay and Mikhail Nikitine<BR>Sunday was an unexpected casting of Iliana Lopez with Franklin Gamero who was listed on the program.<P>1st movement: This is essentially the corps’ movement though there are two demi-soloists. They appeared to be the same two girls but weren’t listed separately on the program. Backdrop had the white star nebula. No chandeliers or arches. Balanchine can handle group movement better and more inventively than anybody. The music and the mood of the piece reminds me of the section for “Odette’s friends” in Act IV of “Swan Lake.” It’s like the girls are dancing for themselves as a group. There are little quotes from “Swan Lake.”<P>2nd movement: The grand, “Diamonds” pas de deux. Clearly this is the central movement of the ballet. Though Suzanne Farrell’s and Peter Martin’s performance is well documented on the Balanchine video, video pales in comparison to live performance (even with larger than life performers like Farrell and Martins). Deanna Seay is the most beautiful and composed of ballerinas and Iliana Lopez as well. Deanna’s performance is more legato and smoother, her turns and poses are perfectly thought out to draw our attention to the quotations from Swan Lake and other Tschaikovsky/ Petipa ballets. Hers is a very regal Odette. Iliana’s performance is somewhat more breathtaking, especially her balances on pointe. Where even the tiniest little wobble, bob, or correction can be seen clear to the back of the house, Iliana has none. I have only seen 4 “Diamonds” ballerinas—Kyra Nichols, Wendy Whelan, Iliana Lopez, and Deanna Seay, but there is no comparison between any of them because all were fantastic. The only thing that occurs to me is that it’s easier to see the Suzanne Farrell in the New York dancers, Kyra Nichols and Wendy Whelan—a tendency to emphasize the larger than life. All dancers seem to project a better sense than the video of the court and courtship ritual that is inherent in the both the music and the steps particularly in the opening sequence where the ballerina and the danseur approach each other carefully. Compared to the New York dancers, the Miami dancers are a little more compact (shorter) and this makes them resemble Suzanne Farrell a little less, too.<P>In the way the ballerina is held by the danseur is unmistakably from the White Swan pas de deux and there are occasionally brief almost split second quotes of swan arms port de bras. When the music swells and Deanna/Iliana run forward to the danseur only to fall forward so he catches her and turns her body in a wide back arch, that is pure WSpdd.<P>3rd movement: 4 demisoloists, so much like the 4 cygnets in Swan Lake, set the atmosphere and theme for this movement. The theme is supposed to be “Polish,” and when the trumpet gives the theme, the 4 demi-soloists use the character arms, shoulders, and legs (though they are still in pointe shoes).<P>4th movement: As the program notes describe, the last movement has the grand marches (like in “Theme and Variations” and “Raymonda” seemingly de riguer for any wedding/ coronation scene in ballet) as it is the “Tempo di Polacca.” Begins with 2 lines of the corps in promenade across the stage. Now the corps girls are wearing elbow length gloves except for the principal ballerina who appears without gloves as she has been all along. The gloves turn the ballet scene into a formal, social occasion.<P>Ends with the corps around the sides and back and the principal couple flanked by the demi-soloist girls. The principal couple up front and center. They kneel next to each other, holding each other with one arm and make a broad sweep in front of them with the other arms and that is the finale. Ending with the formal device of the promenade and the principal couple’s presenting the entire tableaux points towards ballet central tendency towards organizing the group and particularly the group into a hierarchy.<P>
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<BR><fontsize=1>Eve Lawson, Principal Ballet Mistress</fontsize><P>Jordan Levin writes about the internationality of MCB:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Miami City Ballet gets newly international flavor</B><P>JORDAN LEVIN, Miami Herald<P>In Miami City Ballet's modern new studios in Miami Beach, you're as likely to hear French and Russian spoken as Spanish or English these days.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.miami.com/herald/content/features/critics/dance/digdocs/043825.htm target=_blank><B>More</B></a><P><BR>And a bit <a href=http://www.miami.com/herald/content/features/critics/dance/digdocs/008366.htm target=_blank><B>more</B></a>.<p>[This message has been edited by Azlan (edited September 28, 2001).]