Ballet San Jose's

"Neoclassical Masters"

March 24, 2013

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Greetings from sunny California!

I thought my last few days in Seattle were crazy, but my travels in California have been insane so far! To recap with some highlights, I spent almost a week in the San Francisco bay area, taking classes but staying in San Jose with my gracious host and frienderina, Jen. She recommended Lee Wei Chao’s class at Alonzo King Lines Ballet, a notion seconded by others in the dance community so I took his class twice (Lines has a nifty deal where your second class is half off, the good ole foot-in-the-door sales pitch), and I also took class at local studios in San Jose (including Marny Trounson, a former soloist with the Royal Ballet, who danced for Ashton! Danced for Ashton I say!!!). Last Thursday began my gauntlet of performances, kicking off with San Francisco Ballet’s opening performance of John Cranko’s Onegin (uh, DRAMA!), on Friday I went to see Ballet San Jose’s ‘Neoclassical Masters’, which consisted of Les Rendezvous and Méditation from Thaïs by Sir Frederick Ashton, Stanton Welch’s Clear, and concluded with Clark Tippet’s Bruch Violin Concerto. After a six hour drive to Los Angeles the next day, I found myself on UCLA campus, watching Los Angeles Ballet perform ‘Balanchine Gold’, an all Balanchine program with La Sonnambula, Concerto Barocco, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, and The Four Temperaments. Did you get all that? Because I’m not even sure I did!

I’m still processing much of this, and much of the material is going into the book, but I would like to take a moment to write a bit about Ballet San Jose’s ‘Neoclassical Masters’. I was fascinated by the idea that a good size company like BSJ (who also enjoys the luxury of a live orchestra!) was so close to San Francisco and its home company, because I imagined there might be some competition for dancers and audiences alike. I wondered how proximity affected programming as well, and clearly, the fact that BSJ did two Ashton ballets meant the two companies do have some different interests in mind. However, A common thread was that both companies make wonderful efforts to provide extra educational opportunities to inform the audience about the works they’re seeing—SFB had a discussion with Jane Bourne, a choreologist who stages Onegin and other Cranko ballets, while BSJ brought in Hilary Cartwright to talk about staging Les Rendezvous for the company. Cartwright had some wonderful anecdotes and insights into Ashton’s work, how he trained in the Cecchetti method, his famous demand of his dancers to “bend” (which wasn’t simply a bending of the torso, but required bending of the torso with a spiral or a twist), and that Lucia Chase, the co-founder of American Ballet Theatre even asked him once to be resident choreographer for ABT.

Les Rendezvous is a ballet that is not performed often even in the UK so it’s a real treat to have seen it on BSJ. Charming, airy, romantic, it’s simply a meeting between various couples and four little girls, set in a nineteenth century Parisian park. Few ballets could be so utterly delightful as Les Rendezvous—we’re talking white lace, pink ribbons, and sweet kisses on the cheek. Still, some of the choreography is devastatingly wicked, with plenty of Ashton’s trademark speedy and intricate footwork and a never-ending cascade of the little steps that look simple but aren’t. Soloist Amy Marie Briones in particular handled the choreography with ease, and it has to be said that she is a ferocious fireball of a dancer. She is so technically strong that she’s the kind of dancer you can watch and never wonder if she’s going to do complete the steps because she’s always in control of what she’s doing. One part of the solo requires a fast double pirouette to land in plié, then whip around while arching the back, which is heinously difficult and she did it—several times. With bright eyes and exuberance, Briones was an absolute joy to watch.

Ballet San Jose in Sir Frederick Ashton’s ‘Les Rendezvous’ (Photo ©Robert Shomler)

It seemed many of BSJ’s ballerinas would shine in Ashton, as soloist Nutnaree Pipit Suksun, danced Méditation from Thaïs with a rare and extraordinary beauty. She is one of those dancers that has it all—the lines, the feet, the artistry, and in a spiritual role like Thaïs, with its certain exotic aroma, Pipit Suksun is a stunning goddess. Even the costume seemed to glue itself to her, glowing like an amber firefly as she floated across the stage in ethereal fashion. Beyond her lyricism, Pipit Suksun has a generous warmth to her dancing that invites the audience into the piece, and the image of her in it is permanently emblazoned into my fondest memories. Curiously, I didn’t know that she is one of few Thai ballerinas, and the only one to be currently employed in the US, and it really pointed to the diverse makeup of BSJ as a whole—not just in ethnicity, but also noticeably in physiques. There are curvier dancers, shorter dancers, and not everyone is a beanpole with high arches. The multi-faceted diversity BSJ makes its flavor unique, and I think sends an important message to audiences that ballet is possible for more people than we think, and that artistry and quality of character in dancing is defined by many things.

Ballet San Jose dancers Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun and Jeremy Kovitch in in Sir Frederick Ashton’s ‘Méditation from Thaïs’ (Photo ©Robert Shomler)

Still, it’s not bad to have it all—as long as a dancer knows how to use it, and corps dancer Joshua Seibel really stood out to me in Clear. Sure, he has that blonde prince, Greek marble statue, beautiful lines stuff going for him, but it was really his expressivity in Clear that was so beautiful to watch. There was intensity and focus, on top of incredible control, and I can only imagine what else he could bring to more featured roles. Sometimes I’ve seen dancers who are giving everything they have into a performance but for whatever reason I could still see a little reservation—maybe he or she doesn’t like the music or the choreography is somewhat uncomfortable, but watching Seibel in Clear was an exercise in conviction and commitment to a performance, which is exceptionally hard to do because one doesn’t simply attack the choreography of Clear—a dance for seven men and one woman, Clear is the kind of work that has to unfold from origami to a clean sheet of paper or dissipate like clouds to reveal a sunny day. The subtleties and mastery of ballet technique have to increase as the performance goes on, with purity as the final destination.

Ballet San Jose dancers Zhang Jing and Akira Takahashi in Stanton Welch’s ‘Clear’ (Photo ©Robert Shomler)

Concluding the program was Clark Tippet’s effervescent Bruch Violin Concerto No.1, a showy piece I described as a “bouquet of mountain wildflowers” when I saw it for the first time (Corella Ballet, circa May, 2011). Bruch is typical of a classic symphonic ballet, choreography to music with tights and tutus, and showed off BSJ’s strengths incredibly well. Divalicious Briones sizzled in the red tutu, but the company also boasts two sprites in Junna Ige and Mirai Noda, who fluttered through their roles with smiles and joy. Akira Takahashi provided dazzling virtuosity, his allegro work precise and flighty (as it also was in Clear) as he sailed through numerous jumps and turns with ease. With technique and aplomb, Bruch was the perfect piece to end a marvelous evening of dance with, and I think represents a lot of what the company is all about—diversity, technique, and truly thrilling performance qualities. As the company works through some transitions in changes of leadership, there is real potential to take the Ballet San Jose to establish itself upon the next tier, as a company with more regular performances and a repertory that attracts more dancers. Though there are difficulties to be expected in doing so, with funding being the ever-pressing concern, there is real potential and that is one hell of an exciting prospect.

Ballet San Jose in Clark Tippet’s ‘Bruch Violin Concerto No.1′ (Photo ©Robert Shomler)

SF Chronicle, March 25th 2013

Ballet San Jose review: Signs of growth

Robert Shomler, San Jose Ballet

Ballet San Jose is aiming - and reaching - higher under new artistic director Wes Chapman.

Allan Ulrich

March 25, 2013

If Saturday's matinee at the Center for the Performing Arts is any indication, something significant may be happening at Ballet San Jose. Less than two years under new direction, the company looks ready to take chances.

It went for a big one in the first mixed bill of the new year, one that will be marked by live musical accompaniment at every program. But it was a smashing repertory addition that made the afternoon so rewarding. Whoever suspected that we might be seeing Frederick Ashton's charming "Les Rendezvous" in the Bay Area again? Ashton is the artist many of us place second only to George Balanchine as greatest dance neo-classicist ever, and this 1933 confection had a brief run at the Mikhail Baryshnikov American Ballet Theater, where Wes Chapman - Ballet San Jose's current artistic adviser - danced in the piece with distinction.

I cannot recall any earlier San Jose performances of Ashton's dances, much to the community's loss. But "Les Rendezvous" (set to a recycled composition by Daniel Auber and staged here by Hilary Cartwright) is a fine way to begin a relationship. This is nothing more than a series of amorous comings and goings in a gated park (William Chappell's original set is reproduced) for 15 dancers, and it overflows with youthful invention. But cuteness yields to complex technical feats that need to be dispatched with casual mastery, from courtships on bended knee to combinations that include buoyant entrechats to descents into fifth position.

Up to the challenge

Ballet San Jose made an impressive first go at the piece, the corps relishing Ashton's flying entries. Saturday's principal male Alex Kramer doesn't look like he's old enough to vote, but he possesses a natural elegance and a speed that carried him through brilliantly; the partnering remains a bit shaky. His lady, Mirai Noda, fluttered effortlessly in strings of bourrees.

The other Ashton premiere, the "Méditation from Thaïs" (set by the San Francisco Ballet's Bruce Sansom), did not work its familiar magic. This erotic dream of a piece needs considerably more sensuality and poise than Jing Zhang and Rudy Candia brought to it Saturday. George Daugherty expertly conducted members of Symphony Silicon Valley in Jules Massenet's swooning music.

Also in the pit for this piece and all but "Les Rendezvous," acclaimed violinist Rachel Lee performed the important solos. I applaud the company for hiring her, but the amplification was simply horrid.

Lasting romance

Lee did the honors in the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1, accompanying the eponymous 1987 Clark Tippett ballet that Chapman brought from ABT. An unambiguously romantic work, it deploys eight corps couples and four principal duos in contrasting colored costumes. In this committed performance, the blue couple of Alexsandra Meijer (wonderful torso and articulation) and Jeremy Kovitch (careful partnering) and the pink pairing of veteran Karen Gabay (much of the old spirit) and Akira Takahasi left the lasting impression.

On a lesser level, the revival of Stanton Welch's energetic but tiresome 2001 "Clear" left a hole in the middle of the program. The male corps probably enjoys all those unisons and canons, set to Bach concerto movements, but this one should have receded into history long ago. The single brief duet uniting Kovitch with Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun, formerly of the San Francisco Ballet, afforded a few moments of pleasure.

Allan Ulrich is The San Francisco Chronicle's dance correspondent.

March 22, 2013

Keep Calm and Dance On

BALLET SAN JOSE

BY JANICE BERMAN

Neoclassical masters, the inspiration for Ballet San Jose’s performances this weekend at the Center for the Performing Arts, cover a lot of ground. So did this show, and generally speaking, the artists rose brightly to the challenge. Of the four works on the bill, two were by Sir Frederick Ashton, providing a wonderful glimpse of someone we don’t see in these parts all that often.

Les Rendezvous, which opened the evening, exemplifies Ashton Style: the demanding pointe work, lovely carriage of the arms, speed, energy, and precision, all delivered with charm and understatement. The meme borrowed from the British wartime slogan, Keep Calm and Carry On, is totally applicable here. Set to music by Daniel Francis Auber, orchestrated and arranged by Constant (the program calls him Constance) Lambert, for years a major force in the Royal Ballet, it embodies a sense of play.

At the gate of a garden, as six well-behaved ladies in white, with hats and gloves, greet each other in grand jetes, arabesques, and of course air kisses, shoulders passing close. The gents (their six partners) also execute grand jetes, albeit not quite as grandly. There are still dancers who don’t point their feet. Technique and the necessary elements of speed and timing remain problematic for some of the dancers in neoclassical pieces such as this one. But everyone’s enthusiasm, as well as a palpable sense of knowing how to take the stage, feels new and invigorating. Certainly Ballet San Jose has moved forward since the great upheaval and change in command that led to it becoming something of an ABT offshoot. The work has visibly paid off.

Jing Zhang and Akira Takahashi in Clear

Amy Marie Briones and Maykel Solas, the principal couple, delighted together and separately. His split leaps were exceptionally high and clean, and her series of spins impeccable. The artful and artless pas de trois of Junna Ige and her partners Alex Kramer and Francisco Preciado were textbook Ashton, in the best way. No strain, just brilliant speed and timing, not to mention sunshine.

A guest artist, the young virtuoso violinist Rachel Lee, played for three of the four pieces (all but Les Rendezvous). She accompanied the Ballet San Jose Orchestra conducted by George Daugherty. They sounded marvelous throughout the show.

Ashton’s Meditation from Thais, a brief pas de deux set to music by Jules Massenet, beautifully displayed the plastique, power, and composure of Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun, in the arms of Jeremy Kovitch, who partnered her well. It’s poetic, tranquil, and tricky at the same time; he is required, at various seconds, to lift her straight up off a seated position on the floor; drape her around his neck, and lift her overhead so she can, extremely calmly (after all, this is Ashton), strike a still, meditative pose. They looked like they belonged together, in shades of muted yet festive gold and bronze, and Kovitch never let us see him sweat.

Stanton Welch’s Clear, to various excerpts from Johann Sebastian Bach, is the Australian’s Paul Taylor piece, without feeling in the least derivative. With open chests and expansive leaps, it surges powerfully onward in ensembles and solos, taking the breath away. That it doesn’t do the same to the dancers speaks volumes about how far the company has come. This really felt like a breakthrough number.

The men of Clear

For male and female principal dancer (Akira Takahashi, a marvelous technician, and the graceful Jing Zhang respectively) and six more men, Clear is a festival of mutability at top speed, where giant leaps are dotted with lovely little moves — a rond de jambe en l’air here, agargouillade there, or manly slaps on the bare tummy (pants by Michael Kors, abs by BSJ). One man even does an amazing series of perfect fouette pirouettes. The partnered interludes cool things down a bit, and the conclusion is so quiet, ending on an upbeat, that it’s easy to think the whole ballet was a dream. In a way, it was. Standout performances from all, but special huzzahs are owed to Francisco Preciado, Kendall Teague and James Kopecky for their pas de trois.

Clark Tippett’s Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 could have been a train wreck and it still would have been terrific to hear Lee and her fiddle, but of course it wasn’t. The whole company shone with precision and musicality, looking proud to be there, as well they might. They conveyed a sense of tremendous unity in ensemble work, and the principal couples displayed warmth and brio.

Of the principals, Mirai Noda and Akira Takahashi, the couple in pink were particularly ebullient, with charming allusions to Spanish stylings, and Alexsandra Meijer, buoyantly partnered by Jeremy Kovitch, looked fresh and easy as the couple in blue.

Janice Berman was an editor and senior writer at New York Newsday. She is a former editor in chief ofDance Magazine.