A tribute as big as Nureyev

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Rudolf Nureyev was a dancer larger than life, known for his flamboyant style, eclectic tastes and bounteous appetites. Those fortunate enough to have seen him perform know his charisma and talent were just as extreme.

The Sarasota Ballet's tribute to Russia's perhaps most famous defector was fittingly oversized, a program that encompassed the striking austerity of George Balanchine's "Apollo," the splashy kaleidoscope of Sir Frederick Ashton's "Jazz Calendar" and the sumptuous grandiosity of Nureyev's own "Raymonda, Act III.

Ricardo Rhodes in George Balanchine's "Apollo." / Photo by Frank Atura

From pre-performance fireworks outside the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall that rivaled the city's July 4 celebrations to the final bows under the gargantuan chandeliers of the "Raymonda" set, it was a repast for a gourmand; how the patrons who stayed afterward for the company's annual gala dinner had room for another bite is beyond me. Fortunately, the company now has the chops to take on something so hyperbolic and if every aspect of the program wasn't as magnetic as a Nureyev performance, well, what is?

"Apollo," Balanchine's first partnership with his longtime collaborator, Igor Stravinsksy, was first performed by the Ballets Russes in 1928 and last performed by this company in 1998 under its previous director, Robert de Warren. A neoclassical rendering of Greek mythology radical for its time, it provided the dancers with dramatic and technical challenges that would have overwhelmed them not so long ago.

Balanchine's sleek, angular, art deco, yet musical style here is not one the company has embraced easily. Thus, it was doubly pleasing to see Ricardo Rhodes in dance the title role with a power and confidence that have evaded him in the past and to admire the precision and attack of the three muses — Ellen Overstreet as Calliope (poetry), Victoria Hulland as Terpsichore (dance and song) and especially Kristianne Kleine, as Polyhymnia, the muse of mime, who dances her entire difficult variation without the use of one arm, one index finger pressed to her lips.

The Sarasota Ballet borrowed the sumptuous setting for Rudolf Nureyev's "Raymonda, Act III" from the Royal Opera House. / Photo by Frank Atura

The Sarasota Ballet borrowed the sumptuous setting for Rudolf Nureyev's "Raymonda, Act III" from the Royal Opera House. / Photo by Frank Atura

"Jazz Calendar" served as an extravagant counterpoint, with its wildly gaudy costumes (on loan from the Birmingham Royal), jazzy score by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (played with sensational style by the Sarasota Orchestra) and Ashton's comedic choreography. Based on the old English nursery rhyme, "Monday's Child," it cycled each day of the week ("Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace...) with translations fairly literal and occasionally cloying.

Overstreet, who danced Monday at last year's Ashton Festival, opened things strongly; Juan Gil was energetic on a Thursday and Victoria Hulland and Ricardo Graziano (in a role created for Nureyev), in unitards split down the middle, half red, half blue, made a loving couple on a Friday. But by Saturday — a slapstick class of boys led by David Tlaiye as ballet master — Ashton's choreography had, for me, veered as it sometimes does, into the territory of cornball and by Sunday (Elizabeth Sykes) his own muse seemed spent. The audience, on the other hand, ate it up.

Victoria Hulland and Ricardo Graziano in the "Friday's Child" variation from Sir Frederick Ashton's "Jazz Calendar." / Photo by Frank Atura

Victoria Hulland and Ricardo Graziano in the "Friday's Child" variation from Sir Frederick Ashton's "Jazz Calendar." / Photo by Frank Atura

My accolades were reserved for the "Raymonda" finale, impressive in every way, from the regal draped and and columned set (on loan from the Royal Opera House), to the grand Glazunov score (with live music!) to the cleanly classical steps, overlaid with a Russian folkloric style. Its required cast of 40+ dancers necessitated dipping into the company's conservatory students (Caitlyn Gish in her professional debut) and trainee ranks (Gabriele Pacca), without any loss of quality or polish.

Beautifully staged and rehearsed by Assistant Artistic Director Margaret Barbieri, who performed the ballet under Nureyev and Laurent Hilaire, the former Paris Opera Ballet étoile who was a Nureyev protegé, it brought me back to my earliest ballet memories, sitting in the audience with my feet dangling off my seat, shivering with joy, wonder and anticipation at the beauty and magic of the art form.

DANCE REVIEW

BALANCHINE, ASHTON, NUREYEV, Sarasota Ballet. Reviewed at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Feb. 27; additional performances Feb. 28 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. 359-0099, ext. 101; www.sarasotaballet.org

DANCE REVIEW

BALANCHINE, ASHTON, NUREYEV, Sarasota Ballet. Reviewed at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Feb. 27; additional performances Feb. 28 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. 359-0099, ext. 101; www.sarasotaballet.org
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Carrie Seidman

Carrie Seidman has been a newspaper features writer, columnist and reviewer for 30 years...and a dancer for longer than that. She has a master's degree from Columbia University Journalism School and is a former competitive ballroom dancer. Contact her via email, or at (941) 361-4834. Make sure to "Like" Arts Sarasota on Facebook for news and reviews of the arts.
Last modified: February 28, 2015
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