Review:
Luke Ingham and Sarah Van Patten dance in Trey McIntyre’s “Presentce,” one of two world premieres in the Ballet’s season preview.
A couple of agreeable surprises, a handful of revived favorites and superior, sometimes spectacular dancing. That was the recipe for the opening gala of the San Francisco Ballet’s 84th season at the War Memorial Opera House on Thursday, Jan. 19. It was also a prognosis of what we can expect during the season’s eight programs, starting next week. There was glitter to spare among the premium-paying crowd Thursday, but nothing as radiant as the company’s ballerinas in full flower.
The program began on a promising note with Myles Thatcher’s sinewy “Foragers,” a duet to Liszt prepared last year for the Erik Bruhn Competition and featuring new a corps woman, the beautifully extended Natasha Sheehan, and new soloist Angelo Greco, both of whom took top honors in that Toronto contest, and judging from this performance, deserved them.
The problem with Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson’s galas is that they deliver a surfeit of pas de deux. But who was counting when Trey McIntyre introduced himself to the company with the new “Presentce,” a mix of pop and ballet, set to three recorded songs? Quirky and off-kilter, the piece joined Saran Van Patton, returned from maternity leave looking every bit her sensuous self, and Luke Ingham, who has never seemed so loose and engaging.
The evening’s other debuting choreographer, Benjamin Millepied, went the minimalist music route by setting John Adams’ “The Chairman Dances,” and the composer was in the audience to witness the result. Made for a principal pair (the frisky Maria Kochetkova and the supportive Carlo Di Lanno) and a mixed corps of 10, the work shows consciousness of the musical structure (more than Peter Martins’ kitsch setting) and mixes group forays with duo confrontations. Millepied also designed the lighting and the spiffy costumes, However, the piece would have looked more sophisticated 30 years ago.
Two duets stood out. It was a joy to see again Tomasson’s 1990 “Valses Poeticos,” a piano suite by Enrique Granados, danced with effortless tenderness by Mathilde Froustey and the indispensable Di Lanno. Ronny Michael Greenberg was the outstanding onstage pianist.
And what is a ballet gala without a barn burner, preferably of Soviet provenance? To meet that requirement, Taras Domitro and Vanessa Zahorian (who will retire after this season) flew, leaped and spun through the pas de deux from Vasili Vainonen’s “Flames of Paris.” Domitro’s coupé-jetés are the stuff of legend.
The pas de trois from George Balanchine’s “Agon” brought Jaime Garcia Castilla back to active duty, and he found savvy companions in the Gaillard section in Dores André and Sasha de Sola. The evening’s one solo spot went to principal dancer Joseph Walsh, whose tricky balances thrilled in Paul Taylor’s “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B.”
There comes a moment in these galas when you’re just not ready to swallow another duet. They are there because Tomasson, honorably, wants to get all his major dancers onstage. So here, Lorena Feijoo and Wei Wang (an interesting pairing) could not make much of the pas de deux from Liam Scarlett’s “Promenade sentimentale.” The exhumation of Stanton Welch’s sculptural “La Cathédrale Engloutie” suggested that Yuan Yuan Tan might find an engaging partner in new principal Aaron Robison. A creepy pas de deux from James Kudelka’s “Terra Firma” enlisted Frances Chung and Vitor Luiz, who gave it their best shot. However, better ballets await revival.
The grand closer, the finale from Balanchine’s “Diamonds,” luxuriated in Sofiane Sylve’s aristocratic attack, Tiit Helimets’ empathetic partnering, good corps contributions and Martin West’s energized conducting of the Tchaikovsky score.