S.F. Ballet sparkles in new performance for ‘Jewels’
Stagers are the dance world’s unsung keepers of beauty, credited only in the program’s small print, but responsible for the nuances of gesture, style and manner that constitute a ballet’s soul. Elyse Borne last staged George Balanchine’s “Emeralds” for the San Francisco Ballet in December 2019 and died later that month. One long pandemic year later, the Ballet has recorded a fresh performance of “Emeralds,” following all COVID19 safety protocols, and dedicated it to Borne’s memory.
Released online Thursday, April 1, the video is a tribute that would have made Borne and even Balanchine proud, and it’s a feast for Ballet fans hungry to see dancer debuts. Despite its baubles and glitter, “Emeralds” — the opening ballet of Balanchine’s threepart “Jewels” — has a complex inner depth that is fully tended here.
The most novel name on the lineup may be Sasha Mukhamedov, daughter of international ballet superstar Irek Mukhamedov. Ballet fans curious to see her after she joined the company in 2019 got only a few glimpses before the pandemic shut down the 2020 season. But this “Emeralds” performance makes clear she is her own artist and not
the product of nepotism.
Tall, unpretentious and bold, she moves with humble dignity through the ballet’s most bittersweet pas de deux, in which the woman’s legs and arms tick like the hands of a clock, her delicate steps on the beat (music by French composer Gabriel Fauré) seeming to both lament and accept time’s passing. In her floorskimming solo, Mukhamedov finds a delicacy you might not expect of such a muscularly powerful dancer. Here she seems to glide.
And the entire cast is well worth rewatching. Misa Kuranga shines in the solo that was originated by Violette Verdy when the ballet premiered in 1967, her busy arms moving with bright but never frantic energy. Esteban Hernandez is the technically crisp center of a trio with Julia Rowe and Wona Park, both graciously exuberant. Angelo Greco, meanwhile, almost reminds me of Gene Kelly, he seems so overwhelmingly happy to be back on the stage. His closing pirouette is not the cleanest he’s delivered, but who can fault him for enthusiasm?
The Ballet completed the “Jewels” triptych for this digital streaming by choosing archival performances for the rest of the program. The “Rubies” performance, for instance, is from 2016. Staged by Borne, it’s a keeper.
Mathilde Froustey and Pascal Molat are both French, but they have fun with the American flourishes Balanchine so relished in his treatment of Stravinsky’s piano capriccio, Froustey slinking her shoulders like a Jazz Age cigarette girl. Molat gives a raw edge and vaudevillian charm when he roams the stage chased by a pack of rowdy boys.
The performance of “Diamonds” capping this cobbledacrosstime “Jewels” is really special. I say that personally because I remember being at the 2017 Sunday matinee when Sasha De Sola made her debut opposite Tiit Helimets. The energy of that performance was exhilarating, and what’s surprising is how it pops off the screen almost as intensely as in person. Balanchine famously did not want dancers to overtly emote, and De Sola may push that line here, but it makes for a strikingly tender connection with Helimets in every small moment of catching each other’s gaze or touching each other’s hands. And De Sola’s speed and radiance through the swift turns of the penultimate movement are unmatched.
Judith Fugate staged that performance of “Diamonds,” which the Ballet first danced in 2002.
Sandra Jennings also helped stage these new performances of “Emeralds.” Thanks are due to Jennings, Fugate and Borne, and to all the keepers who pass the deeper spirit of these ballets on, artist to artist.