Don Quixote delivered with magnificence
Alberta Ballet marked its 48th season Thursday night at the southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium with Don Quixote, that wonderful monument to excess and a remarkable, Spanish-themed classical extravaganza.
It’s a sign of how much Alberta’s largest arts organization and second-largest dance company in Canada has changed. Only very good companies can mount Don Quixote because the pressure to both delight and get it right is high, but Alberta Ballet delivered unequivocally.
Kudos to Alberta Ballet for bringing famed Houston Ballet choreographer emeritus Ben Stevenson and his popular three-act setting of Cervantes’ epic tale, cast in clear tableaux, replete with every grace and virtue of form, line and composition, fol- lowing faithfully every note of Leon Minkus’s classic score.
Via Alberta Ballet’s ongoing co-operation with the Houston Ballet, magnificent sets by Thomas Boyd and utterly sumptuous costumes by Judanna Lynn were imported from the original Stevenson production. Christina R. Gianelli’s original lighting design paid dividends throughout, particularly in Quixote’s vision scene of Dulcinéa in Act II.
The beautiful period costumes dazzled from start to finish, featuring lovely ornate Spanish dresses, jackets with ruffs, bodices for the women, tunics for the men, matadors with capes, lots of ruffles, and striking black Spanish Rococo brocade-- embroidered waistcoats in Act III. Costuming complemented the stylized Spanish dances throughout, comporting them with an authentic energetic élan in the many set pieces featuring clapping amid multiple references to flamenco, from the peinata combs in the women’s hair (at one point with mantilla) to the twirling of tri-layered dresses.
Don Quixote, played sympathetically by artistic director Jean Grand-Maître (to the delight of the opening night crowd), is more of an archetypal character role that serves as backdrop premise for the central love story between the barber Basilio (Jaciel Gomez) and Kitra (Hayna Gutierrez) the innkeeper’s daughter. Nicole Caron and Akiko Ishii danced splendidly as Kitri’s friends in Act I and the two solo dryads in Act II.
Yukichi Hattori however, played a stunning, scene-stealing Cupid in Act II (here called Amor Man), flying on stage with some impressive brisé volés amid an assortment of relentlessly difficult classical sequences, all of which added to the enchanting atmosphere of Quixote’s vision scene of Dulcinea, danced beautifully by Calgary native Tanya Chumak, and the supporting corps of 12 dryads.
Hayna Gutierrez impressed the moment she appeared on stage, her recognizable lines and clear contour commanding instant attention.
Her Act III grand pas de deux with Gomez was stunning, including a fabulous set of centrestage fouettés that brought the house down. I do enjoy Gutierrez’s composure, comic acting and splendid sense of timing, in addition to a natural stage demeanour of prima ballerina sympatica, to which we can all relate with her every move.
Jaciel Gomez dazzled with both his solos and pas de deux. His ability to seemingly hang in space, suspended in mid-grand jeté is thrilling, and while completely solid in long-leggedly bedazzling technique, it is the warmth he naturally exudes from the stage that charms the most.
Kelley McKinlay’s Gypsy chief was a virtuoso favourite in the opening Act II tableau, aided athletically by the gypsy men with their low-to-the-ground lithe movements, punctuated by slaps on the earth. Serena Sanford looked stunning as the Chief’s Woman and brought the fullest grace to match in all her dancing. And Alison Dubsky was a splendid street dancer in Act I.
The Don Quixote extravaganza is an artistic and commercial success, strongly signifying a ballet company that has arrived on the national and continental stage. Don’t miss it.