This piece is part of Ballet.co's overall Jackson Competition coverage. The competition runs from the 15th to the 30th June 2002 and we plan daily reports to keep you in touch:
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Jackson MI – Opening Ceremony VII International Ballet Competition, Jackson MI

I was assigned seat Q3 in the Thalia Mara Auditorium by Vicki Harper–Blake and found myself next to Dr. Dan Thomas, father of 1998 Gold Medalist Rasta Thomas. Apart from being a justly proud father, Dr. Thomas is a thoroughly committed dance lover who served on several small companies in the Washington, D.C. area until his recent illness. . On my other side is Maria Lanetta from Lima Peru, one-time IBC competitor and now writing for a Peruvian newspaper. On the aisle is Lorri Herring, a staff writer for the Jackson paper, The Clarion Ledger. We are sitting behind the faculty of the International Dance School who sits behind the international jury. Today tables and lights will be installed for them, eliminating one row of prime seats.

Thalia Mara Auditorium is a stretched out affair with easily a dozen plus broad steps, which one traverses to get to one’s seat in the mid-section. It offers an opportunity for the fashion conscious in the audience to view one another during intermission.

The lobby is a spacious one, giving out on a balcony where one can usually buy drinks or snacks at intermission, and said balcony overlooks a series of minor geysers on either side of a sizeable expanse of main entrance cement. At night it is pleasant; during the day in Jackson mid-day heat it seems a bit on the bleak and bleached side.

Jackson opens its Competition with the Star Spangled Banner, sung by Kimberly Griffing Porter and backed by a color guard of three? Don’t know if that is standard in other countries, but three usually makes it in the U.S. of A. We all stand; some of us sing along.

© Richard Finkelstein

The Parade of Nations follows with a color guard drawn from Jackson R.O.T.C. units, who precede competitors with the appropriate flag, I think this year, 23. The dancers follow, sweat jackets courtesy of Capezio, and cross the stage to stand on the risers behind the International Jury and the International Dance School Faculty. The color guard goes off stage and returns to plant the particular national flag behind the competitors. It is an impressive sight when they are all assembled.

Stage presence is often half the battle, and some of the competitors from the former Soviet sphere graced the audience with a slight bow or acknowledgement. A few others looked our way and smiled and waved. But for the most part, it was march, march, march to the bleachers in time to Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from Swan Lake, Act III. Given 118 competitors Dwight Oltman was required to prolong the brass so that the last U.S.A. competitor (with a red, white and blue scarf knotted over his head) could cross the stage. To add to his patriotic headgear he provided us with a clenched fist salute.

Next come the honorifics, headed by Sue Lobrano, Executive Director of IBC from IV 1988 onwards. She acknowledged the memories of Warren Ludlum, Harry Strauss and Claudia Hogg, early supporters of the Competition. Sue introduced William D. “Billy” Mounger, who, in turn introduced Mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr., who passed the baton to Governor Ronnie Musgrove, and winding up with Mississippi’s senior senator, Thad Cochran.

Thalia Mara and Sue Lobrano
© Richard Finkelstein

Sue Lobrano returned to preside over the IBC’s presentation of a Special Gold Medal to Thalia Mara, Artistic Director Emeritus of the Jackson Competition. Thalia bowed and smiled, flanked by Sue, Jury Chair Bruce Marks, and two humungous bouquets of red and white flowers.

Since I am running over in word count, I’ll save jury and the master and mistress of ceremonies until later.

That edited, there is an intermission, and the crown can wander around the auditorium to admire The costumes borrowed from Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, The Royal Ballet and Tulsa Ballet. A number of the splendid costumes came from Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre for ballets created by Andre Prokovsky – Anna Karenina and The Great Gatsby, while a tunic from his ballet of the Three Musketeers was lent from Tulsa.The Act III costumes for Siegfried and Odile were lent from Pittsburgh but The Royal Ballet’s Carabosse attire came from The Royal Ballet. These gladden the eye with rich detail and skillful execution.

The Miami Ballet leads off the four-item program with the Stravinsky/Balanchine/Karinska confection “Rubies,” doubtless the most performed of the Jewels’ trio. Artistic Director Edward Villella has built a lively company, which, I think, reflects the spirit of his city’s proximity to Cuba. Luis Serrano took the role, which Villella had created, Michelle Merrell was the soloist and Mary Carmen Catoya Serrano’s partner. Serrano, a medalist, in one of the Jackson competitions, had the right touch of insouciance, and clearly the most sustained classical vocabulary at his command. The dancers were mostly small and on the slightly muscular side, probably a happy reflection of The Latin-influenced city where they are based. As expected, Villella capitalized on the jazzy and cheeky element in the choreography, but I found myself longing for Muriel Maffre, Katita Waldo, Tina Le Blanc and Yuan Yuan Tan. But you can bet S.F. Ballet’s cool is not the attitude for a Miami-based company.

Adrienne Canterna, the 1988 Junior Gold Medalist, danced the Variation and Coda of Esmeralda, with the choreography attributed to Perrot and Beriosov. My initial reaction was a distinct visual cringe, a visual shocker. Did her preparation background include some knowledge of the plot and the tradition behind it? Her costume lent no clue to the context: a turquoise bra (probably with a flesh colored connection to the tutu) and a glittery skirt, with a bandanna on the head (gypsy=bandanaa, get it?). Color palette, garish.

Adrienne Canterna
© Richard Finkelstein

Canterna’s execution was steady, her balances verged on the phenomenal, but the interpretation was front and center Theda Bara with some distinct belly dance wiggles in the torso during the initial part of the variation. The initial use of the tambourine was muffled and she never quite made the toe tambourine contact, which makes Yuan Yuan Tan's rendition such a sparkling tour de force. Based on the roar of the audience, however, she was effective.

Since her 1998 prize, Canterna’s body has begun to assume adult dimensions, which are not altogether The current style. If she keeps on, Adrienne Canterna will provide us with a visual reminder of the 19th Century Italian ballerina who guested so successfully in Russia.

For Rasta Thomas’ solo we were given a premiere of Roger C. Jeffrey’s Awakening to George Winston’s January Star. Les Dickert, credited as lighting designer, changed the visual atmosphere almost as frequently as Rasta went through his facility of an amazing range of movement styles. These, of course, included his proficiency in martial arts. The opening, down stage left, in a pool of light, apparently concerned the growth of an infant in the steps to master sitting, standing, moving. My initial impression was “Ah, we are seeing the growth of a plant,” an impression which fast got eliminated.

Yes, there were the martial arts movements, but then idiosyncratic elements and counter movements to the sense of progression. Classical ballet vocabulary was added, inserted in the overall pattern, but then interrupted by more idiosyncratic elements. The choreographic path moved laterally right, then a progression to up stage left, and finally, down stage right to finish in a similar pool of light in an equally gestative position.

I’ll write about section two in a different posting. Round One and Sessions One and Two are on today’s agenda.