Round One Session Four, June 17

This evening session, starting at 7:30, gave us three full Don Quixote pas de deux by senior competitors, one Giselle, Act II by seniors, four juniors and two senior soloists.

Jennifer Rowe, 18, U.S.A., danced the Coppelia and Giselle peasant pas de deux variations. She is tiny, turns like a top, dances with assurance, even joy and a passion. Her size includes a hyper-extended knee and thighs, which seem over developed.

Caitlin Valentine, 17, U.S.A. followed with a Bournonville variation from Napoli, and later a Paquita variation, both adapted by Fernando Bujones. She is clear, precise in the later, crisp and legato in the former. I did not feel either showed her capacity with jumps, but she had neat, quick feet.

Sang Yi Han, 16, South Korea, is a tall, very slender young woman with a gentle authority I associate with Korean aristocrats. Her choices were a Paquita variation and the peasant pas de deux from Giselle. Both were executed with an on-the-nose exactitude. She hopped ever so slightly at the end of her second variation, but displayed a fleetness, surprising for her size.

Troy Schumacher, 15, U.S.A., chose to have a pianist for his two variations, one the Giselle peasant pas de deux variation, and the second from Coppelia. If the Competition issued awards for engaging directness, Schumacher would probably take the gold. His earnestness is extremely winning. He flubbed on a final double tour in his first variation, but when he finished with Coppelia choice, my notes say, “young, but a comer.”

Nobuyoshi Okada, 22, Japan, is another smallish dancer with excellent elevation. Dancing a Don Q variation, he started clearly, displayed good jetes en tournant, but flubbed in his final tours. Those jetes en tournant, however, quite sang melodically in space. His variation from Act II, Giselle, unfortunately, exhibited nervousness in his tours.

Finishing off before intermission, Dugarai Altankhuyag, 19, from Mongolia gave us first the Don Q variation, and delivered us a rendition, which I would to caption as “Genghis Khan strikes again.” He swaggered his way through definitely high elevation and clean tours, and that was the kind of acknowledgement he gave to the enthusiastic applause. Somehow, it was extremely refreshing. His Albrecht variation led Olga Smoak to exclaim, “I came to see a Prince and I saw one in Dugarai.” His emotion is simply unalloyed, and, added to his elevation, it is amazing to watch.

Now to the four sets of pas de deux. Out of order, I want to consider Giselle Act II, by Annie Breneman, 23, and Zeb Nole, 23, U.S.A., both who dance with Ballet West. Unlike the matinee experience, this pair did not request atmospheric lighting and danced the variation in a harsh full stage lighting. Nole unquestionably looked the part of Albrecht and give us a brilliant, beautiful display of entrechats to offset some awkward qualities in the overall interpretation. Nole needs to work on control of his long torso. Breneman has not yet reached a technical level to present the fluidity needed in the Act II interpretation.

Janessa Touchet and Anthony Krutzkamp dance with Cincinnati Ballet, a slender blonde and a tall redhead, who is an excellent partner. They performed with a great deal of eye contact, appropriate since the Don Quixote pas de deux belongs to the Basilo-Kitri wedding. Krutzkamp was briefly off-balance in his variation, but made a nice recovery. Touchet’s variation was marked by a nice emphasis, and on her part of the Coda, the balcony struck up a rhythmic clapping.

Don Q nombre deux were the Japanese seniors Risa Matsumura and Jo Funaki, and both were small and tidy in size. Matsumura must have an inside-measuring instrument, for her arms consistently finished the arabesque at the same level with an admirable sense of proportion. She elected not to use a fan but it truly didn’t matter. In the Coda, Matsumura did consistent double fouettes, but they traveled. Funaki, a fine partner, fell from his position in finishes.

The final Cervantes reprise was the surprise of the evening, Flavia Garcia from Sao Paulo, Brasil, dancing with her non-competing partner Jurandir Rodrigues. Garcia is one of the most genuinely extraverted ballet dancers I have ever watched, with a riveting energy and enthusiasm for what she is doing. Taller than her partner, she displayed good line in her shoulders and her port de bras, and her Coda was marked by multiple displays of triple, yes, triple fouettes, which traveled, unfortunately. Had they been executed sur la place, a medal would have been given on the spot. As a parenthesis, I never recall having seen non-travelling fouettes in the 7 competitions I have watched, which I attribute to the nerves and pressure of the setting.

Rodrigues, another good partner, was slightly off center in his variation, but certainly reinforced the energy and focus, which flowed from Garcia. Between the two dancers, one felt the energy of a Brasilian Carnival. To reinforce this energy, the audience in front of me gave her a standing ovation.