Round One, Session Six, June 18

Four Junior and four Seniors danced solo in Session Six. Four competitors chose to make a single appearance in two pas de deux and one with a non-competing partner. This configuration allows for 118
Competitors to appear in eight sessions, with one twenty-minute intermission.

My notes tell me that Session Six had 3 Paquitas and one male variation, two Giselle, Act I variations, two Bluebirds, three Diana and Acteon, one of them male, two Black Swan pas de deux and one Don Q.

Brittany Petersen, 16, U.S.A., is tall and sleek, with a high, free arabesque. In her Diana backward moving arabesques, she appeared to fall into them, making for an extra hop. Her Paquita variation showed the arabesque to be exaggerated, if that is possible, and her port de bras equally overblown.

Keigo Fukuda, 16, Japan, is another of the phenomenal jumpers, handling elevation with clarity and precision, from the Land of the Rising Sun. His first display came in a Paquita variation and his second,
from Esmeralda was also articulate. Small and well muscled, his quality of proportion was admirable.

Yun Kyung Shin, 16, South Korea, has participated twice in the Prix de Lausanne. Her choices were a Paquita and the Diana and Acteon variations. There was an innocent purity in her correctness and lovely arm gestures in the first, and the second seemed one with the music, despite one or two hops in her turns.

Joseph Philips, 16, U.S.A. surprised us with a “look at me” approach in his entrance and then coming through with the market basket of attributes in his Paquita and Diana and Acteon Variations. The first displayed a legato ease of delivery and in his second he tried for the demeanor of a hunter along with his excellent technique.

Moving on to the Seniors, Chauncey Parsons-Hildestad, 20, U.S.A., looks like a prince, a handsome presence on stage. He gave us a well-costumed Blue Bird, with good tempi, and a little problem with upper shoulders. His second variation, Frollo from Esmeralda, displayed his legato, even qualities in the circular grand jetes, but again, possibly because of height, there was some movement in the upper shoulders.

Christine Thomas, 24, Venezuela, now dances with Tulsa Ballet Theatre, and belongs to the Darcy Bissell-sized dancers. Dancing with non-competing partner Andres Estevez, the choice was Black Swan pas de deux. She was suitably prickly at the right places, but danced with fingers instead of hands. She showed us a good balance, but her fouettes travelled all over the place. I was always conscious of her shoulders.

Dorian Grori, 22, Albania, currently dances with Ballet Classico, Reggio-Emelia, Italy. He is up several notches physically from the small fleet dancer, but has the ballon of a good jumper, well displayed in the Bluebird variation, though not enhanced by his costume. His Don Q was also quite correct, but not at all flashy, just solid dancing.

Ashley Dangos, 23, U.S.A., currently is with Tulsa Ballet Theatre, chose Giselle’s Act I variation and
the Odile variation from Swan Lake. She is tallish, slender and slightly languid in her attack. She fell
in one of her developpes en arriere and as Odile she struck me as more a school marm than a wicked temptress.

Andrea Schermoly, 20, U.S.A., is an apprentice with Boston Ballet, and I remember an attractive young woman.. Her Act I Giselle showed us unsteady pirouettes, and her Don Q variation elicited no entry in my notes.

Jennifer Provins, 24, U.S.A. and Pavel Gurevich, 25, Belarus, both dance with Milwaukee Ballet Company. Dancing the Black Swan pas de deux, they shared good rapport. Gurevich wore an elegant
Black tunic with heavy silver embroidery and gave us a princely, understated variation, with a final small flub. Provins was wearing a fussy costume and presented us with an Odile ready to dive forward on the attack. There definitely was the aura of a menacing bird about her. The pas de deux progressed aimiably until Provins’ fouettes in the Coda, which she flubbed mid way through the sequence. She recovered admirably, though visibly startled, and finished with multiple traveling pirouettes.

Katia Garza, 25, Mexico and Sergio Brindusa, 25, Romania, dance in Southern Ballet Theatre, and danced a Fernando Bujones’ version of the Don Quixote pas de deux. She is very small, compact, with a no nonsense confidence and he has long, slender lines and an open, engaging manner. Their adagio was well sustained and phrased. He fell slightly in his variation and Garza delivered a sparkling interpretation of the woman’s variation as well as a mutually strong finish.

Moral: never knock a strong finish after a pratfall. It can accomplish wonders and frequently provide lee way for a second opportunity.