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Round One, Session Two, June 16

This should be brief because Round Two will commence June 21, and some of these dancers have been ceded from the Competition.

Session Two saw three Junior and six Senior soloists and one Senior couple. We got six renditions of Don Q, and one full pas de deux of the Cervantes saga. Two juniors danced a variation from Giselle, Act I and two seniors the Albrecht exhaustion in Act II. We also had two women dancing versions of Giselle herself. We saw two Paquita variations, a Flower Festival and a Bluebird variation.

Andrew Wallace, 18, U.S.A., an apprentice with Richmond Ballet, danced the peasant pas de deux variation from Giselle with ballon and elevation. I have no notes for his Don Q variation. He will not be seen in Round Two.

Kyoko Watanabe, 16, Japan, gave us a Paquita variation as her first choice and the Diana and Acteon variation for the second. I wrote, “gentle but precise,” and noted a particularly handsome bronze tutu for her Paquita variation. She is dancing in Round Two.

Chris Stalzer, 18, U.S.A. also danced the peasant variation from Giselle, Act I. I noted his batterie was nice, and made no comment on his Paquita variation. He did not advance to Round Two.

Saneyuki Kawashima, 21, Japan, an apprentice with Bolshoi Ballet Theatre, is remarkably tall for a Japanese, in addition to being slender, and looked the very picture of a moody, doomed dreamer in the Vassiliev version of Albrecht’s exhaustion in Act II of Giselle. For his Don Q variation, I remarked on a lack of flow in transitions. But his elevation and breadth in jetes was remarkable and we will see him in Round Two.

Jonathan Jordan, 21, U.S.A., a soloist with Washington Ballet, danced Basilo’s variation in Don Q and
The Flower Festival variation. I noted Nureyev-like hair, nice transitions and a flub at the end of Flower Festival. He will not appear in Round Two.

Jon Drake, 21, U.S.A. is with Deutsche Opera am Rhein in Dusseldorf, Germany. He danced the Don Q variation and the Albrecht variation in Giselle, Act II. I wrote “makes a genuine attempt at style.”
A gymnast and native of Mississippi who started comparatively late, Drake has advanced to Round Two.

Agnieszky Szymanska, 19, Poland, with the Great Theatre, Warsaw, was the sole Polish competitor to arrive, although two appear in the souvenir program. Her first variation was Act I, Giselle, which I noted as having upper body control and giving us a lovely finish despite hops in her initial turns. I made no notes on her second variation, Kitri, from Don Quixote, Act IV, but will watch her in Round Two.

Joel Prouty, 22, U.S.A. dances with Boston Ballet. He is on the short and full-chested sized, but gave us some strongly accented sissonnes in the Bluebird variation and a competent, traditional Basil variation from Don Quixote. I noted his shoulders hunched a bit in the Bluebird variation. He will dance in Round Two.

Sergiy Mykhaylov, 26, Ukraine, danced with the Sarasota Ballet of Florida after a sojourn with the National Ballet of the Ukraine. He was one of several soloists who combined Giselle, Act II with Don
Quixote as a alternate choice to display two aspects of classicism. He will dance in Round Two.

Katia Carranza and Mark Ilyn
© Richard Finkelstein

The charm of the evening was provided by two seniors dancing with Miami Ballet, Katia Carranza, 24, Mexico, and Mark Ilyn 22, Russia, a St. Peterburg graduate who has competed in New York, Paris and Varna. Carranza competed in Jackson in 1998. In the Basilo-Kitri pas de deux from Act IV, Don Quixote, my notes read, “I could believe they were just married.” Some of my notes are unreadable, thanks to darkness, but I also noted, “strong finish after some flag in fouettes.” Both dancers will appear in Round Two.

Very tardily, that does it for Session Two.