Round 3 Session 3, June 27

As I type my notes for this final session, the Jury is deliberating on their choices. So I hope I finish and post this before our Press Conference where the results will be announced. Four Juniors and seven Seniors participated tonight. Seven contestants appeared in pas de deux, three with non-competing partners.

Sarah Kathryn Lane, U.S.A. danced Vaganova’s Diana variation and the memorable solo from the final act of Raymonda plus the traditional Irish Hymn Bi Thusa Mo Shuile choreographed by Jamey Leverett. In the Diana variation she phrased rather obviously with her arms in the beginning, and the forward momentum made some of her final turns look as if she was off balance. Her Raymonda demonstrated enormous control in her port de bras but conveyed to me more effort than passion.

The Irish hymn was nicely costumed with a full and easily moving skirt. I didn’t see the point in a sleeveless bodice with sequins when dancing barefooted to a hymn, which ends in a reverential pool of light. I felt Lane was most at home and expressive in this work and her port de bras enjoyed fluidity she needs to incorporate in her classical work. Prediction: an award, which I don’t know.

Jiao Yang, China, danced variations from Le Corsaire, La Bayadere and a contemporary piece called Space. This junior is definitely headed for a prize, perhaps the junior silver. His elevation, spacing and phrasing are quite superior. In gauzy yellow pantaloons, he accented his developpe completion of pirouettes with exciting emphasis and his initial saut de chats were filled with air, clear, high, sweet, if you will. His Bayadere displayed clean sissonnes, the technique exciting because it was correct and devoid of tricks. His solo, Space, choreographed by Wang Peng to semi-electronic music by Wang Yuan He, used the full stage, and varying spots and other illumination. Yang developed a movement from a hand gesture at the side, up the arm, inflecting the shoulder and influencing the torso, sometimes accented in the midriff. Demonstrating flexibility, command of isolation and ballet technique over the entire floor on a slender, tallish body made me think of the impulse guiding Zen calligraphy. Yang is a strong contender for one of the higher junior awards.

Michelle Carpenter, U.S.A. with her non-competing partner, Nicholas Leschke, danced the Black Swan pas de deux and Timothy O’Keefe’s Mindset to Jesse Cook’s Closer to Madness. Since Carpenter is affiliated with Houston Ballet, her use of the Swan tutu worn by Sarah Webb provided a clue about Ben Stevenson’s adaptation of the Petipa benchmark.

The costume is still more Merry Widow than Black Swan and the Tiara and feathers still more enveloping than indicative of Odile’s character. Leschke was dressed in a scarlet tunic with gold braid that looked as if it belonged on a holiday Nutcracker. Carpenter apparently had the same coach as Webb, so the same aggregate of fingers and flapping port de bras were present, distracting from that wonderful focused intent I initially remember with Fonteyn and Grey in the role and some of the principals with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Carpenter was quite plucky. In the coda she managed 29 single fouettes which traveled down stage and to the right. It seemed to me a bold choice to ask of a 17-year-old.

Closer to Madness trotted out another body suit and bare chested partner, all emphasized tones of red, on the back scrim and in the costume color. The music had some initial drums that sounded like simple Indian rhythms. The pas de deux was about male obsession with the female who is suitably seductive but in the end dismissive and illusive. The partnering was excellent, with the usual gamut of female body being turned, stretched and the legs being clasped around the partner’s waist like a channel lock. I predict some kind of recognition.

Zhang Jing, China, danced a lovely variation from La Bayadere and Le Corsaire. For her contemporary piece, she chose Motoko Hirayama’s The Other Side of Midnight, to Philip Glass’ Dracula. Jing dances with strength and covers any technical deficiencies with excellent carriage and superb port de bras. Her variation in Le Corsaire was not the usual one, and she looked simply stunning in bright blue with a snowflake like pattern on the tutu, making Jing’s torso its middle.

Jing’s contemporary solo emphasized both her strength and her dramatic abilities. After her floor work, contracts and spatial use I thought to myself, “She has the makings of a Chinese Nora Kaye.” It’s hard to predict how Jing will come out in the pecking order of prizes.

Chidozie Nzerem, U.S.A., and his non-competing partner, Sherri LeBlanc gave us Vaganova’s full Diana and Acteon Pas de Deux and a Val Caniparoli treatment of Nina Simone, Ne Me Quitte Pas/Be My Husband, titled Fade to Black.

Nzerem’s partnering and fervor again was extremely strong, his execution confident and attentive. Alongside Salenko, Prouty or Li Jun, his schooling could have honed his presentation here and there, But save a slight stumble he moved without hesitation, his variation clear but devoid of any multiple effects. LeBlanc’s pleated, white tunic was a virginal change to the shorter, more skimpy display tunics seen, a sartorial statement that less is more.

Caniparoli’s Fade to Black was first performed by Yuri Possokhov and Lorena Feijoo at the September, 2001 Gala des Etoiles in Montreal, and what an effective pas de deux of domestic trial and frustration! Man in undershirt and trousers, woman in short black tunic having an argument. At moments he takes it lying down, turns his back, while she goes through her display. It is yes, no, maybe, perhaps with almost Cinematic close ups and near fades as LeBlanc jumps, kicks, and visually screams, until Nzerem clasps downstage left in the fading spotlight.

Wu Haiyan and Li Jun, China, danced the Le Corsaire pas de deux and Rainbow of the Night to Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs under the title of Rainbow of the Night. Theirs is a partnership in size, musicality and intuition one of the most remarkable I have seen. Jun is less temperamental or excessive, but the pair exudes the harmony I remember in the Fonteyn-Nureyev association. What their finesse made of that schmaltzy display piece was indescribable. After the purity of her Giselle, to see Wu Haiyan in a bravura piece etching space with her neat little body, diagrammatically correct arabesques, passes and modest, consistent fouettes was a dream, evanescent and haunting. She did travel with her fouettes, but I have no memory of seeing a dancer who did not.

It would not surprise me if Wang Yuanyuan’s Rainbow of the Night received some choreographic recognition. Wu Haiyan and Li Jun danced in simple black tunics barefoot with an aching tenderness in stretches, clasps, floor rolls, separations, again echoing each other and together moving as one visual instrument. It was as haunting and spare in its evocative qualities as a Ni Tsan landscape. The two artists may well take it as best couple, and this has been a competition where the level of partnering has been enormously satisfying, the collaboration an affirmation how exhilarating ballet can get.

Emi Hariyama, Japan, with her non-competing partner Ta Mila, dancing with Atlanta Ballet, gave us Aurora’s Wedding Pas de Deux minus the fish dives. She looked like spun sugar and his tunic might have been an elegant gilded wrapper on the best possible chocolate bon bon. Hariyama’s Kirov-like port de bras were consistent and they both were definitely a regal pair. In the coda, Mila executed a sissonne of such perfection that it seemed to hang in space.

Victor Plotnikovs Nagasaki pour la Vie by Les Tambours de Bronx garbed Hariyama in a shocking pink milliskin unitard and a fluid hoppi coat with Ti Mila in black with a red head band. It was hard to determine whether there was any reference to history, but certainly the costuming made its nod to the title. Lots of even movement, first right and then left, extremely well executed.

Hao Bo, China’s senior soloist, was the third Le Corsaire from the People’s Republic, and had to take a back seat in consistency to Li Jun and effectiveness to younger Jiao Yang. He danced a variation from La Sylphide in full kilt and stockings with considerable dash, but his fifths required a little adjustment, though his carriage, ballon and timing exhibited the Bournonville dash.

What was most notable was his self-choreographed solo Light to traditional Chinese music played on what must be a bamboo flute. Titled Light, Hao Bo worked almost entirely from the floor with rolls,flexes and stretches. Negative space is a hallmark of good Asian painting composition. Hao Bo seemed to translate these principles to the stage space. This underlying aesthetic was shared with all his colleagues.

Sarah Webb and Ian Casady completed the third round with the Ben Stevenson version of the Esmeralda pas de deux that helped Janie Parker win the Gold Medal in 1982. Their dramatic exchange was excellent, and the opening pas de deux quite exciting, but Casady seemed tired and unable to bring much ballon to his variation. Sarah Webb’s tambourene variation exhibited a lot of dash and was clearly struck. She chose a circle of pirouettes to the forward battements to complete her variation. Her port de corps also seemed less flexible and sweeping. As a couple they worked the audience extremely well, but I have seen greater refinement in this pas de deux..

Dominic Walsh’s used of Teleman’s Sonate Corellisante No 3 in B. Minor, Movements 1-4, under the title of The Itch did not seem to me to advance either Casady and Webb’s eligibility nor choreographic revelation. The flesh and white diaphonous coverings on Casady made me wonder whether he was supposed to be Daddy Long Legs making spider webs and Webb, seeming nude with an slightly pink corset, was having problems at bedtime with such creature tracings. Obviously, I felt it an inconclusive end to the VII U.S.A. International Ballet Competition.

On to ten this morning and the results, which I will post this evening. Sorry for the length.

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