Joffrey Ballet & Cleveland Orchestra @ Blossom 8/22/09
Magnificence all around!

The Joffrey Ballet not only had the fantastic Cleveland Orchestra in the pit at Blossom Music Center Saturday night, but for the most beautiful and serene piece on the program Round of Angels, there was an enthusiastic accompanying chorus of frogs and crickets. They seemed all of a piece with the backdrop of twinkling stars against a velvety deep blue background, and distracted the viewer not one whit. Indeed, with the sheer beauty and poignancy evinced by dancers Victoria Jaiani and Thomas Nicholas, set by Gerald Arpino to the lavish, haunting score of the Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 in c# minor, Opus 47, by Gustav Mahler, the images will remain in memory a long, long time. Exhibiting both delicacy and strength, the two dancers impressed with their superior control. One had the impression Nicholas could have set Jaiani on a marshmallow and she wouldn’t have made a dent in the surface.

They shared the stage with five male dancers who were angels, watchful over the pair and occasionally relieving Nicholas of his care and concern of Jaiani in case she should become a burden to him.

In this work, as indeed for the entire evening, Conductor Tito Muñoz was a terrific collaborator/conductor. The music and the dancers seemed in perfect synch throughout the evening, which passed by all too quickly. Whether it was the pit in which the orchestra was enfolded, or the temperature, or just its ordinary routine excellence, I can’t recall ever hearing the orchestra sound more lush or more resonant. Several orchestral solos (English horn, clarinet, horn, among others) were beautifully played, lending extra highlights to the shimmery textures.

Opening the program was Kettentanz, a nine-movement work for the corps de ballet comprised of six couples, based on Viennese music: eight by Johann Strauss, Sr. and one from Johann Mayer. Galops, polkas and waltzes filled the Pavilion with joyful sound and gorgeous images. Whether single dancer, duo, trio or the ensemble, Kettentanz (again by Arpino) established the high quality of dance, costume, and lighting exhibited by the Joffrey Ballet.

Mobile for three dancers (Caitlin Meighan, Abigail Simon and Tian Shuai—all dances were double-cast, these were the Saturday evening performers) is based on the free-form sculpture of Alexander Calder. Typically, mobiles are set in motion by a slight breeze and move gently throughout a variety of positions. So it was with the dancers, exhibiting immense muscle control and strength, as they morphed from one fantastic position to another in this 5-minute piece set to an excerpt from the ballet Gayane by Aram Khachaturian. Tomm Ruud was not only choreographer but also costume designer.

Cloven Kingdom, choreographed by Paul Taylor was a huge favorite with the audience, blending Baroque music by Arcangelo Corelli with late 20th century percussion, and formally-dressed performers with primitive movements. The four athletically-inclined men wore tailsuits, while the women wore full-length, very full skirts which allowed for sometimes grotesque positions. Four of the women wore dazzling mirrored head-pieces, which were extremely fascinating. One wonders how they held the things in place – as physically active as they were. The overall effect was of wit and strength and curiosity—are we really all that much like animals underneath our finery?

Closing out the program was Carousel A Dance, based on music from the Broadway musical theatre: the lilting Carousel Waltz, If I Loved You, and segments of the Soliloquy sung by the male lead Billy Bigelow, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. Colorfully costumed and colorfully lit (the entire production was lit by Jack Mehler), the performance proved incontrovertibly that Richard Rodgers stands entirely equal to the great composers that preceded him.

The principal dancers (Billy by Fabrice Calmets and Julie by April Daly) seemed at times overwhelmed by the presence of so many other dancers on the stage. They were strangely distant to each other, searching and not always finding. When they did connect, however, they danced well together. The ensemble was marvelous, especially in the dazzling visual effect whereby the dancers created a living carousel right there in front of our eyes, going round and round and up and down. This drew one of the larger ovations from the full house.

But we were only getting warmed up with that ovation! The end of the performance drew one of the louder and longer ovations heard at Blossom (or anywhere else, for that matter) in some time. It was well-deserved, and thrilling to notice that the warmest applause was for the Orchestra itself. Live dance NEEDS live music! Bravo to everyone involved for making it happen!

http://www.Joffrey.org/index.asp
http://www.ClevelandOrchestra.com

by Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz, who writes: "I love music and writing about it. I hope to keep on doing it for a long, long time! I write, therefore I am."

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