Miami City Ballet II

I saw program II last Friday and it was a mixed bag, as we used to say. I'd only remembered the sleep-walking aspects of La Sonnambula, not the "Hey, kids, let's go to a fancy dress ball and dance around" aspects. There were a couple of impressive start turns (notably Kleber Rebello as Harlequin -- wow!), the group dancing tired and bored me, but the sleep-walker (Jennifer Kronenberg) and the poet (Carlos Guerra) were exquisite and compelling.


The Tharp was Baker's Dozen, early-late Twyla (1992) and it was special. Hadn't seen it for awhile, dancers looked fresh and sharp in their angled moves and white unfitted outfits. Told William that Twyla often comes to performances after she sets a piece on a company, but then saw in the program that Elaine Kudo, one of her better dancers from the old days, did the staging. And apparently has for years! Look here:





Then the star turn pas de deux Diana and Actaeon, apparently inserted at the last minute to give everyone time to get into their finale costumes.  Mary Catoya and Kleber Rebello showed virtuoso technique in the magnificent turns, leaps, and pointe work. Breath-taking.... and for those of us who over-identify, painful.


Finale.... J and I were kidding when we said we ought to leave before the last dance, Western Symphony, but, you know, we were right -- I wouldn't have missed it if I hadn't seen it. Afterwards, I understood why:  two words -- Cowboy Ballet.  Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and the chaps.  And Agnes deMille did it better in Oklahoma; ditto Michael Kidd in 7 Brides for 7 Brothers.  Thinking about it, Balanchine probably saw the success they had and wanted some too, to get folks into his theater. So he made a cowboy ballet. The music was traditional western songs (hated it!), costumes were unattractive (hated it!), staging & dancing boring (hated it!). The curtain comes down on the entire company dancing quickly without stopping, which audiences always love. This one was no different -- they thought it was the bomb, but J & I thought it was a bomb.