Pacific Northwest Ballet celebrates Igor Stravinsky
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, February 10, 2005
SEATTLE – The Pacific Northwest Ballet celebrates Igor Stravinsky’s legacy as arguably the most prominent composer of 20th century ballets in its “All Stravinsky” program, featuring Kent Stowell’s “Firebird,” George Balanchine’s “Apollo” and a PNB premiere of Glen Tetley’s “The Rite of Spring.” All three works give a nod to the power of primal storytelling as passed down through folktale, myth and ritual.
“Firebird’s” initial scenery, wherein Batkhurel Bold’s Prince Ivan dances a pas de deux with Kaori Nakamura’s Firebird and the princesses make their entrance, is surprisingly sparse. The prince is dwarfed and overwhelmed by an enormous sky. Finally, Ming Cho Lee’s more customary lush visual elements appear.
There are onion-domed edifices descending from the ceiling, and a “rings of hell” backdrop against which the urchin-like monsters (led by Kiyon Gaines) and attendants in harlequin headdresses cavort. The evil Kastchei (Uko Gorter), who holds the princesses captive, enters to bleating horns and swirling mists.
Music (conducted by Allan Dameron) and scenery peak here simultaneously. Nakamura, beautiful in a glittering red and gold tutu, pirouettes with amazing speed. As a Faberge-inspired egg drops from the sky, the Firebird hands Ivan a sword. The score’s most famous refrain signals a new day dawning in preparation for the marriage scene.
The hellish images recede, giving way to Byzantine Russian orthodox icons and St. Basil-esque architectural elements. The Prince’s bride (Maria Chapman) is luminous, surrounded by wedding attendants garbed in the gold and white robes of costume designer Theoni V. Aldredge.
In “Apollo,” (conducted by Stewart Kershaw) we witness the maturation of the young god (Stanko Milov) and the fruition of his divine traits. Born to Leto (Stacy Lowenberg), Apollo is initiated in life by three Muses: Calliope, representing poetry (Mara Vinson); Polyhymnia, or mime (Carrie Imler); and Terpsichore, or dance (Patricia Barker).
The choreography is marked by wild arm rotations, Barker’s easy swoons and the duckling-like twittering of Muses en pointe. Milov is terrific, displaying exquisitely sinewy movements, and an uncanny blending of weight and levity in his leaps. Imler’s marvelous fluidity and technical agility is eye-catching.
Francia Russell’s whimsical staging has Apollo holding a pose like a statue from classical antiquity, then suddenly waddling flat-footed a la Charlie Chaplin. He holds the arms of his Muses like a charioteer holding the reins of his horses. A signature scene has dancers forming an “array,” their arms and legs like beams emanating from some divine source.
“Rite of Spring” (Kershaw conducting) tells of a youth (Jonathan Porretta) offered sacrificially, then reborn after he’s conceived by his parents (Patricia Barker and Christophe Maraval).
Barker’s moves particularly underscore the ballet’s organic, earthy quality. She slithers, leaps like a dolphin and curls up like a sow bug.
Porretta, in flesh-colored costume, appears naked. Cellos provide the incessant, insistent downbeat as a tribe of male dancers engage with their smaller female counterparts in a shadowy wooded scene designed by Nadine Baylis. Lighting is recreated by Randall G. “Rico” Chiarelli, who soon leaves PNB after 25 years.
It is good to see the talented Porretta rewarded with a central role. His dance is a tour de force. After his rebirth, he gropes like a blind man, sniffs the ground, hurls and propels himself gymnastically, then puts the exclamation point on his performance as he takes flight on a trapeze.
This PNB premiere is a masterful exercise in sustained tension. The orchestra and dancers display unfailing stamina and graceful strength as they navigate the ballet’s driving score.
