Capitole de Toulouse, 29/12/2024

Magie Balanchine

Tchaikovsky : Theme and Variations

Tchaikovsky : Pas de deux

Gershwin (orch. Kay) : Who Cares?

Artists of the Ballet de l'Opéra National du Capitole

Orchestre national du Capitole

Fayçal Karoui

The three Balanchine ballets presented by the Ballet du Capitole offered a good variety of styles, from his grandest "Imperial" style, closest to Petipa, through a more modern take on the classical style, and ending up with a distinct reminder of just how much work he did for musical theatre and vaudeville in his career.  

The programme began with Theme and Variations, created in 1947 on the last movement of Tchaikovsky's Orchestral Suite No. 3, which outweighs the other three movements completely, is indeed a theme and variations, and ends with a magnificent Polonaise.  Just the sight of line-up of girls in their ravishing aqua and gold tutus, diamond-crowned heads held high, poised on the stage against a plain blue backdrop, with two crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, creates an expectation and an anticipation that Balanchine does not fail to deliver upon.  Nor, in the main, did the company.  Nina Queiroz, I think, did not quite get to warm up as well as she should have, and her initial pirouettes (of which there are many) showed a little unsteadiness, though she settled as the ballet progressed.  Her partner, Ramiro Gómez Samón, on the other hand, produced an elegant, restrained and stylish performance.  The concluding Polonaise was everything that could be hoped for.

Theme and Variations
Ballet du Capitole (© David Herrero, 2024)

This was followed up by another Tchaikovsky piece, the Pas de deux, created in 1960 on the original Black Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake, before Petipa decided the Act 1 pas de deux was more effective, and the score was lost for many years.  Balanchine adheres strictly to the standard format, but the choreographic language has a piquancy not present in the more grandiose style of Theme and Variations, and gestures and positions that would not be found in Petipa.  This was well performed by Natalia de Froberville and Kleber Rebello, with particularly fine swan dives in the coda.

Finally, Who Cares?, Balanchine's tribute to Gershwin, who died before they were able to collaborate on a work, even though the thought was there.  Curiously enough, I saw a performance of this same ballet recorded at the Paris Opera Ballet in March of 2023.   That was an extremely disappointing experience.  I do not know what was happening in the company at that time, but the alignment was appalling, to the point that I'm surprised management agreed to release the video.  That was not an issue tonight, and the whole thing was delivered with substantially more vitality and joie de vivre than I'd seen from the POB.  There was only one thing a little missing in the Capitole performance, and that was consistency in the jazz style.  It is extremely clear that Balanchine was looking back to his Broadway days, there is a marked difference in the port de bras required, particularly from the girls, that is much more relaxed.  These are showgirls who can dance (very well) on point, not ballerinas, and it didn't always quite come off properly here.  However, the principal quartet was very good, especially Marlen Fuerte Castro and Jacopo Bellussi in "The Man I Love".  Castro went on to delight in her solo "Fascinatin' Rhythm", and to see her produced such a charmingly ditzy flapper, after the languid sensuality of the pas de deux, was particularly engaging.  A high-spirited and good-humoured conclusion to the year, all round.

[Next: 31st January]