American Ballet Theater’s “Swan Lake,” which wrapped up its performances at the Metropolitan Opera House on Wednesday, can really feel uneven, as if its swans have been pushing by water that turns into rougher with every passing yr. This manufacturing, from 2000, was staged by Kevin McKenzie, who will quickly retire as Ballet Theater’s inventive director. Is it time for his “Swan Lake” to go away the firm, too? Alexei Ratmansky, the artist in residence, has a jewel of a “Swan Lake” in his again pocket, already made.
In McKenzie’s staging, dramatic and playful moments have worn skinny, notably the brash seduction scene between von Rothbart, the evil sorcerer, and the princesses in Act 3. What was mildly entertaining in 2000 is embarrassing in 2022. This season, one Rothbart making his debut, Gabe Stone Shayer, swung his cape like a hungry vampire and seemed like he was going to take down the Queen together with his glare. In a later efficiency, he toned it down, however not sufficient. His dancing, brittle and unfinished, suffered.
In one other debut, Skylar Brandt carried out Odette, the princess who falls underneath Rothbart’s spell, along with her tiny body weighed down by the gloom of melodrama. It was bewildering. What occurred to Brandt, whose sense of drama, whereas clearly thought of, is normally extra unforced? As Odile, Rothbart’s misleading daughter, she was extra dynamic — glowing and glamorous whereas relishing the velocity of her turns, the swiftness of her toes.
Just a few days later, there was some actual magic: The soloist Catherine Hurlin made her debut as Odette-Odile on Wednesday afternoon, and her “Swan Lake” was not like some other. It flew. A stirring and harmless Odette — Hurlin’s face generally softened with the trace of a mild smile — and a spirited Odile, she not solely heard the music, she additionally performed with it to spontaneous impact. Performing reverse Joo Won Ahn as Prince Siegfried — so good-looking and competent, but bordering on bland — she was the picture of delicacy and authority, from the arc of her lengthy legs to her willowy arms springing from an eloquent again and highly effective shoulders.
Hurlin is the future of Ballet Theater, the form of dancer who has a contemporary tackle story ballets, the firm’s bread and butter, and even on arid ones. Is there any ballet dancer so pure? She’s even higher than she was earlier than the pandemic break. She is extra subtle, extra womanly. What hasn’t modified, mercifully, is her superb abandon. It was a serious debut, however she has shined all season.
Devon Teuscher, additionally dancing Odette-Odile with Ahn, was glorious — particularly luminous as Odette along with her astonishing line and placement. Christine Shevchenko, reverse Calvin Royal III, making a buoyant and boyish debut as the Prince, was her standard competent self. But what if, along with her approach, Shevchenko might add some lushness? Her positions are agency, she’s at all times appropriate — sprinkling à la seconde turns into her fouettés may be very a lot a component of her talent set — however she’s extra memorable when she may be earthy, expressive, weak.
The firm entered right into a extra modern realm on Thursday with a combined invoice. It began with George Balanchine’s “Theme and Variations,” that includes the eloquent Teuscher reverse Ahn, and concluding with Jessica Lang’s “ZigZag,” an inconsequential and overlong romp set to songs carried out by Tony Bennett (together with a duet with Lady Gaga). It’s as slight because it ever was, made all the extra obvious by its proximity to Balanchine’s traditional, created for Ballet Theater in 1947 and set to Tchaikovsky.
The Balanchine is a glittering show of virtuosity and musicality, and Teuscher, except for a tiny wobble out of a flip, was majestic: clear, clear and expansive, distinct in her higher physique. Her accomplice, Ahn, didn’t fare so effectively; slipping right here and sliding there, he was out of his depth.
Wedged in the center of the program was a extra mysterious dance, making its New York premiere: Alonzo King’s delicate and religious “Single Eye,” whose identify was impressed by a biblical verse — “If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”
Featuring seven sections, the ballet is ready to music by the jazz composer and pianist Jason Moran. The elegant rating, spare at occasions and extra propulsive in others, additionally included sound recordings by Bernie Krause, which delivered to thoughts trains and rumbling distant site visitors.
In solos and duets, principal {couples} wandered in and out of the stage, in states, it appeared, of contemplation and battle. The duet that opened the second part for Isabella Boylston, smooth in a yellow unitard, and Thomas Forster ended as she pushed him slowly, resolutely into the wings. Herman Cornejo took over the stage in a solo that saved him falling off steadiness; he pushed at the air as if beating away demons. His twists and turns weren’t from the standard college of dance angst, however hinted at one thing extra inner.
The complete ballet possessed that high quality of trying inward, of utilizing the physique, and with it, the thoughts, as a vessel for a extra necessary goal than simply dancing steps: for combating towards darkish forces to stay open and clear. Its lack of pretense was absorbing; it is a ballet full of clever shadows that wash over the stage with ever-evolving shapes — twisting, curving, bending — seemingly impressed by the pure world. At the begin, members of the corps de ballet, en pointe, lowered into deep pliés and crossed the stage like svelte bugs.
Fittingly, Robert Rosenwasser’s backdrops — he designed the costumes, too — transported the dancers into otherworldly landscapes; it felt like they’d been dropped right into a shimmering gold forest. Jim French’s lighting, in at the least one occasion, bathed the stage in the dappled glow of an early dawn. In the finish, Brandt and Royal — usually with their fingers joined tightly — leaned towards and away from one another, combating and succumbing to weight whereas increasing and contracting their our bodies. Gradually, stress melted away, and calmly, they turned their backs on the viewers. More than the lights going out at the finish of a ballet, it was as if the planet had fallen asleep.
Throughout “Single Eye” was the notion of a religious awakening or a prayer for the pure world. And enthrallingly, there was strong dancing — particularly from the corps de ballet, performing right here with extra individuality and snap than Ballet Theater’s repertory usually permits. Woven all through have been highly effective, even fiery interludes, together with these for the ethereal Breanne Granlund, quicksilver and daring as she zipped throughout the stage in a hanging blue leotard. Chloe Misseldine, with delicate fish fins jutting from her hips — half tutu, half short-shorts — was virtually supernatural in the serenity of her balances. And Michael de la Nuez, whereas spinning in a pirouette à la seconde, instantly sliced his free leg backward and ahead. It was dazzling; it got here out of nowhere.
Or did it? King has mentioned that when dancers “get into it” — that means get into their our bodies for actual — they lose their self-consciousness. When this occurs, they’re singing their tune. What was most alluring about “Single Eye” was that it wasn’t only one physique searching for mild, however a neighborhood dancing for and with each other: Together, they stepped into their tune.
American Ballet Theater
Through July 16 at the Metropolitan Opera House, abt.org.
