Sat, June 27 - Nina Ananiashvili bid a fond farewell to American Ballet Theatre at tonight's performance of Swan Lake, giving a memorable performance in one of her most iconic roles. If her technique has deteriorated slightly with age (and only slightly, it seemed), she still has all of the magic and magnetism that made her a star: she commanded the stage with old-fashioned ballerina authority and held the audience spellbound with her bold, dramatic style. The audience went wild at the end of each of her major solos and pas de deux.
It was a wonderful way to say farewell. As Odette, in the White Swan Pas de Deux and Odette's variation, she was the tragic heroine, melting into Siegfried's arms and showing off her expressive arms at the same time. She still has a remarkably beautiful arabesque, can whip into turns with clarity and speed, and conceals late-career deficiencies in strength as interpretations of the music. And did I mention those arms? She's a master of the "ripple effect," where her arms seem to ripple like delicate waves in the water.
(Ananiashvili with Angel Corella at curtain call, my photo.)
As Odile, the Black Swan, she pulled out the old-fashioned Bolshoi flash and dazzled in a technically daring performance of the Black Swan Pas de Deux. At the end of the pas de deux, with the audience already stirred into a frenzy with her fouettes and turns, she had Marcelo Gomes – dancing von Rothbart – pick her up and throw her into her Prince Angel Corella's arms, ending in a spectacular fish dive. It was a neat trick that the audience went wild for. (During her fourth curtain call, she, Corella and Gomes repeated the trick for the cheering audience.)
Bows continued for nearly 20 minutes after the performance. After the the usual curtain calls for the corps and principals, bouquet upon bouquet was brought out for Ananiashvili. The female corps did a cute mini-ceremony where each girl dropped a flower at Ananiashvili's feet. Then, each of the company's principals brought out a bouquet and added it to the enormous, growing pile in front of Ananiashvili. Confetti flew at the end of the flower parade and the audience demanded at least five or six curtain calls in front of the Met's gold curtain.
(Nina bowing to the corps de ballet.)
Through it all, the most impressive thing about it was Ananiashvili's generosity and thankfulness for the other dancers on stage, for the orchestra musicians in the pit and for the audience. She repeatedly bowed to her partners and bowed in deference to the corps – she kept waving the entire ensemble to the front of the stage to bow with her, thanking them just as much for creating the performance. It showed her to be a fantastically classy ballerina as well as a true star.
Though tonight truly was the Ananiashvili show, there were other good performances as well. Marcelo Gomes, as the ballroom von Rothbart, is reliably seductive and sexy in this role, and he really turned on the heat in this performance. Angel Corella was his usual virtuoso self as Prince Siegfried, with impressive tricks, jumps and turns; it was highly enjoyable, but compared to last night's beautiful performance by Roberto Bolle, Corella looked a bit crass and less of a noble Prince. We saw Corella on stage, not necessarily Prince Siegfried. It seemed a difference between American and European styles of performance mannerisms, and I think I prefer the Europeans. The swan corps was particularly good tonight, every bit deserving of the shared bow that Ananiashvili offered to them. The production itself remains ingratiatingly uneven in any dancing that was not the most iconic Swan Lake choreography.
I have to admit that, early in my ballet-watching, I had the opportunity to see her Swan Lake and totally skipped it, not yet knowing who she was - I was younger then. I've learned better since, getting the opportunity to marvel her work in other roles she has done with the company, including Le Corsaire, La Bayadere and in various Balanchine roles in Mozartiana and Ballet Imperial. But she's altogether in another class as Odette/Odile, and I'm glad I got to see this performance at the very end of it all.
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More photos from the occasion:
Members of the corps de ballet each giving Ananiashvili a white rose.
Confetti falls on the stage in celebration.
More bows and flowers.
The curtain closes on sixteen years of memorable guest appearances with ABT.
More bows in front of the Met's gold curtain.
The cheering crowd brings her back for several curtain calls.
1 comment:
this is so beautiful what a performance
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