University of Virginia Library

Stellar Opening For The Artist's Series

By ANN BROWN

It is rare indeed that a lowly
news reporter is admitted into the
unknown realm of features writing.
I beg my readers' pardon as I leave
the ordered, regulated existence of
a front-page journalist and begin to
imbibe the heady wine of critical
freedom as reviewer of the Boston
Ballet Company's Thursday evening
performance.

Ever since I hung up my tutu for
the last time at the age of eight
(after a stellar five-year career
behind the footlights), I have
followed the ballet with an interest
born of unabashed love for the art,
And for the little girl who saved
clippings of Rudolph Nureyev, the
chance to see Edward Villella dance
is second only to a box seat at the
Royal Ballet. I was not
disappointed.

Jerilyn Dane Demonstrates The Fragility of Ballet

Admittedly I was somewhat
disheartened to find not a live
orchestra like that which
accompanied the Pennsylvania
Ballet last year but the University
Hall sound system emitting noises
reminiscent of certain ill-fated Big
Weekend concerts of recent years.
Indeed the first number,
Stravinsky's "Apollo," suffered
greatly as a result.

The audience was rather
uncomfortable for the first half of
the selection in fear that the music
had actually begun somewhere in
the middle of the tape and "Oh,
my goodness, I hope those poor
dancers know what comes next!"
The sound system troubles coupled
with the unusual lighting at the
beginning and Stravinsky's lovely
but hard-to-get-into composition
created an uneasy sensation that all
was chaos.

Once everyone settled down, we
realized that "Apollo" was, in fact,
a fine ballet. Particularly, I enjoyed
those sequences expressing the
unity of the three Muses. The
intertwining, motions of the four
principle dancers acting as a whole
were very convincing.

Well-Deserved Ovation

The pas de deux performed by
Villella and Edra Toth as Apollo
and Terpsichore was lovely. And
the selection's ending was quite
dramatic with Apollo leading the
Muses up a starkly constructed
staircase to Mount Olympus.

Villella displayed phenomenal
control and quickness throughout
the evening, leading renewed
substance to the traditional myth
of ballet that all is effortless.

"The Dolly Suite," a composition
by Gabriel Faure was an
extraordinarily pretty presentation.
The costumes by John Brayden
received a well-deserved special
note in the program. The ballerinas'
floating waltz-length gowns gave me
the distinct impression that I had
been given a key-hole view of a
nursery full of porcelain dolls
performing a midnight dance. John
Taras' choreography made "Dolly
Suite" a whimsical and charming
interlude.

Of course, the height of the
performance was the magnificent
"Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux",
choreographed, as was "Apollo",
by George Balanchine. Villella's
first solo received a well-deserved
ovation from the University Hall
patrons. Each successive sequence
of leaps and turns was even more
beautiful and more unbelievable
than that which preceded it.