Right now, billions of people are glued to the World Cup. In NYC, the entire city is in love with the NY Knicks. And for balletomanes, a Swan Lake debut is like a combo of the World Cup finals with an NBA Game 7. It doesn’t get more high stakes than this. So I wasn’t surprised to see many balletomanes packed into the Met for SunMi Park’s debut on Saturday night with American Ballet Theatre.
So how did SunMi Park’s debut go? I’d say if she were in the NBA finals, she would have been the Spurs rookie Dylan Harper. Not THE superstars of the series the way Jalen Brunson or OG Anunoby were, but a compelling young talent who will no doubt get better.
The positives: she has long, tapering arms that ripple bonelessly at the right moments. She also has a pliant back, so the yearning arabesques in the lakeside scene were beautiful. She’s naturally lyrical and sweet, with a vulnerability that naturally wins over audiences. In fact, someone at the show commented she’d be a great Giselle. She has strong if not showy technique. She might not be the ballerina able to do Odile’s triple pirouettes in attitude effortlessly (the way Gillian Murphy still could when she retired at age 47 last year), but you never feel antsy when she’s dancing.
She was still nervous and finding her footing last night. At certain times, she seemed jittery and afraid to truly stretch out her limbs and to hold those positions to full effect. As of now, she is a more natural Odette than Odile. She can do the 32 fouettés, but her characterization is subdued. She’s not naturally extroverted and attention-grabbing the way the best Odiles are. As of now, she does not demand the spotlight.
Daniel Camargo is one of ABT’s most elegant classicists. Like Park, he has a solid but unshowy technique. He has long lines and a beautiful, stretched arabesque. He’s also a sensitive partner. If I have one criticism of him, it’s that he seems too reticent and gentlemanly. There wasn’t much discernible emotion from him. It was all very careful and controlled.
The Pas de Trois in Act 1 got some bonus casting with an awesome trio of Jake Roxander, Lea Fleytoux and Yoon Jung Seo. They were crisp, charming and skilled in all the petit and grand allegro of the Pas de Trois in a way that is so rare in actual performances. Roxander’s skill at slowing down his pirouettes is so impressive no matter how many times you’ve seen it.
ABT’s Swan Lake is severely abbreviated in the fourth act, and thus no Odette makes her full impact. The mournful dance Odette does with her fellow swans is gone, as is Siegfried searching among the flock for Odette. But the production is good-looking, has the basics of the Ivanov second act lakeside choreography and sells well no matter who is dancing.
Dylan Harper’s finals run ended in disappointment. The Knicks beat the Spurs four games to one to win their first championship in over 50 years. But Harper’s poise and scoring bursts have put the basketball world on notice. SunMi Park did the same with her very promising debut.
