Never has an idea been more exquisitely realised than when George Balanchine took inspiration from the precious gems in the Van Cleef & Arpels collection to create Jewels, his plotless triptych of Emeralds, representing the cool, elegance of French Romanticism; Rubies, for the brash attack of the jazzy American style; concluding with Diamonds as a cipher for dazzling Russian classicism. Each of these jewels is a superb integration of all their creative elements; together representing a masterpiece that is just as fresh today as at its premiere in New York, almost 60 years ago.
It has become a much-travelled ballet, being staged by countless companies all over the world, I lost count at around 60! Norwegian National Ballet has dipped into the jewellery box later than many, having trialled a stand-alone presentation of Diamonds earlier this year. Their staging – under the supervision of Jean-Marc Puissant (with Kevin Briard overseeing the recreation of Jennifer Tipton’s lighting) – is The Royal Ballet’s production, first seen at Covent Garden in November 2007.
While each balletic gem is rooted in the style of its inspiration, they are also covered in quirky neoclassical idiosyncrasies and with three such strongly contrasting pieces, requiring around 20 featured roles and a large supporting corps, Jewels is a fiendishly complex ballet for any company to master. Norwegian National Ballet is the seventh company that I’ve seen take on the task and it did so superbly, honouring the ballet’s legacy whilst also imposing its own personality on the character of this much-loved work.
Everyone involved deserves a share in the credit for outstanding performances, but special kudos must go to the coaching of Ben Huys and Patricia Neary. Gina Storm Jensen superbly reprised the role of the quirky “tall girl” in Rubies that she had performed with The Royal Ballet and how amazing must it be for her to be coached by the dancer who created that role for Balanchine himself.
Almost a decade after creating the ballet, in 1976, Balanchine made several revisions to Emeralds, which, with its art nouveau set (four gorgeous brooches suspended like chandeliers) and belle epoque feel, is the epitome of cool serenity. Balanchine played with simple movements of the arms and upper body plasticity to create complex sequences that, although tenacious in their speed of delivery, require to be silky smooth with impeccable port de bras. Julie Petanova and Youngseo Ko performed with poise and grace, while offering subtle distinctions in these lead ballerina roles. All the dancers conveyed a delightful quality of naturalness.
Each work begins in a tableau where the arrangement of the dancers wearing the blinding bling of Karinska’s lustrous costumes always causes an audible gasp from the audience. They are teased in Emeralds by a false ending of another glorious tableau. After sustained applause, the conductor raised a finger and the orchestra began again, the corps exits and the seven soloists perform an epilogue (one of Balanchine’s later additions) which finishes in a poetic elegy for the three male soloists, kneeling mournfully with their arms outstretched in lament for their lost girls in green.
Norwegian National Ballet has destroyed my earlier belief that only Americans get the pacy, electric attack of Rubies. It may have helped this outstanding performance that they were led by Whitney Jensen, an American who learned her art in New York and at Boston Ballet, where she performed in Rubies, although in my experience mostly (if not exclusively) as the “tall girl”. Here, she was the ballerina of the lead couple, dancing alongside Alex Cuadros Joglar and, together with Storm Jensen, these leading dancers performed with athletic exuberance, gift-wrapped in pure joy.
Adding to this roster of 24-carat ballerinas, Grete Sofie Borud Nybakken delivered a glorious account of the central ballerina in Diamonds that was as sparkling as the gems encrusted into her tutu and the huge “earrings” hanging from the flies. Her partner, Ricardo Castellanos danced with such abandon that his virtuosity earned applause mid-solo and he almost collided with the wall when leaping into the wings!
The overall excellence of this performance was greatly enhanced by a magnificent orchestral performance, under the energetic baton of Gavriel Heine. The score comprises Fauré’s Shylock (augmented by Pelléas et Mélisande for that Emeralds epilogue), Stravinsky’s Capriccio (with its apparent references to Gershwin in the later stages), and four movements from Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 3. One supposes that this symphonic tapestry appeals to opera house orchestras, in preference to scores written specifically for ballet. Heine gave superb direction, especially encouraging his musicians to play the Capriccio with an uninhibited brashness.
This was yet another example of a company at ease with itself enjoying a work that has the best of all worlds in the ice-cool precision of Emeralds, the fiery elation of Rubies; and the luminous splendour of the classical Petipa pastiche in Diamonds. It was a sparkling cluster in a luscious setting that epitomises the magic of dance.
Graham's trip was sponsored by Norwegian National Opera and Ballet
