Atlanta Ballet showcases impressive range in Balanchine & Peck program

Atlanta Ballet began its tenth season under artistic director Gennadi Nedvigin with a challenging mixed bill of George Balanchine’s Emeralds, Justin Peck’s In Creases and Balanchine’s Prodigal Son. I caught the opening matinee.

Emeralds, staged here by former New York City Ballet soloist Diana White, is a notoriously fickle ballet, with deceptively difficult steps and a delicate, understated tone that must be just so. Mikaela Santos, in the Violette Verdy role, was more than up to the task. Santos is a magnetic, versatile dancer. I have also seen her as the Chosen One in Atlanta Ballet’s recent production of The Rite of Spring, a ballet that could hardly be more different than Emeralds, but where Santos was equally excellent. In Emeralds, she displayed delicate, airy jumps and an ability to be regal yet never stuffy. Santos was partnered beautifully by Sayron Pereira, who also danced the titular lead in Prodigal Son. 

The Mimi Paul role was danced by Khulan Burenjargal, an elegantly understated dancer who recovered well from an unfortunate early stumble. The pas de trois of Larissa Dal’Santo, Gianna Horton-Sibble, and Luiz Fernando Xavier was spritely and well-matched. Horton-Sibble is a talented young dancer with the delicate yet intriguingly angular port de bras of New York City Ballet’s Ashley Laracey.

The company has the sharpness to pull off neoclassical ballets and that was amply shown in In Creases. Now over a decade since its New York City Ballet premiere, it is easy to see how it launched Justin Peck’s career as a choreographer. In Creases is an imaginative ballet with a clear point of view and tone: cool, detached, foreboding. It is punctuated by striking visual tableaux, with unique formations and arm movements, that return but never become tiresome – some of Peck’s later works have fallen short of this standard. The audience clearly loved it.

Pereira was outstanding in Prodigal Son, staged here by former New York City Ballet dancer Paul Boos. Prodigal Son, a strange Balanchine ballet and his last for the Ballets Russes, is an exaggerated, primitive adaptation of the biblical story. As the Prodigal Son, who leaves home with naïve excitement only to be swindled and left for dead by a Siren and a band of drunken hooligans, Pereira’s performance was wonderfully complete. In the opening scene, he executed the bravura turns and Italian pas de chats with amplitude and vigor. As the story progressed, he was boyish, wandering, entranced and finally wretched. When he ultimately returned home to the forgiving arms of his father (Denys Nedak), I was deeply moved. Catherine Conley, a cool and commanding dancer, seemed a natural fit for the Siren. In her seduction of the Prodigal Son, she was slinky and mischievous and the pas de deux with Pereira was excellent.

The three ballets on this program are drawn from very different parts of New York City Ballet’s repertory, and yet it's unlikely that they would be programmed together at City Ballet. Here, the works showcased beautifully the versatility and excellent health of the mid-sized Atlanta Ballet. The corps was in fine form throughout the performance. Do see this company if you can.