Last night, Norwegian National Ballet opened its new run of Natalia Makarova’s La Bayadère, creating a fairy tale evening, in more ways than one. Bayadère is, of course, a complete fantasy (its most famous act being – quite literally – a drug-induced hallucination). It is a work that was never intended to portray real life as it is, or ever was, but rather to showcase the inner life of psychologically fascinating characters, splashed across a luxurious dramatic background. Indeed, the sets, created by Pier Luigi Samaritani were some of the loveliest I have ever seen for any production, matched only by the exquisitely detailed costumes, created by Yolanda Sonnabend and supported by John B. Read’s lighting.
Whitney Jensen has spent the past few years turning into a ballerina. Always a technical wizard, her Nikiya was filled to the brim with those tiny touches of artistry that let us know she is well past her child prodigy days. Yes, she can, and does still, throw off turns as though they are nothing, but it was in her eyes, the slight inclinations of her head, the way she presented her feet forward, stepping always with a fully turned out leg and the full extension of her palms in each position that reminded us that to be a ballerina, is to be a living art form. Her extensions were oddly low for this role, but no matter.
I was shocked to read how young Lania Atkins is, as it takes a great deal to match up to Jensen, and I spent much of the performance marveling at how well the staff at the National Ballet cast and coached these two ballerinas. Atkins’s Gamzatti was technically excellent. She has the technical cleanliness that is so often produced in the Australian schools, but, she too, was so fully invested her in role that her double fouettés and clean triple pirouettes were mere supporting acts. Her variation in the fourth act could easily have been a beautiful demonstration of elegant lines and turns. Instead it became a monologue that screamed through the lilting melody. Her sadness at the situation – marrying a man who didn’t love her, her anger at her father for enforcing this situation – conveyed, stunningly, in a single look to him, and her wretched confusion – she was a beautiful princess… so why wasn’t she good enough for Solor? – all read clearly.
I have made this point before, but when coached like this, danced by artists of this quality, our precious collection of “old fashioned” ballets provide the opportunity to visualize these universal feelings of pain, joy, love, hope and despair that follow all people through contemporary life. I will certainly seek to view future performances by Atkins. Like Jensen, she is a jewel in the beautiful Norwegian crown that is this company.
Ricardo Castellanos gave a moving Solor, his double cabrioles extended into a flying arabesque, and his technical mastery gave his solo variations everything they needed. He is exceptional alone, but perhaps needs more time working lifts in the studio with his partners. The mussed lift with Jensen in the first pas de deux appeared to simply be an overshot of the careful balance required for the “swallow”, but the press lift with Atkins in the second act was a pity. She did everything to help him, with a very generous preparation. Hopefully there will be greater opportunities to build strength and security in these important partnering passages in the future. This is not an unusual situation, and I have noticed a general decline in the security of large lifts in numerous other companies and schools. Hopefully this is a trend that will rectify itself, and Castellanos proved himself a highly able partner in the Shades scene, which does not contain overhead lifts, but is filled with many other tricky passages of partnering that he and Jensen elegantly and easily whirled through.
The Shades. As a young dancer in the corps de ballet, I remember being coached that we should aim to be “blissed out on classical ballet” when dancing this tour de force. It appeared that every single member of the corps de ballet – indeed, every member of the company – had this feeling throughout the entire performance and it was shared by the audience. The applause after the Shades made their finale two diagonal lines was long, loving and appreciative. This entire scene read as a love letter to the art of classical ballet. The three soloists, Youngseo Ko, Miharu Maki and Daniela Cabrera were all excellent, Cabrera’s lines and elevation particularly notable.
A year ago, I believed that evenings like this would never again be allowed, something taken away from us forever. But Norway is now entirely free, and joy and relief among everyone, onstage and off, was visceral. I pray things remain so.
