Carolina Ballet.

BTI Center for the Performing Arts Raleigh, North Carolina November 7-10, 2002

Carolina Ballet brought in the clowns. In presenting "Stravinsky's Clowns," this company continues its tradition, established in a short five years, of coming up with innovative ideas. This is the same troupe that also did a dance to Handel's Messiah, with the angel's wings manipulated by dancers acting as puppeteers.

This time, Artistic Director Robert Weiss chose to make dances to music Igor Stravinsky had created for three ballets featuring clowns--jeu de cartes, Petrouchka, and Pulcinella--and include all of these clowns on the same program, something never done before. As usual, the program exemplified high production values, with music performed live by members of North Carolina Symphony and guest singers, scenery by Patricia Nix, and costumes by Nix and David Heuvel. Then, there's the sublime dancing by this talented, multicultural troupe.

Petrouchka (A Circus of the Mind), proved by far the most engaging. Acrobats, tightrope walkers, lions, horses, snakes, a ringmaster, the Moor, and, of course, the puppet clown, Petrouchka, fill the stage with the excitement and magic or a three-ring circus. Add the psychological aspect of the domineering ringmaster, the poignancy of the clown under his control, and the competition between Petrouchka and the Moor for the heart of the ballerina, Columbine, and you have a rich dance indeed.

Mikhail Nikitine as Petrouchka suggests his puppet character in a subtle, supple quality enhanced by the white, loose-fitting tunic and pants that looked similar to the costume Vaslav Nijinsky wore in the original Ballet Russe production. At times, his bent posture, slumped shoulders, and stiff-legged jumps underscored the fact that his puppet body will never allow the fulfillment of his human yearnings. But his soul triumphed in the ghostly, final scene in which many Petrouchkas haunted and cowed The Ringmaster, played with great flair by Matin Boieru, spinning on one foot like a whirling dervish or defying gravity in magnificent barrel leaps. Christopher Rudd turned in a strong performance as the Moor; Melissa Podcasy as Columbine stepped, on pointe, with hummingbird quickness.

By comparison, the opener, jeu de cartes, with its card theme and The Joker and The Jokerette as clowns, lacked both substance and engaging choreography. Even with program notes, this dance proved hard to follow, and though the costumes were beautiful, they were perhaps a bit too subtle to clearly identify the different suits. When The Joker and The Jokerette mixed up the young couples, who had been suitably matched by their royal parents, it wasn't readily apparent.

WHILE THE IDEA OF USING TOPIARY ON WHEELS, MOVED BY MOSTLY UNSEEN DANCERS, SEEMED A LOGICAL AND IMAGINATIVE WAY TO CREATE THE IMPRESSION OF THE MAZE IN WHICH THESE ROYAL COUPLES WANDERED, THE INITIAL DELIGHT OF THE SEEMINGLY MAGICAL MOVEMENT SOON BECAME FRUSTRATING WHEN THE TREES OBSCURED SOME OF THE DANCING.

This ballet did contain some fresh moves. A King and Queen of Clubs rubbed backs as though each were a bear scratching its back on a tree. Another couple conveyed the illusion of horse and rider without resorting to the cliche of getting down on all fours. Pablo Javier Perez and Margaret Severin-Hansen as The Joker and The Jokerette were effervescent and effortless tricksters.

In Pulcinella, the set--a rustic house with balconies and a strange, breastlike shape slung in the architecture--evoked an Italian commedia dell'arte atmosphere. A long-nosed servant, Pulcinella, danced with panache by Timour Bourtasenkov, falls in love with Pimpinella, his master's daughter, who loves him but is promised to another. After many detours, the two get together. The large cast and complex action were confusing at times, but highlights included the sight of five, long-nosed Pulcinella impersonators and the moment when a "dead" Pimpinella, her shrouded body carried by others, suddenly popped her head out. Lilyan Vigo as Pimpinella played it for all it was worth, creating one of the funniest moments in this program of clowns.