Interbational Ballet Festival.

Eisenhower Theater, John F. Kennedy 

Center for the Performing Arts

Washington, D.C.

March 4-16, 2003

The International Ballet Festival was supposed to be a treat for subscribers (in a season when the Kennedy Center's Opera House has been closed for renovation) as well as a major dance event: six of the world's greatest ballet companies, each dancing its most representative work. Unfortunately, this generosity was at odds with economics (some companies brought only a few dancers), the Eisenhower's small stage, and an aesthetic that seemed to confuse decor with decoration. OFFERINGS INCLUDED A SPECTRE DE LA ROSE WITHOUT A WINDOW, NAPOLI WITHOUT NAPLES, AND LA BAYADERE'S "KINGDOM OF THE SHADES" WITHOUT A RAMP, RESULTING IN A FESTIVAL THAT WAS HEAVY ON SHOCK BUT LIGHT ON AWE.

The companies that made the best showing were those who brought complete ballets. American Ballet Theatre's oldest hit--Robbins's Fancy Free--brought the house down opening night. The ballet has been so refreshed that long-obscured details are again visible, and all three casts were terrific, the dancers bursting with life and high spirits.

Miami City Ballet's superb production of Balanchine's The Four Temperaments was considered by many to be the hit of the festival. This was topdrawer Balanchine, edgy and energetic yet subtle, the soloists dancing, rather than emoting, their roles. Yann Trividic's snaky, jazzy Phlegmatic was a standout.

MacMillan's Sea of Troubles, performed by Adam Cooper & Company, was at best an interesting experiment. MacMillan attempted to choreograph a nightmare, fragmenting Hamlet by having the three women and three men assume the play's major roles at different times, but the choreography is a ballet choreographer's idea of modern dance, with the movement centered in the limbs. The constant role-swapping robbed the work of focus.

The Royal Danish Ballet presented the pas de six and tarantella from the third act of Bournonville's Napoli as a divertissement. What can be so charming in summer parks seemed bare in a theater, and it didn't help that the opening cast was less than ideal. However, on the second night, led by Rose Gad and Thomas Lund, both beautifully schooled and musical dancers, the ballet looked like a (Danish) Italian wedding rather than a class. The women were generally fine (especially Silja Schandorff's bold dancing) but, aside from Lund, the male soloists were disappointing.

The Bolshoi brought an assortment of solos and pas de deux that were little more than ably danced. In addition to the unfortunate, setless Spectre, there were two pas de deux--a grim, flashy Don Q--and a workaday La Fille mal gardee (Gorsky's). The highlight was Kasyan Goleizovsy's Narcissus, danced with grave clarity by the very young Gennady Yanin.

The Kirov Ballet closed the second week's program with a concert version of the Shades scene from La Bayadere. Without its ramp, much of the effect of ballet's greatest entree was lost, and there were only eighteen Shades, dancing elbow to elbow on the small stage, but nothing can hide the perfection of that corps. As Nikia, Daria Pavlenko and Ekaterina Kondaurova, in an impressive debut, were welcome proof that classical purity is still valued in St. Petersburg. Leonid Sarafanov was a high-flying whiz kid Solor (with Pavlenko) and Daniil Korsuntsev a gracious, noble one (with Kondaurova).