NEW YORK--Maybe it¡¦s been more than two decades since Tulsa Ballet has performed in New York, but the dance company seemed perfectly at home Monday night as it opened its week of performances at the Joyce Theater.The company performed three ballets that, in their technical and dramatic demands, were selected to show the depth and the range of the dancers ability--and to show New York audiences that the repertoire the company routinely performs is on a level with that of the major ballet companies of the nation and the world.
The program included Kenneth Macmillan¡¦s ¡§Elite Syncopations,¡¨ a contemporary work by the great English choreographer that uses classical techniques in very unconventional ways, and is set to a score of ragtime music.
Also, the program offered ¡§Por vos Muero,¡¨ one of Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato¡¦s greatest works, in which extremely fast and fluid movement is used to evoke a world of emotions from childlike playfulness to the wrenching pain of loss.
Presented, too, was ¡§This Is Your Life,¡¨ Young Soon Hue¡¦s tango-and-Television inspired creation for Tulsa Ballet that, since its debut in Tulsa last year, is already in the repertoire of three international dance companies.
The company¡¦s performance more than rose to the occasion.
As an ensemble, the company¡¦s work was tightly meshed so that, when necessary, it was as if the couple of dozen on stage (as in the final segment of ¡§Elite Syncopations¡¨ or the Masks scene in ¡§Por vos Muero¡¨) were moving as one.
Yet, the individuality of the dancers was equally on display, in vignettes that ranged from knock-about comedy to romantic tenderness to furious anger.
The evening also allowed those familiar with Tulsa Ballet to see some dancers in new roles.
Beatrice Sebelin, for example, had the role of the ¡§other woman¡¨ in the Pas de Trois with Wang Yi and Kate Oderkirk from ¡§This Is Your Life¡¨ (a part originated by Alexandra Bergman, out on maternity leave), and she gave a superb performance, full of desperation and desire.
In the same ballet, Soo Youn Cho, just back with the company after an injury kept her from dancing last season, took over for Marit van der Wolde in the Tango Pas de Deux with Mugen Kazama--in part, because the visual comedy of the compact Kazama and the very tall van der Wolde had already been exploited to great effect in the ¡§Alaskan Rag¡¨ segment of ¡§Elite Syncopations.¡¨
There were myriad pleasures that Tulsa Ballet audiences have come to expect from this company when it dances these ballets:
„P The breathtaking interaction, culminating in a perfectly executed, final, upside-down lift, between Alfonso Martin and Karina Gonzalez in the ¡§Bethana Waltz¡¨ in ¡§Elite,¡¨ balanced by their tender, poignant dancing in the Love Pas de Deux from ¡§This Is Your Life;¡¨
„P Ma Cong¡¦s rage-filled solo in the ¡§Businessmen¡¨ dance in ¡§This Is Your Life;¡¨
„P The macho, athletic comedy of that ballet¡¦s ¡§Chair Dance;¡¨ and
„P Ricardo Graziano¡¦s outrageous shattering of the fourth wall in the ¡§Beauty Salon¡¨ segment of ¡§Elite.¡¨
One could include, as well, pretty much the entirety of ¡§Por vos Muero,¡¨ which remains one of the most physically and emotionally stunning works Tulsa Ballet has ever performed, and Monday¡¦s performance was one of the best of this work we¡¦ve seen the company do.
Each of the three ballets was received enthusiastically by the capacity crowd, with the audience reserving a standing ovation for ¡§This Is Your Life,¡¨ and for choreographer Young Soon Hue, who was in attendance.
It might be inexact to describe those who filled the 472 seats of the theater on Monday night as a ¡§New York audience,¡¨ as the majority of those attending were from Tulsa and other places of Oklahoma.
Among those were Gov. and Mrs. Brad Henry, Mayor Kathy Taylor of Tulsa, Oklahoma Secretary of State Susan Savage, television personality Becky Dixon, and a few dozen Tulsa Ballet board members and patrons.
Mayor Taylor said she had brought with her to the performance some former Tulsans now living in New York.
¡§They were just blown away by what they saw,¡¨ she said. ¡§They said they were beaming with Tulsa pride and were going to tell everyone they knew¡¨ to try and see the performance.
¡§It is wonderful to be able to show the great culture and community support that exists in Tulsa,¡¨ Mayor Taylor said, ¡§here in the nation¡¦s cultural capital.¡¨
