MCB Recent Review

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Recent Review

Metropolitan Classical Ballet presents a night
of stars shining brightly at Bass Hall

Posted on Sunday, June 22, 2008

By Marilyn Bailey
Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH – Metropolitan Classical Ballet’s season finale at Bass Hall on Saturday night was billed as "An Evening With the Stars," stocked with big-deal guest dancers from the likes of the Bolshoi Ballet.

And they were impressive, though none were more enjoyable to watch than the brightest star of Arlington’s remarkable 10-year-old ballet company, principal dancer Olga Pavlova. She first appeared in co-artistic director Paul Mejia’s Romeo and Juliet, a brisk, condensed version of Shakespeare’s beloved drama set to a Romeo and Juliet overture by Tchaikovsky that in itself is an effective mood piece.

The curtain rises on a somber, still scene at Juliet’s tomb, where Romeo (Yevgeni Anfinogenov) is shortly to die from taking poison. Juliet awakes, and the rest of the drama is told through a handful of flashbacks to highlights of the familiar story. There are only three characters (Andrey Prikhodko is Tybalt), and the principal romantic pas de deux lasts just a couple of minutes. Both men were fine, but the strongest lingering impression was of Pavlova’s dancing: So much drama was conveyed in her port de bras (the all-important "carriage of the arms") and delicate bourees (strings of little steps on point).

Shea Johnson in Diane and Acteon
Photo by Marty Sohl

Mejia’s ballet is more a psychological piece than a narrative drama, and clever stagecraft and costuming added to the effects. An eerie black-costumed "chorus" represented forces of evil, until at last all the characters were bathed in white to symbolize the couple’s transcendent love.

Pavlova showed another side of her art in the festive second half, a string of classical "divertissements" staged by the company’s other artistic director, Alexander Vetrov. As is usual in these galas, we saw a parade of crisply performed pas de deux starring classical heroes (Spartacus, Diane and Acteon) and tutu-ed swans. But a pair cast as Ukrainian folk dancers — Assaf Benchetrit and Oleksandr Kryvonis — and a modern-dance piece set to Bach lent good variety.

Pavlova and Alexei Tyukov turned in the night’s most incisive performance in the "black swan" duet from Swan Lake. Violin soloist Curt Thompson played the meltingly beautiful accompaniment with the Metropolitan Ballet Orchestra under conductor Ron Spigelman.

Company dancer Shea Johnson created fireworks as Acteon: His midair turns had people gasping (as did the impression he made in the traditional skimpy costume). His partner, Maiko Abe, is an impressive new addition to the company. And Bolshoi import Marianna Ryzhkina lived up to her star billing in Don Quixote and as the partner in Spartacus: With her long, loose hair and lovely lyrical dancing, she actually made you take your eyes off the hero.

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