Metropolitan Classical Ballet Recent Reviews

Arts!
New name, same standards
Friday, June 25, 2004

By Wayne Lee Gay
Star-Telegram Dance Critic

The name may be different when Metropolitan Classical Ballet -- until just a few days ago known as Ballet Arlington -- returns to Bass Performance Hall on Saturday. But balletomanes who have been watching the growth and sometimes amazing performances of the ambitious company, co-directed by Balanchine protege Paul Mejia and former Bolshoi star Alexander Vetrov, will have no trouble recognizing the group and its special attributes.

There's probably not a dance company in America that goes into either the George Balanchine repertoire or the Russian repertoire with the depth that Metropolitan Classical Ballet does. And Saturday's performance will reflect that combination.

The great Russian-American choreographer Balanchine's 1949 version of Firebird, created for ballerina Maria Tallchief, will highlight the evening; Bolshoi star Marianna Rhyzkina, who has appeared frequently with the Metropolitan Classical Ballet, will dance the principal role.

The program also will include 19th-century Russian choreographer Marius Petipa's Naiad and the Fisherman, a fragment from a full-length ballet that was largely lost and forgotten during the upheavals of history, then revived in the 1980s in Russia. "It's very difficult, but it's perfectly suited for this company," Vetrov says. "It doesn't require too many people, and we have good principals for the main roles."

The company will show off its third strength, the works created by Mejia, by means of his Eight by Adler, set to eight songs by Richard Adler, the composer of The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees. Adler is expected to attend the performance.