Miami City Ballet appears to be thriving under the leadership of its new artistic director, Lourdes Lopez, who is now in her second season with the company. The troupe presented a strong Program I: First Ventures, at the Kravis Center on Friday night, that illustrated Lopez’s commitment to maintaining the works of masters such as George Balanchine while also breathing new life into the company by performing ballets by esteemed living choreographers.
First Ventures is composed of three immaculately coached ballets: two choreographed by Balanchine – Ballo della Regina and Serenade – and Christopher Wheeldon's Polyphonia. All three works were staged and prepared with care, precision and attention to detail. The other undeniable highlight of the program was the presence of some talented young dancers – Nathalia Arja in particular – who are getting recognized and featured in leading roles.
Ballo della Regina opened the program, with a stage washed in watercolors of turquoise and rose. It is a ballet of startling speed and elation created by Balanchine in the late 1970s.
As it has done many times, Miami City Ballet made this work look fresh and alive, while also underscoring the unique choreographic gifts Balanchine brought to his medium. He painted space with lines of energy that illustrate the architecture of Giuseppe Verdi’s score, and it takes gifted dancers to meet this challenge.
Nathalia Arja, Renan Cerdeiro and the other 16 artists who took the stage confidently delivered this ballet and, in doing so, set a nice pace both for this program and the rest of the season.
Clean, geometric lines
Wheeldon's Polyphonia was a clever choice to set on Miami City Ballet for a variety of reasons. The company's militaristic precision is shown here, as well as how sharp the dancers' physiques look in minimalistic costuming.
Since Wheeldon operates partly out of a Balanchinean lexicon with regard to his movement, MCB’s dancers take to his style like thoroughbreds. The clean geometric lines he uses throughout the 10 movements of this ballet, accompanied by Francisco Rennó on the piano, are given just enough time to be burned into memory before the lights go out. Wheeldon has a natural sense of momentum to his pieces and refrains from over-designing his works with unnecessary ornamentation. Arja’s charisma and nimble musicality again draw the eye in this work, and the piece leaves you wanting more.
‘Serenade’
The program closes with Serenade, the famed, plotless ballet set to Tchaikovsky's heart-wrenching Serenade in C Major for String Orchestra. Balanchine manages in about 30 minutes to cover all that is woman, including the paradox of simultaneous strength and fragility that gives a nod to the heroines of Giselle and Swan Lake.
Emily Bromberg is another promising talent from the corps de ballet who stands out for her purity of line and supple extension. The audience is left with the mystique of the final image from Serenade, with the leading lady being carried on the shoulders of men into the pale-blue moonlight. Her destination is unique to each observer, but one feels confident there is more greatness to come this season.
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Today’s performance begins at 8 p.m. and Sunday's show at 1 p.m. at the Kravis Center’s Dreyfoos Hall, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach.
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