ADVERTISEMENT

Review: 'The Seasons,' a ballet as unwieldy as weather itself

(Critic’s Pick): NEW YORK — These days, seasons just don’t know how to stay in their lanes: The weather, like dancers, can turn on a dime.

Review: 'The Seasons,' a ballet as unwieldy as weather itself

It’s fitting, then, that Alexei Ratmansky, in his latest choreographic venture for American Ballet Theater, has taken on Glazunov’s “The Seasons.” A weather-like primal force runs throughout his ballets, which demand that dancers move with urgency and purpose. Ratmansky’s best dances are like expressions of nature: both raw and refined, told through dynamic, articulate bodies.

Certainly, “The Seasons,” which had its premiere on Monday at Ballet Theater’s spring gala, is a dance born from joy. Ratmansky — celebrating his 10th year as artist in residence with the company — created it, a program note stated, as “a declaration of love, expression of gratitude and gift to the company.”

The work overflows with steps, which is usually not a point of complaint. But while many moments retain a sleek effervescence, like the brisk, nimble opening “Winter” movement, others are overstuffed. Dancers can’t keep up with the music or, when necessary, hold onto unison; it gets choppy.

A messy storm of a dance can be appealing — Ratmansky’s ballet is full of risks — but visual details, from the confused palette and fabrics of Robert Perdziola’s costumes to Mark Stanley’s dull lighting, are off. In this ballet, where so much happens at once, there are patches of airlessness and a sense that Ratmansky is on a mission to not allow one note to escape his choreographic grasp.

ADVERTISEMENT

On Monday, the premiere was paired with Ratmansky’s “Serenade After Plato’s Symposium” (2016), a ballet that, for me, has become mired in mannerism; dancers sweep across the stage with more furrowed eyebrows than abandon. In a subsequent program, “The Seasons” is being paired with two other Ratmansky works; unfortunately, it runs only through Thursday. The dancers need more stage time for this ambitious, intricate, large-scale ballet, in which Ratmansky is honoring classicism as well as the 19th-century choreographer Marius Petipa.

Glazunov composed the score for Petipa, who has inspired Ratmansky deeply; in recent years, he has used archival materials to restage many of Petipa’s works. For “The Seasons,” no choreographic notations exist, but Ratmansky has used Petipa’s scenario to create his own rendering. At the ballet’s premiere, in 1900, the great Anna Pavlova played Frost in the “Winter” section; here, it is the sleek Katherine Williams, a Ballet Theater soloist who is finally getting her due.

In the commanding role of Winter is an impressive Aran Bell, radiating composure and elegance. Along with Williams, who takes a running leap and lands on his bent thigh, he pairs up with Hee Seo (Ice), Catherine Hurlin (Hail) and Luciana Paris (Snow). They are a mesmerizing group, employing razor-sharp footwork that gives the appearance — especially in Ms. Hurlin’s crystalline form as she soars across the stage in fleet-footed turns — of gliding across ice.

Two gnomes chase off winter by waving flame-colored fabric — they’re funny — paving the way for “Spring,” in which James Whiteside (Zephyr) partners Sarah Lane (The Rose) and Skylar Brandt (The Swallow). There’s little ease as Whiteside boomerangs from one to the other, but in “Summer,” the welcome appearance of Isabella Boylston (The Spirit of the Corn) has a calming effect as she extends her lithe legs and feet with a nonchalant, gracious air. She is all warmth.

All the while, Cornflowers and Water Men frolic with Poppies — girls, around the ages of 12 to 14, from Ballet Theater’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. The adults partner the girls in lifts and supported pirouettes: one generation helping the next.

ADVERTISEMENT

After a Faun (Blaine Hoven) and two Satyrs (Tyler Maloney and Arron Scott) tear across the stage — they’re after Boylston — Whiteside returns to rescue her. In “Autumn,” led by the excellent Cassandra Trenary as Bacchante and Calvin Royal III as Bacchus, the dancing has an invincible beat: It’s like watching runners sprint though a marathon.

Lane, the Rose, returns with six partners and strikes an attitude balance with one leg bent behind her. With a sped-up, almost deranged intensity, they move her arms in homage to the Rose Adagio from “The Sleeping Beauty.” They nearly knock her over in the process, but she hangs on, as does Trenary when she punctuates her pirouettes with small, floor-skimming hops.

Ratmansky’s details are wild. Dancers have little room to hide in “The Seasons” and perhaps the ballet’s tornado ferocity is part of the point: Like the weather, it’s out of their control.

In a film screened at the gala about Ratmansky’s tenure, he noted, of the company’s dancers, “I hope that I helped some of them to find their voice.” “The Seasons” is a means for them to keep searching for their voices — and he’s not just referring to the principal dancers. Ratmansky’s deft, intriguing arrangements for the corps de ballet have an air of Busby Berkeley as he brings every last bit of the stage to life.

It was only natural that it rained during the curtain calls: with confetti.

ADVERTISEMENT

American Ballet Theater “The Seasons” can be seen through Thursday, and the spring season continues through July 6 at the Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center; abt.org.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh

ADVERTISEMENT