Dashing dancing Tulsa Ballet’s season-opening production “Don Quixote” is powerful and entertaining.
by James D. Watts Jr.
Tulsa Ballet made "Don Quixote" look easy.
Of course, that is one of the fundamentals of the art of ballet -- to make movement that is fiendishly difficult to execute seem as natural and effortless as breathing.
But to make "Don Quixote" appear that way is doubly difficult, because this ballet adaptation of an episode from Miguel de Cervantes' picaresque novel requires so many different skills of the company that performs it. The choreography has all the rigors of classical ballet -- the formality of line and the precise of movement -- but also must evoke a human spontaneity, a sense of loose abandon of real people dancing for the sheer fun of it. And a lot of it is supposed to be funny.
Tulsa Ballet did all these things in its season-opening production of "Don Quixote," presented recently at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. And the company did so in two very different ways.
We attended the performances, and while the overall quality of the company was consistently excellent, the tone of each evening was completely different.
Opening night's performance had a febrile energy to it, an electricity and excitement that made the action on stage exhilarating -- and almost exhausting -- to watch. One thought that if you could somehow harness that power and plug things into it, you could power this city for a month.
The following performance, however, the atmosphere was quite different -- still confident and assured, but more relaxed, even serene.
It's tempting to chalk up these differences simply to the personalities of the lead dancers playing the story's young lovers, Basilio and Kitri, each evening. The first night featured Tulsa Ballet principal dancers Alfonso Martin and Karina Gonzalez, both of whom have commanding stage presence and a volatile way of moving. Martin dances with explosive power, and is willing to take risks with practically every step he makes -- holding a leap a second longer, adding an extra twist to a turn. Gonzalez has a crisp, sharply defined attack and whip-like quickness that brings a bit of drama to each move.
Guest artist Michele Wiles, a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre in New York City, was partnered with Tulsa Ballet principal Wang Yi in the next performance. Wiles is a tall, long-limbed dancer, and her way of moving is wonderfully languid and flowing, controlled yet expressive. She also is a superb classical technician, as evidenced by the easy grace she brought to Kitri's solo in the second act, filled with challenging pointe and balance work. Wiles also had an excellent partner in Wang, who is one of the company's strongest classical dancers, whose dancing is smooth and lyrical.
It made for two unique but equally enjoyable performances -- not a matter of one being "better" than the other, but to remind you that every live performance is a once-in-a-lifetime event.
As for all the other dancers working around the two leads, there wasn't a weak performance in the bunch.
Ma Cong and Alexandra Bergman excelled as the matador Espada and the street dancer Mercedes, respectively. Hanae Seki made an ethereal impression as the spritely Amour, Mugen Kazama danced an energetic solo as the Gypsy Man, and Ricardo Graziano and Ke Da took turns as the hyper-prissy fop Gamache, a source of much of the evening's comedy.
The ensemble scenes -- from the peasant gatherings in the first act through the pastoral fantasy of Act Two, to the hand-clapping, heel-stomping intro to Act Three -- were all excellently staged and performed with drill-like precision. This is a dance company that practically moves as one. Even the dozen or so youngsters in the cast, playing urchins, Cupids and puppets, fit perfectly into their scenes.
The Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Tulsa Ballet music director Nathan Fifield, made Ludwig Minkus' score sound full and rich and spirited, with excellent playing from the brass section and harpist Tabitha Reist Steiner. Some of the tempos on the first night seemed a bit rushed, although not to the point that the dancers struggled to keep up. That was not the case the following evening-- maybe another example of the more relaxed tone of the evening.
The lush costumes and sets -- complete with working windmill to give Sarkis Kaltakchian as Don Quixote something at which to tilt -- came from Houston Ballet, and were lit by Julie Duro.
