Pas de Deux for Drama and Dance, Farrell and Balanchine
By JACK ANDERSON

Four ballets by George Balanchine were offered in loving stagings by one of his greatest ballerinas when the Suzanne Farrell Ballet appeared on Saturday night in Prudential Hall at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center here.

Ms. Farrell, who retired from the New York City Ballet in 1989, taught master classes in Washington in 1993 and 1994, and their success led to the formation of the present company, a project of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The company tours regularly and its carefully chosen repertory has been seen in New York.

The troupe's schedule permits dancers from other troupes to perform with it. In Newark it was a pleasure to see Peter Boal, a principal dancer of the New York City Ballet, in the title role of "Apollo." The pleasure was intensified by the fact that this great work to Stravinsky was shown in its original version of 1928, rather than in the abridged, and less dramatically striking, version Balanchine later created.

Ms. Farrell's production successfully united drama and dance. As Leto, Apollo's mother, Lisa Reneau believably underwent choreographic labor pains in the childbirth episode, and Mr. Boal always made Apollo seem a living being.

His god gazed about with wonder and moved with coltish energy. As the ballet proceeded and he danced with three muses, he gained authority and nobility, yet never lost his youthful freshness. In the final scene, his impetuousness was tempered by a mounting sense of divine mission.

Jennifer Fournier moved lucidly as Terpsichore, muse of rhythm and dance, and invested her pas de deux with Mr. Boal with a limpid lyricism. Portraying Calliope, muse of poetry, and Polyhymnia, muse of mime, Bonnie Pickard and Natalia Magnicaballi wisely realized that their roles had witty gestural details: for instance, Calliope's grimaces suggesting melodramatic declamations and Polyhymnia's attempts to cover her mouth while miming. But these dancers were also wise enough not to overdo the comedy.

The finest ensemble dancing in this evening to recorded accompaniment came in "Divertimento No. 15," set to Mozart. The scrupulously rehearsed dancers, elegantly costumed by Holly Hynes, moved with admirable precision. Yet formal refinement was combined with joy. The Andante flowed serenely and the finale became a carefree gambol.

In the Theme and Variations movement, Runqiao Du was exuberant in the fifth variation, Shannon Parsley darted like a dragonfly through the sixth variation and the entire sequence was aristocratically introduced by Momchil Mladenov and Alexander Ritter, a dancer with the Boston Ballet.

The leading roles in the other two ballets demand unusually strong stage presences. Although Ms. Farrell's dancers did not totally dominate the action, they nevertheless moved vividly.

Ms. Parsley made the abrupt movement changes of "Variations for Orchestra," set to Stravinsky, striking to behold. And the way J. Russell Sandifer's lighting occasionally caused a gigantic shadow on the backdrop to loom over Ms. Parsley added visual excitement to the piece.

The heroine of "Tzigane," set to Ravel, is a tigress of a Gypsy. Although Ms. Magnicaballi's Gypsy was still something of a frisky kitten, her dancing did dramatically suggest that this character had teeth and claws. And as she lured Mr. Mladenov along, she also revealed that she had arms that could twist like serpents and flicker like flames.

Source: NY Times