ABT'S THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, MET OPERA HOUSE, NYC, MAY 30, 1998

Music by Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky

Libretto by Petipa amd I. A. Vsevolozhsky after stories by Charles Perrault et al.

Scenery and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis, lighting by Thomas Skelton

ABT's Sleeping Beauty performances keep improving, although the stage décor remains one of the least satisfactory in the repertory. A few nondescript columns and wispy swags of drapery do not really do justice to the noble sweep of this wonderful ballet.(And while we’re at it, excessive sequins do not spell elegance in my vocabulary.) The dancing of the company as a whole does compensate greatly. Irina Kolpakova's coaching hand is everywhere apparent--but especially in the characterful fairy variations, which are now danced with finesse and confidence by the company's soloists and principals. "The Friends" attended the evening performance of May 30--Nina's sole outing this season as Aurora. She was partnered by Julio Bocca as Prince Desiré. Julie Kent (Lilac Fairy) danced with primly, lacking the requisite projection of authority. Victor Barbee (Carabosse) was deliciously wicked. Outstanding as the Fairy of Happiness (plus later, Diamond) was Yan Chen, whose lightness and precise timing was a delight. But of course, it was Nina's Princess Aurora that kept the audience breathless throughout the evening. "The Friends" were present at her only performance of this ballet for ABT last season, and at that time, we thought we had seen perfection. Yet, wonder of wonders, this year's performance was better still.

As usual, Nina lighted up the stage on her entrance, her buoyant steps reflecting the freshness of a young princess at her coming-out party. In the famous Rose Adagio she greeted each of her suitors graciously, as they presented her with their floral greetings. Nina's balances have always been astoundingly secure. Yet it's interesting to note how this artist can inflect steps and poses with different meanings, depending on context. Nina's Don Quixote balances, for example, are extravagantly heroic in stance. In Sleeping Beauty's Rose Adagio, however -- when she held one balance for a few measures longer than the others near the end--she made it seem part of a young girl's exuberance. Still, the audience gasped, then exploded in "bravas!"

Nina embodied a dream in the Vision Scene, dancing with fluidity and lightness, yet here, and indeed throughout the ballet, executing each step with exquisite nobility and clarity. In the third act, the Bluebird divertissement was performed by Ethan Stiefel and Martha Butler. Stiefel impressed the audience with his entrechats and brises, though to our eyes he needed more definition and conviction. Butler on the other hand seems to grow stronger with each performance; her Princess Florine has a promising legato line and secure turns. In the grand pas de deux in the Wedding Scene, Nina eschewed the series of pirouettes-into-fish dives made memorable by Margot Fonteyn (though not part of the original Petipa choreography) and opted instead to turn into "swoons" into Prince Desiré's arms. The radiant couple did end in an exuberant, no-hands fish dive pose at the end of their duet. Bocca, always an ideal partner, was in fine form--executing his airborne turns with his usual panache. Nina gave a lesson in effortless grace and precision in her seamlessly executed variation. Charles Barker surely made Tchaikovsky happy with his incisive conducting, which helped complete a totally exhilarating evening.