Dance Review by Anna Kisselgoff

BALLET BITES, TO THE TUNE OF A BENEFIT

...The program... did not do justice to Ballet Theater’s usual standards. Even this kind of laundry-list evening has been better chosen in the past. All excerpts do not work all the time, especially if certain dancers need to work up psychologically into roles that are seen out of context.

The idea may be to get as many dancers on stage as possible, but with the Inevitable spread among the principals, not everyone is seen in his or her best role. Some socks will have to be pulled up soon; garters may even be in order...

...For show stoppers there was first Nina Ananiashvili offering her version of "The Dying Swan" with liquid arms and a new spasmatic ending. Her feathered creature arched back on the floor and lurched forward. Then there was the "Don Quixote" pas de deux with Angel Corella, inserting an unexpected split leap, and Paloma Herrera exciting in their very immaturity. Ashley Tuttle and four men, not the usual two, led the finale of Harald Lander’s "Etudes"...