HOUSTON BALLET'S THE SNOW MAIDEN, BROWN THEATER, HOUSTON, MARCH 1998 |
| From: SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, April 12,
1998 Dance Review by Octavio Roca HOUSTON’S WINTER WONDERLANDThe Snow Maiden, Ben Stevenson’s latest creation for both the Houston Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre, is daring in its simplicity. With its utterly innocent atmosphere and lovely pastiche of a score, it may well be the sweetest ballet Tchaikovsky never wrote. The world premiere with the Houston Ballet on March 12 was also a personal triumph for Nina Ananiashvili, the Bolshoi ballerina for whom Stevenson choreographed what is perhaps his most endearing ballet. The tale is strange and lovely, with no bad guys insight and actually little in the way of plot. A wintry fairy, daughter of Father Frost, discovers a pair of humans kissing and begins to wonder what love would be like. Against her father’s warnings, she enters the human realm and falls in love. She has a heart, it turns out, and that heart melts. That the rest of her can melt as well is the tale’s cruel ending: The Snow Maiden discovers love at first sight of Misgir, only to be destroyed in her discovery. Stevenson’s magic is in the details, from the Maiden’s enchanted reindeer to the fairy-tale Russian village seen amid wintry revels in Act 2. The third act is a miracle of invention. The wedding of Misgir and his human fiancee is marked by an exquisite classical grand pas de deux that is at once academic and vibrant, a prime example of Stevenson’s art. Then comes the surprise: The wedding is interrupted by the Snow Maiden’s entrance, and her own duet with the confused object of her affection takes the choreography from the classical realm into the future. Here is unmistakably modern choreography inspired by the most sublime steps of the past. At the world premiere in Houston, Ananiashvili created a picture of innocence that was unforgettable. She recalled the late Galina Ulanova’s Juliet in her earthy directness, only to soar with unsuspected ethereality as the Snow Maiden learned the mysteries of life. That all of this was communicated directly through movement is a tribute to Stevenson’s dramatic prowess. John Lanchberry arranged several Tchaikovsky pieces into one ravishing whole that seemed of a piece with the choreography. The production, all ice palaces and onion-domed churches at twilight, is a glorious valediction by the great Desmond Heeley, who has announced his retirement from stage design after The Snow Maiden. The ballet looked splendid in Houston’s Brown Theater danced by the Houston Ballet. It should be a stunning addition to the ABT repertory in June at the Met.
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