By Henrietta Macquire

 

 

 

The Montgomery Ballet presented another premiere over the weekend. The program was a study in contrasts, the first part a cool, formal classical series of dances from "Le Corsaire," followed by a hot contemporary ballet reinterpreting parts of the opera "Carmen." And it was this contrast that gave the evening its special emotional jolt.

The classic ballet, "Le Corsaire," based on Marius Petipa's 18th century choreography, has a complicated plot. It involves slave traders, beautiful maidens, pirates, a false wedding, betrayals, shipwrecks and a final happy solution for the lovers. Montgomery's corps de ballet performed with its usual high level of skill, with the 18 members moving with almost clockwork precision throughout the production.

They have reached a point of professionalism surprising in a company of this size. And at the end of the performance, six tiny little dancers, solemn as judges, arranged themselves in a perfect line -- after a few mute directions from their teammates.

In this section of "Le Corsaire," among the several dances, are three separate ones -- the pas de slave danced by Abby Maruna and Ian Morris, the pas de trois with Ginny Smith, Kyana Neller and Alex Giuffre and the grand pas featuring Flavia Garcia, Patrick Willison and Colin Hislop. In the pas de slave, Abby Maruna and Ian Morris execute those lifts with such perfection everyone wondered how they make it look so effortless. She seemed to be sailing above our heads with such elegance and style that the audience was mesmerized.

In the second half of the evening, the choreographer, Elie Lazar, took the familiar story of "Carmen" to new heights of raw emotion. Carmen, the cigarette girl, first loves and then betrays, moves on to love again and betray again strewing death and destruction along the way.

In a series of dances with Ginny Smith, Alex Giuffre, Abby Maruna, Kyana Neller and Anna Curtis, the choreographer has the men and women become entangled in a wild display of contradictory emotions. Love and hate ricochet around the stage as the dancers lust for each other, then hate each other, twine and intertwine, twist and pirouette, then kick and shove, clutch and claw, and finally, it ends with the death of Carmen.

In a community as small as Montgomery, it's almost impossible to find male dancers, but in this ballet company there were four superb performers, Ian Morris, Patrick Willison, Colin Hislop and Chris Ashe. By the time the contemporary ballet was finished, the audience was exhausted from all the white-hot feelings.

The scenery seemed to emphasize the approaching tragedy. Instead of the classic Spanish townsquare with the church and the flower-filled fountain, here were chopped off barracks, grey and black trimmed and slightly threatening. They formed the perfect background as they waited for something ominous to happen, their starkness in cold contrast to the raging emotions of the dancers.

The costumes were captivating. Made of a fabric that looked almost liquid, the brilliant scarlet, gold and orange seemed to flow and swirl around the dancers reflecting the light and emphasizing every movement and gesture. Carmen's dress was a solid flame, while Micaela's was softer and more feminine, reflecting her personality.

In contrast, the men wore dark trousers and different shirts, with delicate black dancers' shoes. Somehow those shoes seemed to emphasize the males' swaggering about the stage, like peacocks preening themselves before bursting into ferocious, mad dancing full of mixed up love and hate.

The music is among opera's most familiar, exuberant and irresistible, driving the action forward. Georges Bizet's sole opera has been among the most frequently performed in all the repertoire, and the audience had an immediate emotional response to it.