ABT in Berkeley - Program 1

[ggobob]

Apologies - As I can't find my program this morning, my report is based on memory - always treacherous.

In the 70s and 80s, ABT was an annual visitor to the San Franciso Operne a House. Now and then it would do short run out seasons across the Bay in Berkeley. Now for whatever reason, the Opera House is not a home to anyone not in its family (SF Opera and SF Ballet)...and Berkeley welcomes ABT only now and then.

I have mused that ABT in Berkeley is under a negative spell. Last visit was the week after 9/11 when no one was going out to see anything. This year they are enjoying a run that includes the town closing down for the UC-USC football match. (Rush tickets should be easy to come by on Saturday - assuming one can get into Berkeley for the traffic).

All that said, the house was good in number and great in appreciation as David Hallberg and Gillian Murphy made Ballo look easy and Misty Copeland won all hearts.

Originally, Clear had been scheduled to be part of the program, but somewhere for some reason (maybe the tattoos) it disappeared to be replaced with two gala pieces, Beauty's Rose adagio and Le Corsaire. Since all the advertising has laser focused on Herman Cornejo...this made the house happy.

I am going to give a pass on commenting on the Rose adagio...other than to say that it looked out of place, Paloma Herrera started off seeming jittery but improved. The house being primed, Cornejo and Reyes could do no wrong. (Was this only his second performance of the role? - that's what someone said at the intermission.) Looked like he had been building up some barrell turns and special jumps just for the night. Xomara Reyes was for me the better of the two...if only because many in the audience seemed to be surprised that there was someone else on the stage besides Cornejo...and she was spot on.

Evening ended with Fancy Free (Gomes, Radetsky, Salstein, Kent, Abrera)...I've watched this ballet for some four decades - last night it looked fresher than I have ever seen it, there was a sense of joy moving from the music and choreography to the dancesr and through them and their on-stage personalities to the audience. This is what ABT is really good at when it trusts a revival to someone who cares about the ballet.

Many highlights, will only mention one - a salute to the pas de deux with Kent and Radetsky - a mini version of Der Rosenkavalier in a few bars of music.

[Helene]

This year they are enjoying a run that includes the town closing down for the UC-USC football match. (Rush tickets should be easy to come by on Saturday - assuming one can get into Berkeley for the traffic).

BART rules! (I remember getting lost from the station the weekend of a big game, and just following the crowd towards the stadium and then around to Zellerbach.)

Originally, Clear had been scheduled to be part of the program, but somewhere for some reason (maybe the tattoos) it disappeared to be replaced with two gala pieces,

Thank you so much for your review ggobob!

[4mrdncr]

Hey, I'm a USC alum! Though I didn't know what the word football meant until my roommate dragged me to a game sophomore year--and even by senior year all I learned was...It takes 4 tries to go ten yards, then they either fall "down" or "punt".

Besides that, I remember when ABT would come to Shrine across the street from campus, or the Music Center downtown, and I would go student rush every night instead of working on my thesis.

So...you never know, maybe those football fans are also dying to go to the ballet, but peer pressure (or cattle drive crowds?) are forcing them towards the wrong venue?