Choreographer Frederick Ashton has created a clean, understated and very English style of classical ballet. His 1983 work “Varii Capricci” was a kind of hostile joke. Set in the Mediterranean Sea, it features a poolside gigolo. It’s a joke within a joke that his ballet in Sarasota stage this work. Because theater companies in the area have earned a national reputation for transplanting Ashton’s repertoire and style to the discordant surroundings of the Florida Gulf Coast.
However, “Varii Capricci” is a strange trifle. Sarasota Ballet wraps up the program this week at the Joyce Theater, capping off a pleasantly breezy, albeit rousing, evening with her two intermissions and world premiere by Jessica Lange.
Lang’s ‘Shades of Spring’ is her first work with the company and is fresh, original and lovely. Video by Roxane Revon Her projection gives the dance a natural backdrop: roots and flowers and their reflections in the water.The choreography addresses themes with images of insect life and daisy chain connections.
Mainly, the dance is elastic and conveys the playful energy of selections from Haydn’s piano trio. There is a section of a man and her three women (a shade of Balanchine’s “Apollo”) and a section where the man shadows a male-female duet. The man then has a tender moment with another man, but these hints of human drama are fleeting. The strength of this piece lies in how it manages to make both veterans like Ricardo Rhodes and impressive newcomers like Arcadian Broad (what a name) look relaxed, modern and enthusiastic.
It’s a shame that this impression contrasted with Ashton’s “Birthday Offering” in the opening. This is a classic showcase set in Glazunov and inspired by “Sleeping Beauty”, in which seven couples’ ritual dances make up the ballerina’s seven solos. A lot of the cast on opening night didn’t live up to its exposed challenges, this lady is inaccurate, that one of hers wanders, the next one of hers on top and she’s OK , her legs are weak.
Exceptions were Marijana Dominis (who was also lovely in “Shades of Spring”) and lead star Macarena Jimenez, who had just joined Sarasota this season. In the climactic pas de deux, with Ricardo Graziano’s gentle but firm support, Jiménez uses her tendril-like arms and firm balance to partially awaken the spirit of Sleeping Beauty. I was.
Such awakenings are very important for a company dedicated to history. In the printed program, the ‘Birthday Offering’ solo is named after the first Royal Ballet Dancer in 1956. Sarasota is led by his former royal dancers Iain Webb and Margaret Barbieri. The promise of such a connection is a legacy, a horse’s mouth authority. The danger is becoming an antique store or an indiscriminate collection of family heirlooms.
The staging of “Varii Capricci,” which the Royal Ballet has never revived, is in the perfectionist, archaic side of Ashton worship. Neither the music (William Walton) nor Wright’s classical choreography are seriously or comically involved with the themes and characters rooted in Ashton’s early work, Facade.
Still, Danielle Brown, the company veteran who ran it on opening night, showed off her elegant shoulders and back, lounging on a chaise longue and melting in chic poses. It looked more Miami Vice than Mediterranean in. The final joke is that the gigolo is more interested in his shades than ballerinas. Sags for not being well-supported elsewhere in the program.A company dedicated to Ashton is never cool. Need to try harder to be classic.
Sarasota Ballet
through Sunday at the Joyce Theater. joyce.org