The artists of the Boston Ballet opened their Winter Experience Thursday night, delivering a bill of four strong performances that combined elements of neoclassical American ballet and modern performance.
For admirers of late New York City Ballet director and choreographer George Balanchine, Boston Ballet opened the show with Balanchine’s “Mozartiana,” set to music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and led with delicate strength by principal dancer Ji Young Chae.
The corps ensemble — comprised of Sarah Gansner, Caroline Oreskovic, Chrystal Zhou and Nia Whittaker, students of the Boston Ballet School, and company dancers Alexandria Heath, Lauren Herfindahl, Sage Humphries and Haley Schwan — was an exciting opportunity for young dancers to take the stage outside of their usual castings.
Chae was accompanied by fellow principal dancer and frequent partner Jeffrey Cirio throughout the piece, well-matched in skill and style. They shined equally in their solos and pas de deux. With energetic interludes from artist Gearóid Solan, Mozartiana was a substantial opener, though not the most exciting piece of the night.
Claudia Schreier’s “Slipstream” and a lighthearted male solo, Leonid Yakobson’s “Vestris,” the two pieces provided a varied and surprisingly fresh interlude to the Balanchine works.
Slipstream premiered in 2022 at the Boston Ballet, so it should be no surprise that principal dancers Chae, Lasha Khozashvili, Chrystyn Mariah Fentroy and Patrick Yocum delivered intense, strong performances. The corps ensemble brought the title of the piece to life, with fluid movement and unique shapes and lines.
While in “Slipstream,” there was the occasional feeling that the horns were being swept away by the flurry of sound and movement, the lead pairing in this piece, Fentroy and Yocum, grounded the performance in their movement. They showed no hesitation throughout the numerous lifts and constantly shifting compositions of the ensemble surrounding them, creating an unending stream.
The ensemble-heavy “Slipstream” was immediately followed by “Vestris,” a male solo first choreographed for Russian superstar Mikhail Baryshnikov which premiered in 1969. The seven-minute piece requires confidence, comedic timing and technical prowess.
Principal dancer Derek Dunn, dolled up in a powdered wig and heavy, exaggerated makeup, delivered on all counts.
It seemed he had the audience laughing and applauding at every moment he chose, while remaining steady in his turns, leaps and characterizations.
“Slipstream” and “Vestris” – both incredibly different pieces – had audience members jumping out of their seats to give standing ovations and raucous applause as if they were witnessing a finale at the midway point of the bill.
Despite a particularly unignorable sour note in a brass-dominated section, the company put a flourish on their stellar performances with another Balanchine master work, “Symphony in Three Movements.” The piece is striking in its costuming and movement, with the women in monochromatic leotards and men in white shirts and black tights.
The group choreography and music evoked a similar feeling to that of “West Side Story” with the corps de ballet’s synchronized sequences accompanied by a brassy, bouncy score by Igor Stravinsky. “Symphony” is quintessential Balanchine, with sharp lines, quick movements and seemingly simple yet complex dramatic sequences.
Three pairs led the piece: Lia Cirio and Paul Craig, Chisako Oga and Dunn and Schwan and Sangmin Lee. Cirio and Craig, frequent partners on-stage and real-life partners off, gave standout performances together. Their trust and connection was evident through each moment.
The Balanchine works are an obvious draw to Boston Ballet’s Winter Experience, but the contemporary play on a classic ballet, emphasized by pieces like “Slipstream” and “Vestris”, make the quadruple bill a performance worth catching.
