Performance
Up Against the Barre
The Houston Ballet at six years of age has all the ingredients: two directors, solid dancers and a growing audience--but they're still looking for an image.
(Page 2 of 2)
Houston Ballet has reaped the rewards of decentralizing dance. Each year it auditions and hires better dancers, though Miss Popova lamented, "We never get first choice." Male dancers, especially, are hard to come by: "They give them all those magnets in New York- money, scholarships. It's like fighting General Motors. They have the cream, the absolute cream." Despite the "magic pull of New York," Popova has managed to hire, among her more notable dancers:
James DeBolt—Boasting, perhaps, the most impressive credentials in the company, DeBolt danced with Joffrey Ballet and New York City Ballet before problem knees slowed his career. Still young, DeBolt has provided romantic partnering as principal dancer with Houston Ballet. His forte, rather than fireworks, is "placement"—the correct execution of classical ballet technique. Though he is hampered by a slightly forward head, he is the kind of dancer who is satisfying, even when he's simply standing in place. Unfortunately DeBolt is leaving the company to accept a position in San Antonio.
Barbara Pontecorvo—Clearly the rising star of the company, Pontecorvo is a soloist but will be elevated to principal dancer in 1974-5. Physically strong and constantly fighting a weight problem, she electrifies audiences with her breathtaking balance and spinning fouettes. Easily the most communicative of Houston Ballet's dancers, she makes up in dynamism what she lacks in refinement.
Soili Arvola and Leo Ahonen—Husband and wife, these Finnish principals came to Houston from San Francisco Ballet. Bravura dancers with a Bolshoi flavor, Arvola and Ahonen generally appear in pas de deux rather than being integrated into full-company works. Ahonen's elfin appeal and featherweight lightness balance Arvola's brittle quality, sheer strength, and technical prowess.
Lisa Chalmers—Baby ballerina of the company, 15-year-old Chalmers graduated from the company school into the corps de ballet. Her dancing lacks attack, but her willowy line and elongated arms display the most promise in the company.
Leslie Peck and Jerry Schwender—Another married couple, Peck and Schwender are the meat and potatoes of the company. Consistent, solid dancers, they excel in William Dollar's "Le Combat."
Shirley McMillan—The only dancer remaining from the original 1968 company, McMillan is a deceptively fragile, lyrical principal dancer.
Other dancers in Houston Ballet range from the disciplined Mary Margaret Holt and the womanly Denise Smokowski, both soloists, to corps members such as Nancy Onizuka, a rather wooden dancer frequently seen in solo roles, and two underused but promising males, Juliu Horvath and Whit Haworth.
Popova's use of her dancers can be imaginative. James DeBolt was well cast as the Spanish suitor in "Paquita," bringing just enough restraint to a schmaltzy role. Mary Margaret Holt and Denise Smokowski blended beautifully in the same ballet (while the other solo couple, Nancy Onizuka and Lisa Chalmers, looked a little like Mutt and Jeff). A dancer like Shirley McMillan seemed typecast in saccharine, frilly roles, but her finest moment came in "Concerto Barocco," where she was challenged by Balanchine's lean, curt movement.
Oddly, principals Leo Ahonen and Soili Arvola seemed detached from the remainder of the dancers, rarely appearing in full-company works such as "Napoli." Ahonen, however, feels that "This is Miss Popova's genius. Other dancers can do those big ballets, but grand pas de deux, only few people can do those."
Dancers, obviously, are only as good as their choreography, and Houston Ballet's repertoire is a mixed bag of almost 25 works, including:
"Concerto Barocco"—George Balanchine's classical ballet set to Bach's "Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins." "Barocco" moves in little eddies and flows, an alert exercise in baroque embellishment. Balanchine mirrors, shadows, and fences with the Bach, rather than merely matching musical configuration with movement. As Popova said of this work, "Not doing Balanchine is like an actor not doing Shakespeare. This is the literature of our day."
"La Favorita"—Call this the literature of yesterday. Principal dancer Soili Arvola choreographed this pas de deux for herself and Leo Ahonen. Replete with gratuitous climaxes minus an interconnecting tissue of movement, "Favorita" is one of the weakest works in the repertoire. A typical moment occurs when Arvola begins a solo variation with a staccato backbend. Miss Popova reportedly never saw the complete work until performance and admits, "It's not my favorite."
"Suspension"—A cerebral modern dance work by May O'Donnell (member of an early Martha Graham troupe), "Suspension" approximates the movements of a giant mobile which provides the stage's only scenery. A fascinating study in the peripheries of balance. Even though members of Houston Ballet are working in a foreign vocabulary, "Suspension" is one of their finest efforts as they slowly muster the sustained tension necessary to the work.
The remaining works in the repertoire are predominantly classical ballet but include contemporary or "young" works, such as James Clouser's "Through a Glass Lightly," and modern works by such choreographers as Anna Sokolow.
One of the major difficulties concerning any repertoire is "programming," the selection and arrangement of works for a balanced evening. Here, too, Popova has her problems. In November she programmed an entire three-day repertory schedule which included only four of the company's male dancers.
In another series she mixed two William Dollar works on a four-ballet program. Dollar is an acquired taste, not the kind of choreographer one swallows easily. He creates ballets with a heavy hand. Though his forte is drama, he has choreographed lyrical works which are lush, but uncertain. Houston Ballet in October performed his best-known work, "Le Combat," back-to-back with his earlier "Constantia." While "Combat" is the hard-edged and stylized drama of a Christian warrior and a pagan girl, "Constantia" seems to be Dollar's attempt to reconcile lyric with dramatic ballet. Together, they seemed too many Dollars for the money.
These problems in programming, use of dancers, and artistic direction ultimately suggest at least one common source: indecision as to which audience Houston Ballet must reach. Though the ballet's 1973-4 advertising campaign seemed aimed at roller derby fans, its programming included highly cerebral works. While the company campaigned for the kind of audience usually found in the Astrodome or Houston's Music Hall, the ballet's board of directors insisted upon remaining in the fashionable and ornate Jones Hall.
"I've always wanted to play the Music Hall," Miss Popova said wistfully. "Unless your hair is teased up to here and you have a new gown, you can't go to Jones Hall. If you happen to be walking on the street in an old raincoat and want to go see a ballet, you should be able to go. But in this country you go to a ballet primarily to be seen, not to see."
Caught in the middle, Popova continues to walk a tightrope, offering a "La Favorita" for those who demand circus, a "Suspension" for more esoteric taste. She caters equally to the likes of Miss Ima Hogg, who appears at intermissions resplendent in cape and cane, and to the Sharpstown matron who consoles her spouse, "Now you can't complain, that last one had plenty of action."
That's where Houston Ballet is in 1973-4, trying the Big Sell without being sure of what it's selling.
Pages: 1 2
My Library
