BALLET CHICAGO
Three years ago, when Duell assumed the artistic leadership of Chicago City Ballet, he found he’d stepped into a hornet’s nest. Bitter arguments over the company’s direction had forced the departure of founder Maria Tallchief and a number of board members and dancers and the loss of studio space and financial backing.
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But Duell, a former principal dancer with New York City Ballet, hadn’t moved here to preside over a funeral. He simply rolled up his sleeves and got to work. He engaged and assiduously trained a new young corps, and he started to build a repertory. He naturally drew on the works of his mentor, the late George Balanchine, but he also generously opened the door to new choreographic talent. Money began to trickle in as a mark of confidence in the young troupe, and as the eclectic Opera House program and performances proved, that confidence was not misplaced. Allegro Brillante, one of Balanchine’s trickiest neoclassic pieces, to Tchaikovsky’s Third Piano Concerto, was the sprightly, pretty curtain raiser. Four couples led by a fifth (Sherry Moray and David Newson) showed off their freshly honed technical sharpness and clarity–in body line, toe work, and arms–and their musical security in the lightness of their attack. Newson, new to BC, is an attractive, buoyant dancer and a sympathetic, supportive partner with a clean, precise technique and good elevation. Moray’s performance was the pleasantest surprise. One of the few CCB dancers who stayed on, she has finally overcome the diffidence with which she used to carry her head and shoulders, and projects a more assured and aesthetically pleasing persona. Andrea Swan was the brilliant piano soloist; the BC orchestra was conducted by George Daugherty.
Lisa de Ribere’s Orchesographie, performed to Peter Warlock’s music arranged for brass qunintet, was danced by Bennett, Newson, Sanchez, Mark Ward, and Jeffrey Wong in black tie. An amusing piece with a somewhat avant-garde dance design, Orchesographie gave the quintet a fine opportunity to show off their accomplished leaps and keen sense of timing.
