Ballet Arlington goes for the bold
'Agon' and 'Spartacus' stretch company to new limits
Thursday, April 15, 2004

By MARGARET PUTNAM / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH - Call it the clash of the moderns: Ballet Arlington reeled in two masterpieces close in time and opposite in style Tuesday at Bass Performance Hall.

George Balanchine's Agon (1957) remains intensely modern, while Yuri Grigorovich's Spartacus (1968) seems a relic of Cecil B. DeMille spectacles.

Agon may be just a tiny bit out of Ballet Arlington's reach - this is a Russian-dominated company after all - but the company dispatched the odd angles, off- balances and pulsating rhythms with clarity, if not attack. Credit goes to co-artistic director Paul Mejia, a Balanchine disciple.

Barebones and relentless, stripped of décor, costume and plot, Agon is the ultimate abstract ballet, with a score, by Igor Stravinsky, to match. It is as if Balanchine took classical ballet steps, dismantled them like a watchmaker and put them back together in strange arrangements.

Groups of two, three, four, eight and 12 served as counterweights, rocking back and forth on their heels and pitching dangerously forward. The pas de deux featured an upside-down Olga Pavlova, leg shot up to the ceiling, as Anatoly Emelianov slid under her and supported her with one hand.

Spartacus pulled out all the stops for theatrical boldness. Co-artistic director Alexander Vetrov's truncated version surged and lumbered and surged again, bringing out some truly dramatic dancing. Some ballets throw off bravura steps just for the show of it. Here, leaps and dizzy turns shouted courage.

The Aram Khachaturian music, bombastic at times and lush at others, was perfect movie fare. Mr. Vetrov's sets were simple and bold. The first act featured a raised platform for the Roman commander Crassus and entourage, with flames erupting from suspended bowls. The second act was a grand coliseum. A brooding gray light that turned to blood red bathed the stage with impending disaster, while the gray, silver and bronze outfits contrasted with the red cape Spartacus used like a whip.

Each of the main characters - Spartacus (Mr. Emelianov), Crassus (Mr. Vetrov) and Aegnia (Ms. Pavlova) - came across larger than life, defiant and implacable. But it was Mr. Emelianov who triumphed, with leaps as powerful as a sword and a face of wild determination.

Copyright 2004 The Dallas Morning News