Miami City Ballet
Miami City Ballet inaugurated the Ziff Ballet and Opera Center, in Miami’s new Carnival Performing Arts Center, with a tour de force—the company’s long-awaited première of Don Quixote—on October 5.
MCB Artistic Director Edward Villella once said that the company was not ready to dance the 19th-century classics, apart from Giselle and Coppélia. Now the time has come.
With its Spanish theme, Don Quixote is the perfect ballet for a Miami audience. Cervantes’ novel has been retold in every art form, but the most successful ballet version features choreography by Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky set to music by Léon Minkus. In this story, based on Don Quixote’s adventures at a wedding, Gamache (originally Camacho), the rich landowner who loves Kitri (Quiteria), is rejected because she loves Basilio, a poor peasant, who feigns suicide to attain her. Don Quixote, typically confused at the beginning, mistakes Kitri for his beloved Dulcinea. Later he fights windmills and has fantastic dreams, but he helps the lovers in distress and all ends well.
MCB borrowed scenery and costumes designed by Santo Loquasto from American Ballet Theatre, making for an exquisite and colorful production filled with revelry. The scenes were staged with perfect timing by Villella and Geta Constantinescu.
Mary Carmen Catoya was the perfect choice for Kitri on opening night. Trained in Venezuela, she showed strength, agility, graceful grands jetés and delicate balance while being lifted by her partner, Renato Penteado. He dexterously managed her gliding descent to the floor after lifts, was fast and able in his movements and also funny in his character, but he did not emphasize the role’s Spanish sensuality enough. Catoya, a piquant comedienne, made the most of her fan and tambourine.
Petipa must have known Spain’s regional dances very well because he worked there for several years. The gypsy dances of Act II introduce exotic forms, while the character of Mercedes, performed handsomely by Jennifer Kronenberg, embodies the Andalusian flair typically associated with flamenco. Carlos Guerra, as the bullfighter, Espada, swirled his cape skillfully and engaged her as a partner in love, leaping forward with brio. In response, she ended her sensuous dances with an energetic cambré in front of him.
On opening night, Villella did a graceful turn as Don Quixote with the correct pantomime, though at times he seemed to forget his adopted gait. Luis Serrano, while funny, was a bit too clownish as Gamache. The Delgado sisters, Patricia and Jeannette, made appealing Flower Girls. The company’s first backer, Toby Ansin, posed as a Gypsy and was greeted enthusiastically by audience and dancers alike.
Olga Connor writes about dance for El Nuevo Herald.
