Word: carmens
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...Midsummer Night's Dream." She sparkled as the soloist in "Passage," the world-premiere conclusion to this fall's "Boogie, Brass and Blue." And now, once again, she combines beauty and strength with fiery fervor on the stage of the Wang Center, this time as the lead role in "Carmen...
...Carmen," originally an opera by Georges Bizet, is the name and the story of a seductive young woman in Spain who flirts her way into a violent and ultimately fatal love triangle. At the start of the dance, she seduces a Spanish corporal named Don Jose (Lazlo Berdo), who is in love with a meek girl named Micaela (Larissa Ponomarenko). When Don Jose is jailed for refusing to arrest Carmen, his wild new love captures Escamillo (Gino DiMarco), a proud bullfighter, with her charms. (Music lovers--the "Beef: It's What's for Dinner" theme parades around at this point...
Unfortunately, when Micaela returns to bring her lost love word that he must see his dying mother, Escamillo appears as well and engages in a duel with the furious Don Jose. The fight is broken up by Carmen, who declares that she now loves Escamillo. After returning from seeing his mother, Don Jose begs Carmen to come back to him. She spurns him, and he stabs her to death in a mad rage...
...With echoes of her role as the youthful Princess Aurora in "The Sleeping Beauty," Ponomarenko dances with the broken-hearted delicacy of an innocent girl losing her first love to another woman. Her mournful poignancy pulls at one's heartstrings so much that one cannot be completely sympathetic toward Carmen. On a more upbeat note, however, DiMarco and his fellow toreadors strut their stuff with a confident grace that compliments that of Carmen herself. Berdo, as the torn Don Jose, alternates well between his haughty, machismo corporal side and his madwith-passion lover side. And of course, Suarez...
Deborah Newhall's mystically beautiful costumes help feed the flames of love in "Carmen." The sharp, well-fitting uniforms of the Spanish officers and toreadors compliment the proud, dashing style of the male dancers, while the blazing, feathery gowns of Carmen, the village girls and the gypsies make it appear that the female stars are dancing on air itself. The simple backdrop changes colors according to the lighting, creating the perfect set for "Carmen"--one that lets the audience fully enjoy the desire igniting onstage...