March 10. 1969
N. C. Essay
Page 3
ABT PRESENTS PULCINELLA,GISELLE
Though the snow was great in
Winston-Salem last weekend and many
events were canceled, American Bal
let Theatre was able to perform at
Reynolds Auditorium. Dancing to on
ly three hundred people, the company
presented "Pulcinella Variations"
choreographed by Michael Smuin and
"Giselle” staged for ABT by David
Blair.
"Pulcinella Variations" opened
the program with six variations.
Each was cleverly done with a unique
style that interested many. Some
variations had a humorous tone to
them with abstract lines and posi
tions. The principles were very en
tertaining, especially Georgina Vi
dal or as everyone at NCSA knows her
Gina Pandi. She made a special ap
pearance with her former company by
dancing "Serenta". It was a vari
ation with six boys; laughter filled
the auditorium. Everyone was thril
led to see such a beautiful dancer
which they knew. The costumes were
pink and white with the principles
in white and the corps in white.
"The white on the corps was very
unflattering as a few extra pounds
appeared here and there."
After a brief intermission, ABT
presented "Giselle" with Eleanor
D'Antuono as Giselle and Ivan Nagy
making his debut as Count Albrecht.
They danced nicely together in sev
eral pas de deuxs throughout "Gi
selle." "Each had a good technique,
though at times Miss D'Antuono’s
"Mozart Opera"
(aon't from page\1)
vanni." The opera was performed for
the first time on Jan. 26, 1790 at
the Burgtheater in Vienna. The
first New York performance did not
take place until 1922.
According to a writer in a Ber
lin musical periodical in 1805, "The
theme of the opera is a sa-tire on
the highly praised fidelity of the
female sex and an innocent playing
with the sanctity of love."
Nathan Broder, in an introduc
tion to the score says,"....Mozart
lavished on this work some of his
most delightful music, his most ex
quisite craftsmanship the en
sembles are wonderfully varied in
style and construction. The orches
tration is Mozart at his most spark
ling - in other words, the finest to
be found in 18th-century music."
The plot hinges on a wager
which is made by Don Alfonso, the
cynical philosopher, who tells his
young friends Ferrando and Guglielmo
that no women can be trusted, inclu
ding their fiancees. He offers to
prove it within 24 hours if they
will follow his instructions unques-
tioningly.
The opera will be sung in En
glish.
BY SANDRA WILLIAMS
feet were distracting." Her polish
ed style as well as acting ability,
were extraordinary. The ethereal
quality that she conveyed when she
danced the second act as a Wili
showed her versatility as a dancer,
for in the first act she portrayed a
young peasant dancer with the light
ness but attack in her dancing. I-
van Nagy was a wonderful Albrecht;
he was attractive, and his dancing
was flawless. His beats and tours
were beautiful, and he always had an
awareness for his partner. They
both danced very warmly toward each
other.
Also to be noted was the pas de
deux done by Susan Casey and Ted Ki-
vitt. The dancers were good, but
many wished that Miss Casey might
have used more energy in her danc
ing. This may be controversial in
that the style of the period when
"Mother Courage"
(can from page 2)
ing), winks, makes tsk-tsk sounds,
etc. Wood overdoes himself techni
cally, and ultimately undoes the au
thor, because his technique serves
nobody but David Wood.
On the plus side of the acting,
there are competent performances
given by Chris Coan, Gary Enck, Ro
ger Griffin, Jean Kuclar, Randall
Rickman and the afore-mentioned
David Sutor. Rae Randall gives a
memorable singing performance that
succeeds because of its sheer hones
ty. It must be noted that these
people stand out because they do not
try to. They serve their functions
as interpreters of the playwright's
words by committing themselves to
the moment at hand. Gordon Minard,
as Eilif, is strong and immediate in
his attack and provides the produc
tion with an intelligent actor.
The triumph of the evening is
Kattrin, portrayed by Cynthia Dar-
low. Although the progression of
Miss Darlow's character is not as
clearly defined as it should be (we
do not see the building of Kattrin*s
disgust with war - Miss Darlow's
fault; Scene Five is useless in this
production because no focus has been
put on Kattrin's womanly development
...Zuckerman's fault), the end re
sult is an evocative, touching per
formance by the best student in the
company. The girl has such an enor
mous range of truthful and playable
emotions that she dwarfs the . ama
teurish efforts of most of the cast.
In a school such as ours, one
expects the feeling of ensemble from
the company because of the contact
made between the students throughout
the school years. Instead, in this
production we see attempts at star-
turns. Irene Dailey, playing Mother
"Giselle" was choreographed (1841)
is different from that of today, and
perhaps Miss Casey was portraying
the way it would have been done a
century ago.
Some of the dancers on stage
may have looked familiar, for, in
fact, Anne Patton, Susan Moore, Bud
dy Smith, and Nolan T'Sani were in
the performance Sunday. Small world
isn't it?
JJTT^ TO IHE JDITOR,
STfimBL€fi'S
flTTflCK€D
A minor portion of this week's
Essay, which is perhaps always a
somewhat better-founded hebdomadal
newspaper than we would often like
to imagine, has been reserved for
some large-scale animadversion con
cerning that which was said by Stam-
bler in his pervicacious article
last week. That which Stambler has
said has admittedly a great deal of
partial truth to it. That is to
say, he makes a few good stabs here
and there, but resulting from his
profound sociolism, he falls shortof
permeating the substance of the
issue.
First of all, it seems that
Stambler has contrived to clumsily
misconstrue Miss Rosania’s letter.
That is to say, despite the fact
that he was able to extract from it
the basic topic of discussion,
namely, servitude, he attributed
this attitude to the incorrect pro
venance. This is not to say that
the students see themselves as sub
servient; it is to say that the stu
dents are aware that the kakistocra-
(con't on page 4)
Courage, tries no such thing. At
first, we see her as an ice-berg,
nine-tenths of which is covered, but
still possessing enormous natural
power. But Miss Dailey, does not
fulfill this initial image. She on
ly succeeds partially because often
when she plays understatement, there
actually is no statement at all, as
seen in her monologue about the Em
peror and the Pope. Obviously, Miss
Dailey trusts in the play completely
but only occasionally does she act
the written yet unsaid tensions that
are created by the myriad aspects of
the character dealing with themsel
ves .
She succeeds in this respect
when she is slapping Kattrin because
the mute cannot explain Swiss
Cheese's capture intelligibly. As
(oon't on page 4)