Rediscovered Promise

After nearly 30 years of artistic doubt and indecision, the American Ballet Theater seems to have rediscovered it self. Currently appearing at Lincoln Center's Metropolitan Opera House, Ballet Theater offers a program of carefully reconstructed classics with a sprinkling of modern works.

That, in effect, was the goal set for the company in 1940 by its founder, Architect Richard Pleasant. Since then, however, Ballet Theater has all too frequently strayed off on a series of unrewarding paths. After Pleasant entered the U.S. Army during World War II, the company came under the direction of Impresario Sol Hurok, who attempted to re-create it as a new "Ballet Russe," with an endless parade of show boating guest stars. In the mid-'50s, Ballet Theater embarked on a dreary succession of new dances, most of which were forgotten when the curtain came down. In addition to continual confusion over artistic direction, Ballet Theater suffered from crippling financial difficulties. The company has never had a permanent home.

Enhancing the Text. Three years ago, Ballet Theater's directors decided to go back to its original goals. Two of the company's finest productions have been restaged by Britain's David Blair, a one time principal dancer with the Royal Ballet, who brings to the classics an eye for dramatic consistency. "I don't think that it's very interesting or logical to have half a dozen people all standing around doing the same thing when they are supposedly individuals," he says. "We keep the choreography as it has come down to us, but we change the staging to set it off properly. It's like directing a play: you keep the text but find new ways to enhance it."

Blair's blend of precision and poetry is clearly apparent in his restaging of Giselle, the tragedy of a lovelorn Rhineland village maiden betrayed by a slumming nobleman. In other versions, Giselle frequently seemed to be a compendium of everything that is unreal and artificial about the art. As danced by Ballet Theater, this 19th century classic had a touch more of naturalism than never-never; the lead roles were performed with relaxed grace by Carla Fracci, on loan from the La Scala Opera Ballet, and Denmark's Erik Bruhn, still the supreme stylist among the world's male dancers.

Equally impressive was Blair's Swan Lake, which had its Ballet Theater premiere in 1967. After a year of living with the production, the company is able to bring to a performance some thing far more rare than mechanical perfection: aristocratic authority. And Ballet Theater fortunately possesses at least one ballerina with the promise of becoming an outstanding swan queen: 21-year-old Cynthia Gregory.

Reflex Imitation. A new-old ballet, Pulcinella Variations, by Michael Smuin, is an energetic gambol inspired by Stravinsky's 1920 orchestration of themes by the 18th century Italian master Pergolesi. The drive of the Stravinsky score was matched only on occasion by the choreography. Smuin caught the spirit of parody in the music with a few hilarious images--one episode displayed a reclining girl being propelled across stage on an undulating carpet of men. All too often, however, the dancing appeared to be an imitation of Balanchine in his spikier moments. The company's choreography was better represented by revivals of Anthony Tudor's Pillar of Fire, Eliot Feld's saucy Harbinger and Harald Lander's athletically precise Etudes.

By 1970, the American Ballet Theater hopes to be installed as the resident company of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. But, warns Co-Director Lucia Chase, "we still have to get across 1969 to 1970"--meaning that the company's financial future is still precarious. There is no question that Ballet Theater deserves to survive. While the company lacks the top layer of superstars that the New York City Ballet has in profusion, or the meshed precision of the Harkness Ballet Corps, it has an outstanding group of middle-rank dancers who are just beginning to display their potential for solo roles. By returning to its original ambitions, American Ballet Theater may be on the verge of becoming what it has always wanted to be: one of the world's great dance companies.

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