Melody for Melissa

By John T. Elson

"For Milly, I decided to make a fuss," said Choreographer George Balanchine. "Milly" is Melissa Hayden, 50, retiring after 22 years as a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet.

The fuss that "Mr. B." had in mind was a new ballet for Melissa -- and it was a triumph. Cortege Hongrois (roughly, "Hungarian Procession"), which was given its world premiere by the City Ballet last week, is one of the most eye-dazzling Balanchine works in years.

Based on Glazunov's melodious score for Raymonda, Cortege is an elegant, plotless exercise in classic Marinsky style that would have delighted an audience of imperial grand dukes. One corps was dressed in shimmering white tights, tunics and tutus; another corps was costumed and booted in a fairy-tale fantasy of Hungarian peasant dress.

The two units alternated onstage. For the first group, Balanchine designed yet another of his endlessly inventive Petipa-styled variations. The other corps, as mock Magyars, stomped and whirled through a rousing czardas that looked as if it might have been borrowed from Russia's bouncy, folkish Moiseyev dancers. Hayden, naturally, was given a brace of queenly solo turns and a pas de deux with Favorite Partner Jacques d'Amboise calculated to accent her un obtrusively cool, legato manner.

Cortege is undeniably a period piece, as relevant as the Romanovs.

Nonetheless, it deserves to remain in the company's repertory -- not just as a me morial to a durable star but as a striking example of Balanchine's inexhaustible gift for making a classical art form seem ever new.

John T. Elson

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