By Paul Hertelendy 
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music and dance 
                                                                 Week of Feb. 27-March 4, 2011
                                                                  Vol. 13, No. 72
            SAN JOSE---What a perfect time for a near-perfect Black Swan!
            With the current film “Black Swan” garnering various Oscar nominations, there was a very memorable Black Swan live on stage as Ballet San Jose presented four essentially sold-out performances of the classic “Swan Lake.”
            The live one on stage was Alexsandra Meijer, the manipulated temptress with the flashing eyes and enticing flutter, sexy enough to make Prince Siegfried abandon his beloved White Swan and seal one of the great never-land tragedies in all ballet. A  Californian who is also a 10-year veteran of the BSJ, Meijer enkindled this long drama-pageant via her agility, endurance and technique, finishing with the legendary rapid 34 fouttée turns that would leave lesser dancers gasping supine on the floor of the Center for the Performing Arts. She played the enticement game with Siegfried, all while harkening visibly to the sinister magician Rothbart who controlled her every blink.
                This BSJ production is an opulent one, thanks to the sets and costumes by David Guthrie created for the troupe in 1985. The large cast, with corps de ballet of 20, does all the national dances wearing their elaborate headdresses with polish, and the act two (white) swans are immaculate in their unified, mesmerized  formations.
                The choreography based on the 1895 Petipa-Ivanov version, is touched up by BSJ Artistic Director Dennis Nahat. Modern touches include adding an androgynous jack-in-the-box jumping  jester to enliven the court scenes, as in modern Russian companies, and including the Peasant Pas de Trois, but without peasants.
                The San Jose ensemble is well ahead of the curve sociologically, notable for its level of integration, with minorities well represented, among them the jester Akira Takahashi (whose agility drew repeated accolades) from Japan, and several dancers from South America. The lead romantic couple at BSJ, as often as not, is interracial.
                The male lead Siegfried in fact is a Cuban veteran, guest Carlos Acosta, who flew in from the Royal Ballet (London) for two performances. Acosta partnered Meijer with a sure hand, even through lightning spins, as though they danced together all year long. He is a perfect fit as partner for Meijer, who is taller than most, given his own height. His manner in the pantomime borders on the phlegmatic, but his solos showed elevation, speed and elegance, enkindling the enthusiasm of the audience time and again.
                Nahat’s concept has a number of effective touches rarely seen. Siegfried’s tutor is a tippler, admonished more than once by the queen mother, who may inaugurate Prohibition in her castle before she gets through. When Siegfried turns down a quartet of identical sugar-and-spice princesses as possible brides, it’s quite obvious that  he is looking for some one out of the ordinary---and what could be more so than the enchanted white swan Odette? He falls in love with her, then betrays her; their ultimate solution is joining in a Wagnerian love-death which finally breaks the power of the sorcerer Rothbart (Jeremy Kovitch).
                Meijer played Odette much more as an accomplished technician than as an actress, vulnerable before the intruding stranger.
                The cast we caught the evening of Feb. 26 showed both depth and consistency---far more so than Dwight Oltman’s brass-dominated pit orchestra,  which was the weak link of an otherwise impressive production. The evening ran more than three hours, thanks to the inclusion of three (!) intermissions.
                “Swan Lake,” choreography by Nahat, based on Petipa-Ivanov; music predominantly by Tchaikovsky; with orchestra. Ballet San Jose, through Feb. 27, Center for the Performing Arts, S.J. For info: (408) 288-2820, or go online.
              ©Paul Hertelendy 2011

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           Paul Hertelendy has been covering the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with relish -- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
    These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never weakly) will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with forays into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local artists as well.
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