Last Updated: Friday, July 21, 2006

Miami City Ballet’s Coppélia

By Tony Guzman

 
Luis Serrano & Katia Carranza. Photo: Joe Gato

Following up on the huge popular success of its first ever Giselle last year, Miami City Ballet premiered another beloved story ballet last weekend: Coppélia, the classic 19^th century comedy choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to Léo Delibes charming and influential score wherein village rake Franz falls under the spell of puppet-master Dr. Copelius’ pièce de résistance, Coppelia, much to the chagrin of his headstrong, inquisitive and resourceful girlfriend Swanilda – all manner of amusing hi-jinks ensuing.

The Saturday night performance featured the Swanilda/Franz pairing of Deanna Seay and Carlos Guerra who we’d seen paired as Odette and Siegfried in MCB’s recent Swan Lake, Act II. Seay is often funny as the flustered and piqued Swanilda, and the part’s just what she needs to get her to open up and play to the audience. Her portrayal features some nice acting moments (not usually her forte), as when Swanilda, masquerading as Coppélia, “comes to life” under Dr. Coppelius’ ministrations. Seay has a gorgeous way with a développé à la seconde, her foot rising with smooth power and grace and holding steady high above and beside her classically-featured face. What you find yourself watching for with Seay, though, are glimpses of the girl who loves to dance behind the impressive technique. Funny, what you remember.

Guerra is a handsome young dancer who’s a marvelous, airy leaper with a musicality to his dancing which he doesn’t lose in lifts. He’s best dancing alone, though. The sense of drama he brings to his soloing doesn’t carry over to his partnering, at least with Seay. His shyly boyish appeal doesn’t click somehow with Seay’s more mature sophistication and their chemistry is peremptory and stagey.

Much more electric were the pairings of Katia Carranza and Renato Penteado and, especially, the under-used Callye Robinson and Mikhail Ilyin highlighted in the ethnic dance duets of Acts I and III.  In our estimation, Penteado and Ilyin join Yann Trividic as, hopefully, the new wave of MCB male dancers in the sense of having some size to them as well as, more importantly, plenty of masculine charisma and romantic rapport with their ballerinas. As leapers, they’re both mensch.

Darkly handsome Ilyin dances with charismatic flair and his gutsy pirouettes à la seconde drew the evening’s lustiest bravos. Robinson is a self-assured, vivacious blond beauty with palpable star power and an instinct for when and how to turn “it” on. More importantly, sparks fly between them and there’s an element of enlivened interaction in their dancing together largely absent from most MCB pairs. Penteado’s decent size and athletic bravado counterpoints nicely with diminutive Carranza’s girlish charm. They’re breathtaking in throws and catches.

Dashing romantic lead Yann Trividic surprised and impressed with a finely-nuanced and genuinely witty comedic turn in the character role of the loony and cantankerous Dr. Copelius. Tallish, with a slightly gangly quality that gives her dancing an edge, Erin Tryon’s solo as “Prayer” in Act III had a heartfelt quality that drew you into her emotional world. Much of this Coppélia’s appeal was in watching corps ballerinas we’ve been accustomed to seeing as integers in Balanchine equations playing flesh and blood characters, hamming it up delightfully and having a hoot with all this classic comedy’s fun and hokum.

Thankfully, there was live music, and, given an orchestra to conduct (Florida Classical Orchestra), MCB’s “resident conductor,” Clotilde Otranto, gave us a spirited rendering of Delibes’ playful and moving score.