Louisville Ballet. - Kentucky Center for the Arts, Louisville, KY - dance reviews

Dance Magazine, Feb, 1996 by George R. Hubbard

Alun Jones, artistic director of Louisville Ballet, said that he had been "dreaming of this program for years." It's nice to report that dreams sometimes come true. An Evening of Ballets by Antony Tudor, lovingly re-created, handsomely mounted, and splendidly danced, brought to Louisville audiences four works new to many here.

Little Improvisations (1953) looked as fresh as new paint. Three pairs of dancers alternated performances, showing the range of talent and personality within the company. In the first cast, Mikelle Bruzina and David Goud were elegant youths playing at being children, pretending regal manners and attitudes. High points were his triumphant variation and her gossamer-fine solo to "Traumerei." Kimberly Nygren and Andrew Blight, seen at a later performance, gave the effect of real children. Their performance was more tender, and their pas de chevaux duet was a true romp.

Judgment of Paris (1938) may have puzzled those unfamiliar with the myth behind the title, but Elizabeth Hartwell (Juno), Angela Wetzstein (Venus), and Nygren (Minerva) were compelling. The acerbic Kurt Weill score gave the real clue to the personae of these goddesses - Hartwell's coy flirtation and Wetzstein's pseudo-acrobatics (to "Pirate Jenny") made for bravura theater.

The timelessness of Dark Elegies, set to Mahler's Kindertotenlieder ("Songs on the Death of Children") continues to astound; its universal grief evokes countless tragedies. Kathy Sawyer and Dale Brannon excelled in "Nun seh' ich wohl," and Clark Reid was haunting in "Wenn dein Mutterlein." The corps, likewise, caught and held the difficult Tudor mood throughout.

The evening closed with Gala Performance. Katie Morris, Sawyer, and Hartwell were the aging assolute, Reid and Goud the long-suffering partners. Claire Turman led the much-beset coryphees. All conspired to give a hilarious, accurate account of this bonbon.

Elegies was staged by Donald Mahler, the other works by Sallie Wilson. Sally Brayley Bliss, representing the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust, also assisted. Grace Baugh-Bennet was the elegant pianist for improvisations and Gala.