New dancer makes impressive debut in Sarasota Ballet season opener
The Sarasota Ballet opened its 2023-24 season Friday night down about a half dozen dancers who are out with injuries, including Macarena Gimenez, Marijana Dominis, Ricardo Graziano and Luke Schaufuss (exactly half its principals). So it was by necessity rather than design that the evening became a debut showcase for the company’s newest member, Jennifer Hackbarth, who danced the lead female roles in all three of the ballets on the night’s triple bill – Frederick Ashton’s “Varii Capricci,” Johan Kobborg’s “Salute” and “Panoramic Score,” a world premiere by choreographer Gemma Bond.
This was not a bad thing. The Milwaukee-born Hackbarth, previously with Dresden Semperoper in Germany, is a standout addition and a much-needed replacement for Danielle Brown, the longtime principal who announced her retirement over the summer (much to the dismay of her legion of fans). Hackbarth’s trilogy of performances was a testament not only to her stamina, but her versatility and nuance.
Her role in Bond’s second commission for the company – the first, “Excursions,” was last season’s opener – alone would have been sufficient for many a dancer to call it a night. An abstract work set to 20th century composer Alberto Ginestra’s modernistic score (inspired by the folk music and landscape of his native Argentina but relentlessly propulsive) is a demanding marathon of athleticism. The costumes (by Lauren Starobin) – nothing but a skin-tight greenish leotard for Hackbarth, tights and sleeveless tops in verdant shades for her partner, Daniel Pratt and five other men and rather strange hip-emphasizing short peplums for the other women – evoked nature, but the movement hardly seemed organic.
The choreography’s gallops, runs, explosive lifts and periodic rapid, robotic and rigid arm movements tested the body’s structural possibilities and revealed Hackbarth’s power, strength and flexibility. (Anna Pelligrino also had an opportunity to show she’s earned her recent promotion to soloist.) But while the dancers mastered the considerable physical challenges admirably, overall the work left an emotionless and indifferent impression.
“Varii Cappricci,” a dormant Ashton ballet the company revived in 2019 (including a commission that produced the only recording of the fifth movement of composer William Walton’s score), confirmed Hackbarth could meet a Sarasota Ballet requisite: mastering the unique style of the choreographer whose work has put Sarasota on the international ballet map. (Over the summer, the company announced its first overseas tour to London next summer, in a collaboration with The Royal Ballet.)
The required flexibility and fluidity of the upper body and emphasis on the epaulement (use of shoulders and chest) was all there in her portrayal of “La Capricciosa” (“The Capricious”), as was a gift for authentic and unaffected acting. She was well-matched with Ricardo Rhodes, as the sunglass-wearing, ultra-cool “Lo Straniero” (“The Stranger”) who captivates and eventually dumps her. Rhodes, who is now the only dancer left of those Director Iain Webb brought in for his first season in 2007, appeared stronger than ever and their partnership looks to be a lasting one.
Hackbarth and Rhodes were also the featured couple in the night’s finale, Kobborg’s “Salute,” not performed here since its company debut in 2012. Its lighthearted and comedic look at soldiers headed off to war and their sweethearts, set to a lilting series of waltzes and polkas by Hans Christian Lumbye, seemed a bit discordant given what’s going on in the world today. But setting that aside, Kobborg’s charming choreographic vignettes, which evidence both his Danish roots in the Bournonville style and his gift for character, capture an innocence that is sorely missed.
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Here again, Hackbarth was effervescent, yet admirably restrained, with a natural affect and facial expression that would be well adopted by a company that in the past has occasionally slipped into forced smiles and over-emoting.
The diminutive Yuki Nonaka (also recently elevated to soloist), cast in the comedic role as an insecure recruit, timidly testing his wiles with the fairer sex, exhibited his usual prowess at turning and leaping, even as his characterization teetered on the edge of histrionic. And only audience members who saw the original production of “Salute” here might have been disappointed by character principal Ricki Bertoni’s charming portrayal of the blustering “General” – and then only because the fond memory of seeing Webb in that role lingers on.
This wasn’t the company’s flashiest or most memorable season opener; it’s the first time in memory there wasn’t a uniform, jump-to-your-feet, opening night standing ovation for every piece on the program. But it heralded promise for what lies ahead. Certainly Hackbarth is a splendid and strong addition to the lineup as this evolving troupe continues to mature and master a repertoire as diverse as any you will find in the ballet world.
‘Progress in Rep’
Sarasota Ballet program one, featuring Frederick Ashton’s “Varii Capricci,” the world premiere of Emma Bond’s “Panoramic Score” and Johan Kobborg’s “Salute.” Reviewed Oct. 20. Through Oct. 22. FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. $40-$115. 941-359-0099; sarasotaballet.org
Contact Carrie Seidman at carrie.seidman@gmail.com or 505-238-0392.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Ballet opens season with world premiere and two classics
