Tag: Herman Cornejo

ABT GISELLE: Brandt ~ Cornejo ~ Petersen

Thursday October 21st, 2021 – After watching some clips of Ana Sophia Scheller in a recent production of GISELLE at Cagliari, Italy, I suddenly felt a great desire to see this immortal ballet live again. But…where? I’ve been so out of touch during the pandemic; but then I remembered that ABT were about to begin a season at the New York State Theater; might they be giving giving GISELLE? I went to their website and…voilà! There is was: a whole week of GISELLEs to choose from. Fortune smiles on me yet again. I quickly chose this evening’s performance, drawn by the presence in the cast of Herman Cornejo (photo) as Albrecht. The ticket was ordered, and soon enough I was cozy in my 3rd Ring AA seat and experiencing this ballet which carries so much personal meaning for me.

The audience, who have been starved for live performances of ballet for a year and a half, were wonderfully attentive and wildly enthusiastic. The orchestra, under David LaMarche’s astute leadership, played the Adam score superbly; we often take the pit bands of our two ballet companies for granted, but both ensembles are loaded with excellent musicians, and tonight the ABT orchestra played this incomparable score very handsomely indeed.

In the first act, dancers whose characters do not re-appear after the intermission made such fine impressions that I was wishing there were curtain calls in order to show appreciation for their performances. This was especially true of the inimitable Susan Jones, whose Berthe is so touching; her mime is incredibly clear and telling. Isadora Loyola, a vision all in red, was a striking Bathilde. A tall couple were cast in the Peasant Pas de deux: the dancing of Betsy McBride and Jose Sebastian gave the duet a spacious feel. Ms. McBride’s deft footwork and Mr. Sebastian’s cushioned landings made a very pleasing effect.

Andrei Ishchuk was a tall, impressive Hilarion. As I have often said in the past, Hilarion is the ‘good guy’ in GISELLE; had Giselle trusted her longtime beau and seen thru Albrecht’s deception, her story would have had a different outcome. But…love in blind (and don’t I know it…) At any rate, Mr. Ishchuk did a fine job with the part, including some flashy air turns in his tormented dance in Act II.

ABT’s first-class Wilis seemed unfazed by the somewhat more limited space of the State Theater stage (as opposed to that of The Met). Their dancing made the ballet’s second act everything it should be. Fangqi Li and April Giangeruso were lovely in their solo passages as Moyna and Zulma respectively.

Stephanie Petersen (above, in a Jade Young portrait) danced Myrthe beautifully. During this week of ABT GISELLEs, this role has gone thru several casting changes: originally, Catherine Hurlin was listed for this evening, and but then Christine Shevchenko’s name appeared in her place. Stephanie was to have danced Zulma tonight, but a pre-curtain announcement made her the Queen of the Wilis instead.

It was simply delightful to see Ms. Petersen again; in the past I’ve seen her dancing not only with ABT but also for Joshua Beamish, Emery LeCrone, and Claudia Schreier…and every time she’s dazzled me. Stephanie, who returns to the stage from the COVID layoff – and from becoming a mother – is on fabulous form, and her Myrthe was regally danced (both her solos simply entrancing) and dramatically more nuanced than some I have seen: for beneath the icy, commanding presence of the Wili queen, one can still see the young woman that Myrthe once was. Brava, Stephanie!

I saw Herman Cornejo as Albrecht in 2008 – I believe it was his ABT role debut – opposite Xiomara Reyes. Read about that wonderful performance here. Tonight, this now 40-year-old prince of the dance triumphed yet again; his Albrecht is boyish of face and figure, compelling in his dancing, and incredibly expressive and impressive in his partnering. The bravura passages were tossed off with élan, and his affectionate dancing with Ms. Brandt in Act I gave way to his soul-searing partnering in Act II, where his remorse was so movingly expressed. The two overhead lifts were simply astounding, and his final parting from the girl who not only forgave him but saved him from his fate, was heart-rending. In a beautiful gesture, during the final bows, Herman sent Ms. Brandt out alone, only joining her after she had faced the avalanche of cheers that descended on her.

Skylar Brandt’s Giselle can stand proudly in my pantheon of great interpreters of this iconic role. The long-limbed ballerina danced her heart out all evening, and she had the audience with her every step of the way. Her first solo – Giselle emerging from her home on her last day on this Earth – had an immediacy and freshness that was most appealing. Her modesty and shyness with Albrecht were lovingly portrayed, and her big solo – just before her world comes crashing down – featured triumphant yet delicate hops on pointe and remarkably swift turns. The mad scene was that of a dazed girl, unable to comprehend what has befallen her.

Dazzling is the only word for Skylar’s dancing of Giselle’s whirlwind turns after being summoned from her grave by Myrthe…this passage evoked a massive round of cheers and applause from the audience. Then, from the very start of her pas de deux with Albrecht, the ballerina cast a poetic spell over me. She and Herman were so moving, the danseur gorgeously partnering her with infinite tenderness. Giselle’s steadfastness, protecting her beloved from the Wili’s curse, was poignantly expressed. I felt a knot in my throat as their inevitable parting loomed. And then the weeping started.

~ Oberon

October 21, 2021
Kochetkova/Cornejo SWAN LAKE @ ABT

Friday June 26th, 2015 – This evening my 2014-2015 officially ended with a bang when Maria Kochetkova and Herman Cornejo gave the ABT audience a SWAN LAKE to cheer about. The two dancers were recently paired in a very fine performance of BAYADERE and now, having established a lovely rapport, they must be seen in GISELLE, COPPELIA, and ROMEO & JULIET.

ABT really needs a new SWAN LAKE, and their audiences deserve it. Though at fifteen years of age the production is not old by ballet standards (think of Balanchine’s NUTCRACKER or MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM), so much of it looks merely random and dutiful rather than dramatic and intriguing. Its main redeeming value is that any incoming pair of principals can step into the classic elements of the white/black/white scenes and feel perfectly at home; it’s the court scenes that really need freshening.

Tonight in the opening scene we had a superbly-danced pas de trois from Sarah Lane, Skylar Brandt, and Joseph Gorak; all three had ample technique and charm, and Mr. Gorak’s beautifully pointed feet were an added delight. The national dancers in the Black Swan scene are burdened with over-costuming and funny fake moustaches; tonight, only Nicole Graniero (in Hungarian) managed to seize my opera glasses with her vivid performance. Later, as Herman Cornejo was anguishing over which unwanted princess to choose, I wanted to text him and suggest that he grab Nicole and elope to Morocco.

James Whiteside was wonderfully alluring in the solo where he glamors every woman in the hall (and probably some of the men); yet however well this solo is performed, I always feel Rothbart doesn’t need to be humanized and that the less the character does, the more potent his force seems.

But all these quibbles vanished in the face of the wonderful telling of the central love story from Ms. Kochetkova and Mr. Cornejo. Having sailed thru some high-flying combinations in the opening scene, it was at the lakeside that Herman’s Siegfried took on the poetic expressiveness that made his performance so compelling. Such a handsome young prince with the cheekbones, the silken mop of hair, the dark eyes filled with wonder – and later with despair. Slowly overcoming her fear of this ardent youth, Ms. Kochetkova surrendered to his tenderness in an adagio filled with haunting romantic nuance. The ballerina’s pin-pointe turns and poised balances wove a spell thru Odette’s music.

In the Black Swan, the Kochetkova/Cornejo duo simply soared; the detailed courtship and Kochetkova/Odile’s brazen mimicking of the Odette motifs made for a vivid narrative in the adagio. Herman’s solo was a virtuoso show-stopper – igniting a volley of cheers and applause – and in her solo turn, the ballerina displayed her agility and technical command to impressive effect. Then the couple whipped the crowd into fits of rapture in the coda, where Kochetkova’s dazzling speed-of-light fouettés had real sparkle, with Herman taking up the challenge with his own barrage of pirouettes. A roar went up as they struck the final pose.

In the last scene by the lake, the hapless lovers take final leave of one another; their joint suicide leads to the breaking of the curse and Rothbart’s destruction by the swans. The pink sunrise, with the lovers shown embracing in some afterlife, is a final miscalculation in this production. But as Kochetkova and Cornejo came forward for their bows, nothing else mattered: the audience, pleased as punch, were still screaming as I headed up the aisle.

June 26, 2015
The Third Kingdom

Monday May 28, 2012 – By this, my third ABT BAYADERE within a week, certain aspects of the ballet were not quite holding my attention. Contributing to my inability to focus during Act I were a pair of people in the next box who wouldn’t shut up. They were obviously Cojocaru fans, since every move the ballerina made caused them to turn to one another and comment, with animated gestures. It seemed to me they missed about half of her performance as they analyzed her play-by-play. They were just out of range for shushing. So I retreated to the Family Circle where there were rows of empty seats; I watched my third ravishing Kingdom of the Shades from on high, then decided I’d had enough BAYADERE for one season and went home.

The thrills of the evening were provided by Herman Cornejo (photo at top) who was I believe dancing Solor at The Met for the first time. He was simply splendid, a lover by turns ardent and distraught, a young prince of a fellow caught in a triangle not of his own devising. His dancing was magnificent; his Act I solo at the betrothal festivities simply thrilling – the audience went wild – and he was equally impressive in the Shades variation. Herman’s partnering was gallant and smooth, and he maintained his cool command even when the feather in his headpiece went somewhat awry in Act I. And he’s just such a handsome man, you can’t help loving him. My only regret in leaving early was not to be present for the final curtain calls where, I feel certain, Herman would have received a dazzling ovation.

Alina Cojocaru danced beautifully as Nikiya and I thoroughly enjoyed watching her; unfairly (and ironically) the antics of her two admirers in the next box kept me from fully engaging in her performance in Act I. In Shades, she had a lovely lightness of movement that was captiviating, though I did feel at times she was not getting just the tempo she wanted from the pit. An opera singer can communicate to an attentive conductor when she wants to go a bit faster or slower, but there’s really no way for a dancer to do this unless she simply dances on at her own pace and hopes the orchestra will catch up. I wonder if I’d have been more drawn into Cojocaru’s portrayal if she’d been my first rather than my thrid Nikiya of the week. Hee Seo had successfully mined the deep lyricism and mystery of the role, and Polina Semionova’s dramatically nuanced interpretation and her breath-taking dancing somehow held more resonance for me, though Cojocaru was nothing short of sublime.

The scheduled Gamzatti, Natalia Osipova, was ill and was replaced by Isabella Boylston, repeating the role in which she made a very fine impression last week. The trio of solo Shades – Sarah Lane, Maria Riccetto and Yuriko Kajiya – danced grandly and were well-differentiated. Roddy Doble was an especially vivid High Priest. In the third scene of Act I, I had a very hard time prying my opera glasses off Simone Messmer; whenever she was onstage I was enslaved.

May 28, 2012
Master Class: Herman Cornejo @ MMAC

Monday February 20, 2012 – Herman Cornejo, one of the most dazzling dancers on the face of the Earth, gave a Master Class at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center today. The studio was packed with young dancers and Herman generously extended the normal 90-minute class time by adding an extra half-hour for the boys. And then he stayed on beyond that, working on specifics with the guys who were – of course – thrilled with this unexpected bonus. After about five minutes of impromptu coaching, Herman asked if the studio was needed for another class; since it wasn’t, he seemed to be settling in for some intensive work with the dancers. When I left, they were still at it – with Herman demonstrating some phenomenal combinations and sharing the secrets of the phenomenal technique.

Herman has a melodious speaking voice, sometimes slipping charmingly into Spanish. The Argentine premier danseur clearly loves his craft and is anxious to share his knowledge; he encourages the dancers to find the balance between lyricism and the dynamics of the movement. His own impeccable style is so fluid, graceful and yet thoroughly masculine, and he worked patiently with the boys to explore the mechanics of the basic steps on which they can build the expressive qualities of their dancing.

Watching Herman toss off his combinations was both a revelation and an inspiration. Seeing him perform with ABT at The Met is always thrilling – a GISELLE he danced with Xiomara Reyes remains in my mind as a highlight of the last three decades of ballet-going – and watching him at close range in the studio was an inspiring experience. I’d been having kind of a down day but observing this class really gave me a rush; imagine if I’d actually been able to take the class! I found myself envying the young dancers and again wishing to be 50 years younger and knowing that this was what I was meant to have done. Illusions are by their nature sweet, as the Marquise de Merteuil would say.

As I passed by the huge studio window while heading home, I saw that the boys were still dancing away, with Herman right in the thick of things. What a generous artist and person. I came home and grabbed my ABT schedule; I have to see Herman Cornejo onstage again at the earliest opportunity.

My gratitude to Herman, MMAC’s Erin Fogarty and publicist Michelle Brandon Tabnick for allowing me to watch this uplifting class. Erin and I had a great time comparing our (lack of) photographic skills. A few of my pictures are here.

February 20, 2012