In our technological age, when we increasingly depend on robots and other machines, and become seduced and bewildered by artificial intelligence, the ballet Coppélia tells us what it means to be human. Wednesday night, Coppélia opened the New York City Ballet’s much-too-brief four-day residency at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, in a sparkling production that will delight audiences of any age. It also makes a perfect introduction to the exciting world of classical dance. The NYCB Orchestra, under Andrew Litton, brings out the richness of Léo Delibes’s score.
In 1870, Delibes and choreographer Arthur Saint-Léon transformed E. T. A. Hoffman’s macabre tale, “The Sandman,” into the nineteenth century’s greatest comic ballet. NYCB’s 1974 production, choreographed by company co-founder George Balanchine and ballet mistress Alexandra Danilova, had its world premiere at SPAC, which co-commissioned it to provide upstate fans with a new evening-length work.
In a remote European village, a cranky dollmaker named Dr. Coppélius fashions his supreme creation, the mechanical woman Coppélia. Young Frantz becomes infatuated with her, angering his fiancée, the clever village girl Swanilda. Sneaking into Dr. Coppélius’s workshop, she expertly impersonates the automaton, sending Coppélius into ecstasy at having created life, then into despair when he learns Swanilda has tricked him. Frantz finally understands how real human love provides more lasting joy than possessing a cold, mechanical ideal.
Indiana Woodward joins the line of memorable Swanildas, reaching back to Patricia McBride, who originated the role for NYCB. Perfectly blending lightness, athleticism, and sassiness, she stamps in frustration when the immobile Coppélia won’t make friends, and dances a Spanish fandango and a Scottish reel when she must pretend to be the doll. Her two pas de deux with Frantz display her suppleness as she gracefully leans forward to soar upon his shoulder, and her daring speed when she gallops downstage to leap into his arms in a fish dive. Skipping in scissoring steps on a downstage diagonal, or stuttering upstage on pointe, Woodward makes everything in her technical toolbox an expression of Swanilda’s life-affirming character.
Chun Wai Chan captures Frantz’s egotistical tendency to show off in Act 1, when he unleashes an exuberant, bounding solo to impress the village girls and the impassive Coppélia. By Act 3, however, his Frantz has matured into a reliable partner who can still garner applause for a dynamic circle of turning leaps but knows his true purpose is providing confident support for his new bride.
Taylor Stanley gives a fascinating performance as Dr. Coppélius, refusing to make him a buffoon and hinting at the tragedy in his dreams of playing God. In an almost frightening way, he tenses his articulate hands, striving to transfer Frantz’s living energy to his workshop creation.
The dances for the corps, from Act 1’s famous mazurka to the wedding entertainments of Act 3, were arranged by Danilova, who was one of dance history’s great Swanildas. They create the perfect emblem of a society celebrating its harmony and fertility. To underscore this idea, Balanchine enlisted 24 little girls to represent the golden hours of the day. Kids in Balanchine ballets really dance, and the girls, all from local ballet schools, execute some challenging choreography. They accompany several excellent NYCB soloists, including Sara Adams, Ashley Hod, Meaghan Dutton-O’Hara, and Olivia MacKinnon, in dances celebrating the daily activities that let marriages and whole societies flourish.
Megan LeCrone and speedy, acrobatic Sebastian Villarini-Vélez interrupt the festivity to lead a romping dance of War and Discord, but Peace returns in the guise of Swanilda and Frantz’s gorgeous wedding pas de deux, a victory for human love.
NYCB gives three more performances of Coppélia at SPAC, Thursday and Friday at 7:30, and Saturday at 2 pm. For further information visit spac.org. You won’t find a more enjoyable spectacle this summer.
Poet and critic JAY ROGOFF has published seven books of poetry, including Enamel Eyes, a historical fantasy about the ballet Coppélia and the Franco-Prussian War. His most recent book is Becoming Poetry: Poets and Their Methods. He lives in Saratoga Springs, New York.
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