© Marianne Leach Nashville 'Valse Fantaisie' reviews 'Valse Fantaisie' reviews Nashville 'Dracula' reviews 'Dracula' reviews recent Nashville Ballet reviews more Pamela Gaye reviews

It was fitting that Vasterling’s tenth anniversary as Nashville Ballet choreographer was celebrated with champagne after the performance. Symbolically, I was made abundantly aware of the rich versatility, musicality, and fluid classical style of a company wherein each member excelled individually whether in corps or as soloist, imbuing a broad range of choreographic style with a richness that gave a thrill-of each moment feel throughout the performance.

With solos by Sadie Harris and Eddie Mikrut, Valse Fantaisie, as quintessential Balanchine, evinced throughout its performance a sisterhood of the corps de ballet. Lithe sauté attitudes performed by four soloists as a ‘miniature corps’ formed a backdrop to captivating grand jetés performed by Mikrut, set against a backdrop of sweeping pas de chats performed by four female dancers. Mikrut’s stellar partnering of Harris excelled, accentuating the score as dancers, adept at Balanchinian counterpoint, entered performing intricate diagonal patterns, before seeming to vanish suddenly from the stage.

In an interview, Vasterling spoke of keeping dancers on a ‘slow burn on a backburner’ rather than pushing them prematurely into a role. His philosophy was evident as each dancer seemed to virtually own his stage performance.

With latter works of the evening: Ballet: Tango and Dracula, Vasterling’s versatility of choreographic style showed forth. In Tango, a choreography of male imaginings pitted classical movements against those of the Argentinean tango of the La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. As a work focusing on themes evoked by the female persona, Tango excelled. The sensuous movements of Kim Ratcliffe, as sole female archetype, were visually captivating. As Ratcliffe, dressed in flaming red, evoked sensitive themes of virgin, prostitute, and mother she interlaced as solo performer with the male corps whose movements performed in profile, evoked sensual competitive images of lust and romance. Tango’s abstract finale excelled as formations of dancers were juxtaposed diagonally in counterweighted frozen formations.

Vasterling’s colorful remark before the performance, stating that vampire kisses came in ‘threes’ set the stage for Dracula, a signature work of company repertory. The choreography emphasized main themes of the Bram Stoker tale coupled with scenic designs I found captivating. In its use of lighting, variety of costume design, and juxtaposition of choreographic style, Dracula coupled multimedia effects with evocative romantic duet, performed by dancers Jon Upleger and Kim Ratcliffe to juxtapose the otherworldly quality of the Stoker tale with gothic romance.

Scenarios devised by Vasterling for Dracula ranged from haunting black and white silhouettes of a Transylvanian castle to lush representations of a vampirian underworld to scenes of seduction alternating with those of dementia. Costume designs by Lindsay Davis juxtaposed unworldly aspects of vampires not yet dead with those of Victorian elite. Lighting foreshadowing Transylvanian castles, resplendent of dimly lit crosses, all evoked multiple forces of good and evil present in Stoker’s tale.

Mikrut, adept at strong partnering as well as solo performance, portrayed the role of Dracula through sweeping dramatic gestures, alternating with Jon Upleger’s performance of Jonathan envisioned as an epitome of sure technical portrayal of strength through love. Also appealing were the earthy à terre inspired movements of the undead Victorians, adding a dimension of air to earth, complementing other dichotomies present within the ballet.

Vasterling’s genius may exist through an imagination that pits choreographic styles distinctly his own with the invitation to each individual dancer to own the dance he is given to perform. Inventing first subliminal themes of the tango, and then embellishing the classic tale of the otherworldly inherent in Dracula, it is perhaps impossible to state whether Vasterling’s imagination rivals that of Stoker or is assimilated into an equally individual creation. As culminating work on the evening’s program, Dracula merged creative ranges of both choreographer and dancers, revealing within its fabric to a work of quintessential brilliance.