Ballet San Jose’s Maykel Solas as Alonzo the Toreador in Act II of Flemming Flindt's The Toreador. Photo by Robert Shomler.
The program handout for Ballet San Jose’s opening bill of the season last weekend did not lie. It announced “choreography by Flemming Flindt inspired by the ballet of 1840 by August Bournonville.” The debt to the legendary 19th century Danish choreographer and ballet master, as well as the style of the Flindt ballet, are far from consistent. But the company, dedicated to putting on a great show, rarely disappointed Sunday afternoon (Nov. 23) at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts.
The company last presented The Toreador locally in 1990, but it looks much better now. This was a one-act comedy that fell out of the repertoire of the Royal Danish Ballet (which Bournonville put on the international map) in 1929 and, thus, was cast out of the Bournonville canon and the repertory, mostly because nobody alive remembered enough of the piece to vouchsafe its authenticity.
In 1978, Flindt, then ballet master at the Copenhagen company and a dancer who had been steeped in the Bournonville manner, mounted his version of The Toreador, padding it out with his own steps to make a full-evening entertainment. When Flindt took over the Dallas Ballet shortly afterwards, he brought the production with him; Ballet San Jose artistic director Dennis Nahat purchased it from the defunct Texas company. This fall, Flindt, who has worked periodically in the South Bay, returned to restage his ballet, in tandem with his wife, the dancer Vivi Flindt and Raymond Rodriguez (who danced the title-role in 1990).
There is barely sufficient narrative substance in The Toreador to fill out two hours of stage time. Yet Flindt has been generous in evoking the atmosphere of Bournonville’s world. He was fascinated, as were so many 19th century Nordic souls, with the Mediterranean cultures and he delighted in depicting national types on the stage. Hence, the Spanish setting in which cavort a French ballerina and her mother, two comic Englishmen and various denizens of the corrida. Bournonville was intrigued, too, with the dances of those transalpine cultures, hence the sundry jaleos and fandangos that work their way through The Toreador. Every detail on the stage tells us something. The two nuns, who have no part in the plot, at least remind us that this is a Catholic country. The presence of children (I presume from the Ballet San Jose School) is a venerable Royal Danish Ballet tradition (those youngsters selected to stand on the bridge in Act 3 of Bournonville’s Napoli in Denmark consider it a badge of honor).
Mirai Noda (as Paquitta) and Preston Dugger (as Pedro) dance a Seguidilles in Act II of Flemming Flindt's The Toreador. Photo by Robert Shomler.
Yet, despite all those trappings, Flindt’s choreography doesn’t always suggest Bournonville. I appreciate the absence of pure pyrotechnical razzmatazz, the clear patterns of the ensembles, the clarity of the mime and the emphasis on credible character dancing. But, there should be a soft strength in the épaulement and a rhythmic vivacity to the beats that was not consistently displayed in Sunday’s performance. Still, it was hard to deny the impressive results of four weeks of rehearsal with the Flindts. The precision in ensembles was as tight as Ballet San Jose has ever offered. I had never thought of Maximo Califano and Ramon Moreno as character dancers, but Califano’s Mr. Williams (very Vincent Price in bumbling mode) and Moreno’s rubber-jointed Mr. Arthur suggested canny career moves.
Every person on stage is a distinct character in Bournonville and much attention was paid to detail in Roni Mahler’s Mme. Finard, Daniel Gwatkin’s innkeeper, Preston Dugger’s Pedro and Mirai Noda’s Paquitta. Flindt’s plot loses focus in the second act, where a kidnapping goes wrong, a divertissement goes on forever and there was far too much mugging for this taste. Still, this acquaintaince with the Bournonville tradition, diluted though it may be, provides hope that the company is ready to tackle the real thing, like La Sylphide, or, dare one dream, Napoli.
Ballet San Jose in "Danza Castellana Et Jota" from Act I of Flemming
Flindt's The Toreador. Photo by Robert Shomler.
An injury to Karen Gabay brought Maria Jacobs the plum assignment of the nubile Maria Sunday. Much charm here, but also moments of insecurity, understandable when you consider that Jacobs was dancing with Maykel Solas, who is not her customary partner. Barring a few wobbly turns, the Cuban-born dancer offered a swaggering, macho toreador with a pedigreed technique. The world should be hearing more of Solas. Alexsandra Meijer flaunted her classical chops as the star French ballerina; only she captured the soft roundness in the port de bras. Noda and Dugger animated the Act 1 fandango, while in the Danse d’entrée, Le Mai Linh’s elegant leaps were to be savored.
The Toreador returned with its gorgeous, Danish-made production by Hans Christian Malbeck intact. Take one look at the opulent, beautifully crafted, color coded costumes and you can understand why Nahat was so quick to whip out his checkbook. In the pit, Dwight Oltman buoyantly conducted members of Symphony Silicon Valley in the score, consisting of the original by Edvard Helsted and the revisions and additions by Erling D. Bjerno. Reservations aside, Ballet San Jose is off to a promising year. Nahat’s Nutcracker opens at the Center on Nov. 11. www.balletsanjose.org
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