The Joffrey Ballet
Chicago
(Joffrey Ballet Website)
OTHELLO
A Dance In Three Acts

October 14 -25, 2009

At
The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University
(Auditorium Theatre Website)
50 E. Congress Parkway
Chicago, Illinois 60605
(312) 922-2110
Artistic Director, Ashley C. Wheater
Founders, Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino
Executive Director, Christopher Clinton Conway
Ballet Masters, Charthel Arthur, Graca Sales, Willy Shives
Conductor, Scott Speck
Chicago Sinfonietta
(Chicago Sinfonietta Website)

Choreographer of Othello, Lar Lubovitch
Othello Composer, Elliot Goldenthal
Set Design, George Tsypin
Costumes, Ann Hould-Ward
Projections, Wendall K. Harrington
Public Relations Services,
The Silverman Group/Farrah Malik
Artists of The Company
Raoul Casasola, Jonathan Dummar, Erica Lynette Edwards,
Yumelia Garcia, Brian Gephart, John Mark Giragosian,
Dylan Gutierrez, Travis Halsey, Elizabeth Hansen,
Sam Jones, Stacy Keller, Graham Maverick,
Erin McAfee, Caitlin Meighan, Thomas Nicholas,
Amber Neumann, Alexis Polito, Valerie Robin,
Christine Rocas, Tanner Schwartz, Tian Shuai,
Abigail Simon, Shane Urton, Jenny Winton,
Joanna Wozniak, Kara Zimmerman

Children
Winter Bell, Aubrey Hamilton, Joshua Hopkins,
Emmanuel Liberty, Christopher Samdal,
Michael Sayre, Houston Thomas, Matthew Wenckowski

Featuring

Fabrice Calmels: Othello
Matthew Adamczyk: Iago
Aaron Rogers: Cassio
April Daly: Desdemona
Valerie Robin: Emilia
Allison Walsh: Bianca
Erica Lynette Edwards, Amber Neumann,
Kara Zimmerman, John Mark Giragosian,
Calvin Kitten: Venetian Dancers

Susan Weinrebe
October 14, 2009

Last night the Joffrey Ballet premiered the Lar Lubovitch choreography and Elliot Goldenthal musical composition of the tragedy, Othello. It was a great, great performance.

The plot twists around the noble Moorish general Othello’s love for his wife Desdemona and the machinations of his jealous ensign, Iago, who tricks his own wife, Emilia, into participating in a plot to destroy his master. The physical casting of the roles could not have better suited to the attributes of each of the featured dancers.

Fabrice Calmels is a giant of a man. Among the rest of the company he stands a head taller at six feet, six inches. Before his Othello even takes a step, his literal and figurative stature command attention. With his razor cheekbones and dark, handsome features, he exudes the exotic attraction that a Moor in Venice, during the 1500 to 1600’s, would have enjoyed.

Like all male dancers in the company, he is strong, but he is also large muscled and powerful looking. One might think that Calmels’ mass would hinder fine movement, but in fact, at least part of the power of his performance derives from the tender grace of his partnering, despite his size. When this man moves, he devours the ground, though appearing to hold part of his strength and reach in check. This has the effect of making a person watching him, hang on his every movement in anticipation of the ultimate explosion of energy and technique.

April Daly as Desdemona is tiny compared to her Othello. Reminding one very much of Gelsey Kirkland at her most brilliant, Ms. Daly portrays innocence and boundless love for her husband, through the fearless abandon, with which she trusts Calmels to swirl, lift, and catch her as she launches herself towards him. Yet, analyzing some of the tricky lifts they execute, such as one in which he lifts her apparently just by clasping her neck, one realizes this wispy dancer has a core of steel. Not only does she convince us that she is a girl, her facial expressions reflect every nuance of her character’s emotions, from worshipful elation and ardor to despair.

Valerie Robin’s character, Emilia, is an unwitting accomplice to her husband, Iago’s plot. She calls on her considerable acting ability to convey subtle nuances with an economy of motion. Interestingly, she, at the least, matches her partner in size, and that worked to her advantage. Clearly abused and dominated by Iago, an imagined back story of how they came to be married was easily imagined. She would have been, perhaps, the eldest unwed daughter of a merchant. She would have been grateful to be courted by an ambitious man, and quelled her reservations about him in order to marry. She would have been afraid to defy him, realizing how mercurial and cruel her husband could be…had been.

Matthew Adamczyk made Iago his signature piece. Compared to his superior, Othello, Adamczyk is a much smaller man. This, of course, emphasized the disparity in their moral stature as well. Where Othello is expansive, Iago is groveling. One is by nature high, the other low. Brilliant choreography gave Adamczyk the moves to visually demonstrate his grasping nature, as when partnered with Calmels he literally climbed the other dancer’s frame, until he was in the superior position. Again, the rigors of this part came not only from physical mastery of the steps, but from the acting ability to shade this complex role.

Video and projections have become a staple of stage performances over the last several years. Usually they simply provide a backdrop for the action, but Ms. Harrington’s images visually interpreted and advanced understanding of the performance. A projection of a great ship arriving in port flowed into actual hawser ropes, pulled across the stage. Then a projection of their interwoven lines against a blood-red background represented the web of deceit being spun by Iago.

Set designs though minimal, again advanced the plot through the spare use of symbolism. The gathering hall for Venetian society abounded in reflective surfaces, but none mirrored the truth. The throne upon which Othello sat was glass, a corner of which seemed marred as if by some destructive force. Seeming transparency at every corner belied the evil plotting of a most trusted comrade in arms and the glass of the pillars was as breakable as Iago’s loyalty.

Lar Lubovitch’s choreography brilliantly drew in the details of each character’s part, and as the plot advanced, subtle changes in repeated gestures, lifts, and movements signaled these nuances. When Othello and Desdemona were first married, the effortless lifts and swoops of their partnering concretely presented the soaring of hearts united. Think of Marc Chagall’s paintings of himself with his beloved soaring above a landscape. During the worst of Othello’s suspicions, similar movements became more harsh and edgy, verging on cruelty. He no longer cradled his wife; he wanted to hurt her.

Staged, framed, accompanied, acted, and danced to perfect ensemble effect, the Joffrey’s Othello is the performance of a lifetime and not to be missed.

It can only be hoped that under Ashley C. Wheater’s most far-thinking leadership, the Joffrey will now add Othello to its repertoire. It is a ballet that is greater than the very considerably great parts that add up to its whole.

Matthew Adamczyk
in Joffrey Ballet's "Othello"
Courtesy of Herbert Migdoll

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Valerie Robin, Matthew Adamczyk
in Joffrey Ballet's "Othello"
Courtesy of Herbert Migdoll

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April Daly, Fabrice Calmels
in Joffrey Ballet's "Othello"
Courtesy of Herbert Migdoll

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April Daly, Valerie Robin
in Joffrey Ballet's "Othello"
Courtesy of Herbert Migdoll

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Fabrice Calmels, Matthew Adamczyk
in Joffrey Ballet's "Othello"
Courtesy of Herbert Migdoll

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Fabrice Calmels
in Joffrey Ballet's "Othello"
Courtesy of Herbert Migdoll

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For more information, contact Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower at zlokower@bestweb.net