Through his art, George Balanchine — a Russian immigrant to the United States called the father of American ballet — was happy upon occasion to pay tribute to the red, white, and blue. But in “Jewels,” his 1967 masterwork for New York City Ballet, recognized as the first full-length plotless ballet, the palette changes to green, red, and white in reference to the hues of precious stones.
Yet even this three-act work bows, at its center, to American zest.
Miami City Ballet performs “Jewels” Friday, March 27 through Sunday, March 29 at Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center and on Friday, April 3, for a performance at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach.
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In addition, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s “Carmen,” an MCB world premiere last season, returns on Thursday, March 26, with a Saturday matinee, March 28, at the Arsht, and on Saturday, April 4, and Sunday, April 5, at the Kravis.
Each section of “Jewels”—“Emeralds,” “Rubies,” and “Diamonds”—set to scores by different composers, has a design and a prevailing mood determined by a gem. In some iterations, one part will be presented separately rather than as an entire composition. MCB rolled out “Rubies” first in 1990, two years before the company debut of the three-act offering.
For MCB principal Hannah Fischer, with leading roles in “Emeralds” and “Diamonds” alongside partner Cameron Catazaro, the complete set of dances has the stature of a trifecta. “I love how everything comes together—though with very different music and characterizations—to create beautiful images bouncing off the jewels,” Fischer says.
As a lead in “Rubies,” in a rocket-flight of a role, principal Alexander Peters says that even after many viewings during his days at New York’s School of American Ballet and performances at Pennsylvania (now Philadelphia) Ballet and—after 2017—at MCB, he’s still swept away by this ballet.
“As a teenager, I immediately identified with it,” he says. “So gorgeous and well-integrated, with three ways of presenting the ballerina, it stirs something overwhelming in me.”
“Emeralds”—which he’s never danced—initially captured his imagination with its contemplative tone. But now Peters feels his dance identity wrapped up in “Rubies.”
“It’s been a barometer of my career as I note how I’ve evolved and compare differences among partners—some things becoming more challenging, others easier.”
The story goes that Balanchine was so struck by the multi-colored glow of the jewelry displays at the Van Cleef & Arpels New York showroom that this led him to create a dance exalting their beauty. The choreographer may have felt his inspiration bolstered by ballet’s penchant to personify the inanimate—flowers, snowflakes, toys. So why not a ballet about fabulous bling?
The great Ukrainian-born costume designer and Balanchine collaborator Barbara Karinska—cloth and cut in her hands inseparable from the excellence of the dance—was instrumental in strutting out the effects of jewelry on stage.
In “Emeralds,” cascading tulle skirts, as if reflecting foliage, stir below the shimmer of green bodices with glassy ornamentation; in “Rubies,” scarlet leotards are festooned with glittering pendants; and “Diamonds,” with its powder-puff tutus and crystal-beaded tops, unveils enoughshine for a dynasty’s treasure.
Formations in “Jewels” abound which suggest necklaces, medallions, bracelets. Evasive about how his work should read, Balanchine did not certify an interpretation of this splendor. Asked once what “Rubies” was about, he purportedly quipped, “About twenty minutes.”
But these jewels appear as a tribute to the styles that coursed through the choreographer’s career. The romanticism of “Emeralds,” to dreamy compositions by Gabriel Fauré (excerpts from “Pelléas et Mélisande” and “Shylock”), harkens back to the pliancy and needlepoint fastidiousness of ballet at the Paris Opera, a French perfume lingering over scenes of chivalry and longing.
“Diamonds” opens the gilded doors of a ballroom in Imperial Russia, the dance both regal and
rousing, to four movements from “Symphony No. 3 in D Major” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky at his most forceful.
“Rubies,” like the central panel of a triptych which the wings contextualize, is a vortex of ingenious movement. Dancers meet up and run by as if in an urban setting — Manhattan hustle? — where Igor Stravinsky’s jazzy “Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra” seems to raise musical skyscrapers. Balanchine’s American-grown neoclassicism salutes the setting that supported it.
“This does give off an Americana showstopper kind of energy,” Fischer says. “But it’s got to be done with great taste.”
For the dancer, that requires a deep understanding of Balanchine style, something she’s blossomed in at MCB, with each step acutely responsive to the music and the beauty every individual brings, honoring that legacy. To that end, Fischer has relied on the insights of her father Lindsay, formerly a NYCB principal (and high-carat cavalier in “Diamonds”) and ballet master at National Ballet of Canada, where Hannah trained and performed.
Fischer says she draws resourcefulness from him. “I will do the walking pas de deux in ‘Emeralds,’ and being on pointe for the duration is a technical feat meant to look elegant and effortless, as if gliding on water. But you’re sort of holding your own weight, with your partner not supporting you in a traditional manner.”
The challenge of “Diamonds” starts with its slow, 10-minute pas de deux, which requires strength. “But it contains some of the most beautiful moments in the ballet,” Fischer exclaims. “When I watch it, it kind of puts me in a trance.” Yet bolder moves accrue toward the finale, when a Grande Polonaise tests the dancers’ stamina while they uphold a majestic bearing.
Peters can share his own experience with his “Rubies” partner, the young dynamo Taylor Naturkas. “How far off to place her or angle her, how to turn in this or that direction, that can be made thrilling—a bit like being on a tightrope. I can help her feel more comfortable with these strange geometries.”
Fischer and Peters agree that “Jewels” isn’t just a construct of shapes and colors derived from adornment. Though it has no scripted romance or conflicts, like “Carmen,” they suggest that—whether striving or serene—the ballet extols humanity.
Peters is beguiled by ballets that “capture natural human connections.”
“Just by doing these steps, you can suggest all sorts of atmospheres and narratives.”
WHAT: Miami City Ballet’s “Jewels”
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28; 2 p.m., Sunday, March 29
WHERE: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES: 7:30 p.m., April 3, Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Also, “Carmen,” 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 26 and 2 p.m., Saturday, March 28 at the Arsht Center; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 4, and 1 p.m. Sunday, April 5
COST: $45–$265, depending on show, time and venue
INFORMATION: 305-929-7010 or miamicityballet.org
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