Dark Nights At the Opera

By Martha Duffy

A Swan Lake that is set indoors. A ballet version of Henry James' Washington Square, featuring, among many other intrusions, cartoon black minstrels and cowboys. Not what one might at first expect from so historic an institution as the Paris Opera Ballet, but both items came along on the troupe's first American appearance since 1948. Expectations for the visit ran very high. The company's school is considered one of the world's best, a preserver of both the French and Italian technique and dance vocabulary. The institution itself has an ineffable aura of glamour, and in three years as dance director, Rudolf Nureyev has earned a reputation for leading it energetically.

But the New York run at the Metropolitan Opera House was mostly unsatisfactory, and a good part of the problem lies with Nureyev. The trouble began with his recension of Swan Lake, which was silly and eccentric and, worst of all, skewed to provide a fat role for the aging, painfully stiff company director. This version of the legend is not about the tragic love of the prince and the spellbound queen but about the prince's rebellion against his tutor, who doubles as the sorcerer Rothbart. The famous "black swan" pas de deux in the third act is now a murky pas de trois.

Does it matter, since new generations always do some fiddling with the classics they inherit? It does, first of all, because a story about a prince and his tutor is pretty trivial. Aesthetically it matters, because the heroine gets shunted aside, robbing the work of its drama and focus. And what possessed Nureyev to dredge the swans' lake? In this version they must invade the castle to get into the action at all. There are still things to admire in this work, including the attractive corps de ballet and the exquisite tutus, designed by Franca Squarciapino. Washington Square, set to Charles Ives' music, is a complete fiasco, 70 minutes of bombastic, step- ridden choreography, including another inflated role, the father, often danced by Nureyev. As choreographer, he opened out James' tale of emotional suffocation by adding such empty flourishes as a street band, a corps of floozies dressed as the Statue of Liberty and even the statue itself.

Also in the repertory were a fussy Raymonda and Le Palais de Cristal, the original version of a George Balanchine masterpiece, set to Bizet, known in the U.S. as Symphony in C. In these, the company showed off some fine dancing, with the Balanchine memorable for the four ballerinas' poignant Gallic flair. At other times, the dancers seemed distant from the music, preoccupied with steps and counts. They could use some better programs. Nureyev, 48, is an overflowing force, but as long as he insists on performing, he will unbalance his company in the effort to provide for himself. In this country, audiences are accustomed to more stringently edited programs, whether among the concentrated riches at New York City Ballet or the more eclectic American Ballet Theatre and Joffrey Ballet. Americans like to see dancers' qualities through their interpretation of choreography. With the Paris troupe, one often had to try to find the dancer in spite of the material.