FINAL ORANGE COUNTY PROGRAMS : KISTLER IN CITY BALLET ‘WHO CARES?’

The final two programs presented by New York City Ballet in the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Sunday afternoon and evening offered no unfamiliar repertory--but they did demonstrate the extreme interpretative freedom enjoyed by the major dancers of the company.

In “Who Cares?,” for instance, “The Man I Love” had previously served as an electric tour de force for Patricia McBride--but, Sunday afternoon, Darci Kistler refused to apply any force whatsoever.

Whether curling up in the arms of Sean Lavery (reviewed earlier) or attacking the jazz-baby accents of the role as though they were delightful games, Kistler delivered an adorably kittenish, touchingly virginal character sketch through dancing of extraordinary richness, softness, control and spontaneity.

No less distinctive, Maria Calegari came on brazen (and nearly Mannerist in her high-stepping attacks) as the girl in blue, and Victoria Hall was all coltish energy and sunny smiles in the remaining principal role. Both made their interpretations stick with finely honed technique and a breezy rapport with their partner.

In subsidiary assignments, Nilas Martins--son of Peter Martins, former City Ballet principal and current co-director--danced a highly promising “Lady Be Good” (opposite dynamic Teresa Reyes); he is in his first weeks with the company. Also Damian Woetzel--once the teen-age prodigy of Los Angeles Ballet--brought great style and elegance to “ ‘S Wonderful” (opposite the perky Shawn Stevens).

In “Agon” on Sunday night, Christopher d’Amboise brought a variety of attack to the first pas de trois (with Victoria Hall and Diana White) that his predecessor Friday had lacked. This was an alternately lyrical and propulsive, highfalutin and jazzy performance, yet disarmingly effortless and unassuming. His father, esteemed former City Ballet principal Jacques d’Amboise, danced in the company’s last Southern California engagement 12 years ago--though not in “Agon.”

In the second “Agon” pas de trois (with Victor Castelli and Peter Frame), Lourdes Lopez was very, very grave--almost sphinxlike--and her dancing had a cold, drop-dead surety that reminded one of Balanchine’s description of the ballet as “a machine that thinks.”

Heather Watts and Mel A. Tomlinson again ventured the impossibly contorted pas de deux--this time with all the flair it needed.

Repeat performances, with familiar principals, of “Songs of the Auvergne” and “Glass Pieces” (matinee), “Serenade” and “The Four Seasons” (evening) completed the Sunday programs.