DANCE REVIEWS : CORRY AS WIDOW IN ‘LA FILLE MAL GARDEE’

If any character dancer owns a role these days, the dancer is Stanley Holden and the role is the Widow Simone in Sir Frederick Ashton’s pastoral ballet, “La Fille mal Gardee.” So it wasn’t surprising that Carl Corry, who danced the Widow for the first time in Los Angeles at the Joffrey Ballet matinee on Sunday, offered a careful copy of a typical Holden performance.

All the old biddy’s mannerisms were intact, except for lapses in the comic timing of tiny moments, like the hand poised to administer a spanking that should segue decoratively into a cheery wave at arriving guests.

Although he never descended into campy coyness, Corry only intermittently located the toddling gravity that makes the role so delicious. When he clicked his heels in the clog dance, it was the easy motion of a slim young dancer, not the effortful action of someone who doesn’t get this winded every day.

But the basic outlines were in place. One of these days, Corry may well find his own way of interpreting the broad, fearlessly exaggerated aspects of what is essentially a British music-hall turn cleverly grafted onto a ballet.

Other cast members in this sparkling performance were familiar faces. Allan Lewis conducted.