BALLET REVIEW : Bujones in Canadian ‘Onegin’

Los Angeles doesn’t get to see much of Fernando Bujones any more. Ever since his much publicized and much regretted rift with Mikhail Baryshnikov and American Ballet Theatre, the Cuban-born firebrand has focused his career in South America and Europe.

Under the circumstances, his guest appearance with the National Ballet of Canada at Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Tuesday should have aroused extraordinary interest. For some reason, however, it didn’t. The house was nearly empty.

Those who stayed away missed an extraordinary performance. Cast, for the first time anywhere, as Lensky in John Cranko’s “Onegin,” Bujones offered a star turn, and more.

He whipped through the bravura challenges with snappy elan, defining the impetuosity of the character with razor-sharp attacks, high-speed articulation and nonchalant, high-velocity leaps. In the giddy duets with Olga, he partnered the charming Kim Lightheart with strength and valor.

As impending tragedy beckoned, he added telling accents of weight and tension. Although he did little to convey the vulnerability of the ardent dreamer, he conveyed the wonted desperation boldly and poignantly. At 33, he is a dancer of intrinsic force and mature authority.

In this context, unfortunately, the mature authority actually may have been something of a disadvantage. The Canadians matched him with a distinctly juvenile Onegin and a ridiculously boyish Gremin, and thus distorted the dramatic perspective.

Rex Harrington, ranked as a soloist with the company, is 24 and remarkably promising. He commands an imposing line and a potentially flashy technique. He provides splendid, self-effacing support for his Tatiana even in the most jolting, athletic encounters. What he cannot do, unfortunately, is suggest the world-weary sophistication, the brooding eroticism and psychological development of Pushkin’s magnetic hero.

Daniel Nelson, who danced Prince Gremin, looked like a kid wearing his father’s uniform. It wasn’t his fault. He danced with suave skill, did what was asked of him earnestly.

His casting made one wonder, however, about the company’s attitude toward this crucial role. One night it is illuminated by a senior character artist. The next night it is entrusted to a member of the corps de ballet.

The revelation of the evening was, once again, the Tatiana. Evelyn Hart of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet is billed as “resident guest” with this company. It must be nice to have her around.

She is willowy, frail, long-limbed and mercurial. She also seems to be a sensitive actress.

She exuded girlish rapture in the opening scene, bolted and swooned through the contortions of the mirror pas de deux with feverish abandon, brought tender affection to her duet with Gremin and rose to the climax of renunciation with noble agony.

The role is a new one for her. Some details and a few transitions remain sketchy. Her technical resources and temperamental instincts, however, would seem to be ideal.

Hats off, gentlemen. A ballerina!