Dance Review : Loscavio and Zubiria Take Over in ‘Corsaire’

A new couple inherited the Petipa-derived “Corsaire” pas de deux Wednesday on the second night of the San Francisco Ballet run at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.

Elizabeth Loscavio and Alexi Zubiria looked more evenly matched than their predecessors on Tuesday.

But if Loscavio on Wednesday evening did not rise to the stylistic heights that Kirov-trained Ludmila Lopukhova had the previous night, Zubiria helped compensate with more appropriate dramatic involvement, greater sensuality and less misfired risky bravado than had his predecessor, Andre Reyes.

Loscavio danced with icy allure, buttery port de bras but otherwise expressive purity of line. She executed the fouette challenges in her variation with dazzling security and minimal wandering.

Zubiria had respectable, if not spectacular, elevation and was impressive with his ability to seem to hang in the air and with his forceful and clear circuit of barrel turns. His adoration of his partner was appropriate to his slave’s role.