Music and Dance Reviews : Rodriguez in Final Joffrey ‘Romeo, Juliet’

Deep within Beatriz Rodriguez’s Juliet lies a serene faith in love that gives moments of her performance an almost spiritual radiance.

Rodriguez joined previously reviewed Joffrey Ballet colleagues Tuesday for the final “Romeo and Juliet” of the Music Center season. Her notably thoughtful and detailed portrayal sustained itself in dancing of lyric purity and through pantomime invested with consuming urgency.

However, the gleeful girlishness of her first scene looked forced and her partnership with Tyler Walters did not always achieve ideal flow.

Moreover, this Juliet frequently seemed so lost in her emotions that she scarcely had any relationship with the people closest to her. Romeo treated her as a living woman but she related to him as some kind of miraculous dream. He made her feel deliriously happy--and essentially it was that feeling she pursued, not the man.

This curious sense of disassociation robbed the Tomb Scene of its heartbreak. We wanted Juliet to mourn this dead lover, not sink into another emotional fog. For all her highly original artistry, Rodriguez left herself high and dry where it mattered most.