Dance Reviews : McKerrow, Collins in ABT’s ‘Quixote’

Call it the Battle of the Spitfires, with Amanda McKerrow and Marianna Tcherkassky testing who could kick herself in the head more often during the pseudo-Spanish jumps-with-backbends peppering the ballet “Don Quixote.”

Dominating the fourth performance of the American Ballet Theatre engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, McKerrow danced Kitri as a character role, initially changing nearly everything about her normal attack and style. Aggressively spunky and volatile in the first act, she became a paragon of calm, centered classicism in the vision scene and then combined these extremes in a superbly executed wedding duet. A risky, imaginative achievement.

Opposite her, Jeremy Collins seemed to portray some nobleman-in-disguise instead of a poor barber named Basil. However, Collins danced so buoyantly and partnered with such suavity that his bland, inappropriate characterization ultimately mattered less than any of his prolonged one-arm lifts.

Tcherkassky and five colleagues were new to their roles Friday, but she betrayed no hint of insecurity in her skillfully executed, compulsively saucy performance as Mercedes. Carld Jonassaint hadn’t yet mastered every technical feat assigned to Espada, but the promise of a distinctively elegant interpretation remained evident.

In the title role, Ethan Brown did little more than strike picturesque poses, as if waiting for a woodcarver to turn them into tourist souvenirs. However, Paloma Herrera danced with impressive speed, sharpness and delicacy as Amour.

John Selya contributed a lumpen, sad-sack Gamache, utterly different from the storklike dandy that Roger van Fleteren had made of the character on Thursday, but almost as funny. Cynthia Anderson danced the Dryad Queen capably.