DANCE REVIEW : ABT Brings Southland Premiere of ‘Variations’

Frederick Ashton’s “Symphonic Variations” proved the sole novelty on the three-part American Ballet Theatre program Wednesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

However, as the touchstone of British classicism, this sextet offered the company a challenge far more unusual than the sinewy modernisms of Glen Tetley’s “Rite of Spring” or the dramatic lyricism of Agnes de Mille’s “The Other.”

Ashton created it in 1946 as his comeback to the Sadler’s Wells Ballet after wartime service--and, in a sense, he re-created it after the premiere was postponed due to danseur Michael Somes’ injury. Like Balanchine’s “Theme and Variations” a year later, it recapitulated and extended the classical tradition with an emphasis on purity of form and unprecedented tests of dancer stamina.

Set against Sophie Fedorovitch’s straw and lime backdrop overlaid with swirling black tracery, the ballet reflected the score for piano and orchestra by Cesar Franck in its alternation between statements of architectural grandeur and daringly sustained passages of swift, intricate virtuosity.

Where Russian and American showpieces relied on energy bursts, “Symphonic Variations”--last seen here in the Royal Ballet of Covent Garden production, in the 1960s--prioritized a sense of flow: the showiest steps as well as simple walking transitions linked and harmonized. Unfortunately, this kind of noble bravura proved in short supply Wednesday in the Southland premiere of Somes’ 1992 staging.

Susan Jaffe danced the steps skillfully but seemed to approach the style as a matter of Thou-Shalt-Not, never seizing the opportunities to express her own refined lyricism. No stylist, Ethan Brown at least partnered strongly and never looked as labored as either Parrish Maynard or Wes Chapman.

Ashley Tuttle and Sandra Brown both demonstrated cool proficiency, but the sense of dancers moving and even breathing as one that made the Joffrey Ballet’s best performances of Ashton’s “Monotones” so magical never became evident here.

With Emil De Cou conducting expertly, William Wolfram capably played the score’s piano solos. “Symphonic Variations” receives its second and final performance of the OCPAC Ballet Theatre season tonight.