MUSIC & DANCE REVIEWS : Julie Kent, Jeremy Collins in ABT ‘Giselle’

In the dreadful 1987 film “Dancers,” Julie Kent played an aspiring ballerina seduced by a corrupt company director, with their romance mirroring the plot of “Giselle.” She didn’t dance Giselle, however--a lack remedied on Sunday afternoon at the Performing Arts Center when she appeared opposite Jeremy Collins in the previously reviewed American Ballet Theatre staging.

Long-limbed and painfully thin, Kent emphasized Giselle’s shyness in a small-scale but persuasive portrayal highlighted by a deeply intense mad scene. Her dancing seldom bloomed, however, remaining correct but oddly dry except in the supported passages of Act II, where Collins’ partnering prowess released her to a new amplitude.

Unfortunately, Collins seemed intent on setting a record for hammy excess, so he largely obliterated the exemplary refinement of his dancing. From his misplaced lunge off the ramp at the beginning of the ballet to his insufferable lurch-and-stagger in the final scene (complete with scattered lilies a la Baryshnikov and a feverish collapse), this was Albrecht off the wall.

Roger van Fleteren made a wily but forceful Hilarion, Veronica Lynn a skeletal Myrta possessing positively supernatural balances. Paloma Herrera and Robert Wallace offered a Peasant pas de deux notable for charm, speed and precision.