BALLET AND DANCE REVIEWS : Hlinka Brings Child’s Wonder to ‘Beauty’

Tiny and vivacious, New York City Ballet principal Nichol Hlinka brought the company’s “Sleeping Beauty” a sense of childlike wonder with her performance as Aurora, Saturday afternoon at the Arts Center.

Looking sweetly bedazzled throughout the Rose Adagio, she made its technical rigors seem opportunities rather than challenges, dispatching the fearsome balances-in-extension with no hint of strain. Alas, this Aurora never grew mysteriously alluring in the Vision Scene, or majestic in the wedding pas de deux, but Hlinka’s technical prowess and disarmingly playful characterization sustained her impressively.

Opposite Hlinka: the notably warm, aristocratic Peter Boal as the Prince, not always effortless as a partner but stylish and exciting as a soloist--especially in the high-velocity turning jumps of his wedding variation.

The speed and pressure enforced by conductor Maurice Kaplow left Lourdes Lopez rushed and understretched in the Lilac Fairy’s Prologue variation, but elsewhere she embodied goodness and classicism with equal graciousness.

As Carabosse, Deborah Wingert seemed less than properly evil--just plain nasty perhaps. Certainly no force of nature.

A shaky lift ended a fussy, charmless performance of the Puss in Boots duet by Inmaculada Velez and Alexander Ritter. Another capped a rather blunt try at the Bluebird pas de deux by Tom Gold opposite the more refined Roma Sosenko.

Among the subsidiary artists, Ethan Stiefel displayed exemplary classical line and finesse in the “Jewels” divertissement.

In the largely familiar evening cast, Ben Huys partnered with remarkable surety as the Prince but proved less distinguished as a soloist and sometimes mannered in mime passages. Jenifer Ringer looked fleet and spirited in the Emerald solo.