This Prince and Cinderella Are a Real Couple With Regal Style

All fans of American Ballet Theatre should now say a Christmas prayer for thecontinued health and well-being of newly promoted principal dancers Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Belotserkovsky.

This Ukrainian husband-and-wife team was cast in just one “Cinderella” during the company’s ongoing run at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. However, injuries to other principals have left much of the final weekend in their keeping--and on Thursday (two days earlier than originally scheduled) they danced the lead roles together for the first time.

Long-limbed, fine-boned beauties both, they define the elongated silhouette of Russian classicism calmly and proudly as if it were a sacred trust. No crude athleticism or salesmanship. Just ballet dancing of ideal grace and nobility.

Even Belotserkovsky couldn’t make the stop-and-go, hoist-and-pose duets look easy, but his fine partnering released Dvorovenko into ever-more-expansive lyric statements. Elsewhere, her purity of line and sense of drama redeemed even the most mundane choreography and mime.

Among other Thursday cast changes, Flavio Salazar and Guillaume Graffin went deliriously over the top as the farcical stepsisters, leaving Brian Reeder free to bring dignity and sympathy to the role of Cinderella’s father.

Sandra Brown made a bright, gracious Fairy Godmother. Erica Cornejo sparkled as Autumn, but Jennifer Alexander and Michele Wiles looked comparatively unseasoned as Summer and Winter. Ormsby Wilkins again conducted.