Evoking a Romantic Fantasy

The only thing seriously wrong with Universal Ballet’s full-evening spectacle “Shim Chung” is its date of creation: 1986 instead of 1886. If we could only believe that this three-act saga of filial devotion came from the heyday of Romantic ballet, everything would fit and all questions would be answered.

After all, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Tuesday and Wednesday, choreographer Adrienne Dellas managed to cram into three fast-moving hours not only plenty of charming, well-crafted dances but virtually every cherishable narrative device and special effect from the 19th century repertory.

A partial list would include a storm at sea (“Le Corsaire”), a mysterious White Lady (“Raymonda”), an underwater divertissement (“Pharaoh’s Daughter”), a heroine in danger of rape (all the above), a hero who auditions prospective brides by watching them dance (“Swan Lake”), a vision scene (take your pick) and a plot launched with a newborn babe and developed when that babe suddenly grows to ballerina age (“Sleeping Beauty”).

Moreover, the last act holds not only a wedding (as in “Coppelia” and a host of others), but a miracle of faith a la “A Folk Tale.” Who would believe that Dellas created it from an ancient Korean myth long after Balanchine, Robbins, Ashton and Tudor had utterly transformed classical dance and the role of narrative?

Nobody at the Pavilion on Tuesday or Wednesday for “Shim Chung” shares the sweet naivete of its heroine and thus proves far more convincing than all the glum, clueless faux-antique ballets cluttering the repertory. (Remember Ben Stevenson’s “Dracula”?) You could even argue that it renews an anything-can-happen Romantic spirit that’s exactly what’s missing in many recent stagings of authentic 19th century classics--the latest Bolshoi “Giselle,” for example.

Do blind people understand messages delivered to them in pantomime? They do in “Shim Chung.” Are silken Korean court robes and stately ceremonial dances compatible with satin toe shoes and intricate pointe work? Dellas makes you believe they are.

Abetted by composer Kevin Barber Pickard and set designer Myung-Ho Kim, she evokes the same sort of lush, dangerous, fantasy-Asia that European audiences found irresistible in ballets of the Romantic Age, while Universal Ballet’s cadres of dancing peasants, sailors, courtiers, fish and dream maidens deliver her choreography at a level of technical pizazz that belongs to our era alone.

Ultimately, what keeps “Shim Chung” from becoming a Romantic rummage sale is the casting of the title role, a self-sacrificing beauty who endures (in Thelma Ritter’s words from “All About Eve”) everything but the bloodhounds nipping at her heels.

A founding member of Universal Ballet and now its general director, Julia Moon brought a special authority and gravity to her performance Tuesday that unified the ballet and added poignancy to her lyrical dancing, whether she was begging for food, rejecting the advances of an amorous sea critter or finding love in the arms of the Korean King.

On Wednesday, the role passed to the willowy Sun-Hee Park, more mercurial and especially thrilling in the Act 2 and Act 3 love duets for her remarkable lightness and ability to give herself totally to the moment.

Jae-Won Hwang danced the Korean King both nights, brooding effectively, partnering conscientiously but looking curiously blase when finding a giant lotus on his patio--and the girl of his dreams inside it. Maybe that kind of thing happens in Seoul all the time, but on tour, at least, a little more passion would be welcome.

As the Sea Prince, Jae-Yong Ohm partnered Moon roughly on Tuesday, but Dragos Mihalcea had not only secure technique on Wednesday but high Romantic fervor. As the Captain, Jong-Pil Lee (Wednesday) had the advantage over Hyuk-Ku Kwan (Tuesday) in fiery yet precise virtuosity.

On both nights, Ioana Vasilescu capably served as Midwife, Angelfish and Night, while Jae-Woong Pu made Shim Chung’s blind father so likable that the two audiences burst into applause at his reunion with his daughter and the restoration of his sight.

Adding immeasurably to the splendor of the ballet: an array of costumes depicting the workaday, royal, dream and undersea worlds designed by Sylvia Taalsohn and Ki-Sook Keum (Acts 1 and 3) and company artistic director Oleg Vinogradov (Act 2). Seung-Han Choi conducted energetically, but the orchestra often sounded shrill or sour, especially on Tuesday.