After the slight disappointment of Justin Peck's energetic but somewhat arbitrary Pulcinella Variations, with its unattractive costumes by Tsumori Chisato, it was a delight to see this week Balanchine's Diamonds, the third part of Jewels, from 1967 and coached by Suzanne Farrell, on whom Balanchine had choregraphed it originally. This ballet, with music from Tschaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 in D Major (the first movement is missing, considered by Balanchine as unsuitable for dancing) is exquisite and complex, and never totally yielding up its secrets no matter how many times one sees it.
This performance is danced by Russell Janzen and Sara Mearns and a corps of seventeen women and twelve men. The first movement is allegro and a complex scene of women doing, mostly, variations on battement, pique arabesque, balance and pas de chat to the waltzlike music. The second part is an elegant adagio pas de deux with Janzen and Mearns, as they constantly come together and pull apart, emphasizing their dependency as well as their independence. And in the third part the corps is partnered as the music builds, slows down for mazurkas and polonaises, and builds again for fast pirouettes and grand jetes in the climax. It's a beautiful and moving ballet, emphasizing --as Balanchine often does -- everything from independence to being part of a couple and then part of a group, with individuals in harmony with one another.
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