George Balanchine’s dances and spirit are probably as alive and well in Miami as in any other place on the planet.
This reaction is prompted by the glowing performance of three major Balanchine works by the Miami City Ballet on Sunday afternoon at the George Mason University Performing Arts Center.
Under the direction of Edward Villella, whose own dancing of Balanchine was unsurpassed in its day, the company displayed both a finely honed technique and a keen understanding of the spirit and atmosphere of each work.
This was true not only of the principals, but also of the so-essential corps members who made a stage picture that was totally alive.
The greatest triumph came first, with a luminous performance of “Ballo della Regina,” choreographed for the brilliant ballerina Merrill Ashley, who staged the work for Miami.
It is not surprising that the company — schooled as it is in Mr. Villella’s style — has the high-energy look called for in so many of Mr. Balanchine’s neoclassic ballets; the wonder is that it so beautifully captured the romantic, airborne atmosphere of “Ballo” with its expansive Verdi score.
In “Stravinsky Violin Concerto,” Mr. Balanchine pushed ballet technique to its extremes. The company missed the strong definition of the first section, but the two strange, absorbing duets of the middle section created the sense of isolation and mystery that make them so riveting. Deanna Seay and Isanusi Garcia-Rodriguez were the first couple; Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra brought out the complexities of the second duet.
The afternoon closed with a romp through the brilliant “Rubies” with Miss Kronenberg and Renato Penteado leading the frolic and the long-legged Andrea Spiridonakos as the soloist.
The previous evening, the Miamians danced a program at George Mason so different as to suggest a split personality in the company.
The full-length work “The Neighborhood Ballroom” was an unabashed reach for a different audience, one not usually seen in ballet.
Mr. Villella, with the help of Frank Regan, an expert on period dance styles, produced an evening that draws on the rich vein of popular dancing — the waltz, Charleston, Lindy Hop and mambo among them.
Setting the work in a stylish dance hall, it invokes a louche atmosphere aided by a score by music director Francisco Renno and recordings by the likes of W.C. Handy, Duke Ellington and Perez Prado.
The dancing is a fluid mix of solos and duets that are sexy and seductive, together with glamorous ensemble pieces and some dazzling, witty routines for trios and quartets.
There is real and challenging choreography in the piece, and the dancers deliver it in high style, led by the star-turn performance of the lanky Yann Trividic, an exciting dancer who bounded through his role of “The Poet” with pyrotechnic flourish.
Other standouts were Iliana Lopez and Franklin Gamero in the mambo section.
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