By Rachel Straus<\/p>\n
Most dancers\u2019 careers last a little more than a decade. \u00a0Jos\u00e9 Manuel Carre\u00f1o\u2019s reached the quarter century mark this year. The Cuban-born and trained principal dancer announced his retirement with American Ballet Theatre\u00a0in September 2010. On June 30, to a full-capacity audience at the Metropolitan Opera House, Carre\u00f1o made his farewell performance, dancing Prince Siegfried in Kevin McKenzie\u2019s staging of Swan Lake<\/em>.<\/p>\n Carre\u00f1o\u2019s departure from ABT marks the passing of a notable generation of performers. Their task was not easy. They danced at the end of the American dance boom in works by renowned ballet choreographers who had made or were making their last dances. Carre\u00f1o never worked with George Balanchine, Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, Antony Tudor, and Jerome Robbins, though he danced their ballets exquisitely. He modeled himself after Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolph Nureyev, and Eric Bruhn (who danced with Carre\u00f1o\u2019s teacher Alicia Alonso, longtime director of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba). Carre\u00f1o, however, never attained these male dancers\u2019 beyond-the-ballet-world stardom. \u201cShit\u2014why didn\u2019t I keep playing baseball?\u201d Carre\u00f1o recently said to Time Out<\/em> dance columnist Gia Kourlas. Carreno’s comment was a joke. His calling card has been his unswerving passion for ballet.<\/p>\n In an era marked by critics, choreographers, and dancers looking over their shoulders at a passing golden age, Carre\u00f1o\u2019s confident, uncomplicated stage presence reassured. He gave himself to his roles and his partners completely.\u00a0As Prince Siegfried, Carre\u00f1o\u00a0demonstrated his gallant charms. They include his virtuoso technique (following four pirouettes, he balanced in near stillness before lowering his working leg to the floor), his panther-like grace (turning in mid air, his legs scissored behind him, then in front), and his winning smile.<\/p>\n Like most farewell performances, Carre\u00f1o\u2019s was as much about honoring his career as highlighting the careers of dancers who are in their prime. Carre\u00f1o presented each of these performers to the audience with a graciously extended arm. Up first was Joaquin De Luz (as Benno, the prince\u2019s friend). A New York City Ballet principal, De Luz\u2019s guest artist appearance marked the first time he has danced with ABT since he left the company in 2003. In Act I\u2019s Pas de Trois, De Luz, Sarah Lane and Yuriko Kajiya\u00a0rode the full-bodied symphonic quality of Tchaikovsky\u2019s music (under the baton of Ormsby Wilkins) with a what-me-worry charisma.<\/p>\n Other dancers in their prime, who performed, were David Hallberg (as the evil sorcerer von Rothbart) and Gillian Murphy. Both wowed. Murphy danced Odile (the black swan) while veteran ballerina Julie Kent performed Odette (the white swan). This splitting of Swan Lake<\/em>\u2019s lead female role isn’t unknown. It was, however, made through Carre\u00f1o\u2019s suggestion and casting. The contrast between Murphy and Kent\u2019s performances was the most interesting part of the evening. Kent, who like Carre\u00f1o has 16 years with ABT, unfolded her limbs as though they were tendrils. Her delicacy is her signature quality. It is also a product of her age. Murphy, in contrast, eats up space. She dances with a juicy, full-bodied, fearless quality. This ballerina is no waif.<\/p>\n But it was David Hallberg\u2019s presence that radiated the strongest, if acting as much as dancing is the Geiger counter test. Appearing in Act III, Hallberg as Von Rothbart bore into his fellow performers eyes\u2019 like kryptonite. He danced with each of the four Princesses, luring them into his orbit like a menacing rake that you just can\u2019t help but like. With the Queen Mother (Susan Jaffe), he led her back to her throne and impudently sat in Prince Siegfried\u2019s throne. Hallberg\u2019s comic chutzpah stood in stark contrast to Carre\u00f1o\u2019s noblesse oblige, which is all to the good, if one believes that von Rothbart and the Prince are foils to Odile (who is imprisoned into the body of a swan by Rothbart and is further condemned by the Prince’s pledge of love to Odette).<\/p>\n Unlike Hallberg, Carre\u00f1o’s performance wasn’t that memorable. Perhaps it was because McKenzie\u2019s staging of Swan Lake<\/em>, after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, isn\u2019t that satisfying. There are too many choreographic and visual elements that don\u2019t gel. One occurs when Carre\u00f1o and Kent leap to their deaths. They look like flying fish rather lovers sacrificing their mortality to be with each other in the afterlife. Another\u00a0concerns Zack Brown\u2019s Cecil B. DeMille style backdrop from Act III. It bears resemblance to the technicolor scene in\u00a0The Ten Commandments <\/em>when Moses parts the Red Sea. Hollywood\u2019s bombastic sensibility rules in Mckenzie\u2019s version, which Carre\u00f1o has performed since its 2000 New York premiere.<\/p>\n As flowers rained down onto the stage, Carre\u00f1o took his final bows. A Moses-like parting of the ways occurred. While his colleagues will continue their ballet performance careers, Carre\u00f1o will cross over to teaching and coaching. He will help usher in the next generation. No doubt he’ll do it with unswerving dedication.<\/p>\n