Review: The Balletic Rise and Fall of Eva Perón

Ballet Hispánico, based in 1970, has been honoring its fiftieth anniversary for a stable two years. On Friday on the inaugural Metropolis Middle Dance Pageant, the corporate introduced the ultimate program on this prolonged celebration, which bought off to a rocky begin with canceled performances in April 2020. Anniversary occasions typically really feel like empty fanfare, however this turned out to be a milestone, a breakthrough: the corporate’s first evening-length manufacturing, and a putting one at that.

The 75-minute “Doña Perón,” choreographed by the prolific Belgian-Colombian dance maker Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, is a vivid 10-episode portrait of the lifetime of Eva Perón — Evita — the mythic and polarizing Argentine actress who ascended from poverty to populist first girl, all earlier than the age of 33, when she died of cervical most cancers.

In an interview in regards to the work, Lopez Ochoa stated, “We actually needed to make a portrait of a lady with out having a judgment,” an method she reiterated on Friday in a post-show speak with Ballet Hispánico’s creative director, Eduardo Vilaro. Nonetheless, it’s arduous to return away from “Doña Perón” not admiring its protagonist, partly due to storytelling selections — which emphasize the private over the political — and partly due to the brilliance of the lead dancer within the opening-night solid, the charming Dandara Veiga.

One of many manufacturing’s best strengths is its considerate integration of motion — Lopez Ochoa’s high-varnish, athletic fashion of latest ballet, gorgeously danced by the entire solid — with good-looking design components. This concord stands out from the primary, saintly picture: Veiga alone within the heart of the stage, elevated on a pedestal in a voluminous white gown, as if mid-ascension. (Mark Eric designed the plot-propelling costumes, lots of which come and undergo seamless onstage modifications; the spare, practical set and projections are by Christopher Ash.)

Veiga is quickly joined by a refrain of dancers representing Evita’s working-class followers, the descamisados (or the shirtless ones), waving white cloths within the air. Their grounded unison phrases offset the stillness of her authoritative posture: arms raised at proper angles, framing her face, a recurring gesture that at instances shudders into frantic movement, echoed by the group. Sounds of a recorded speech and cheering thread by means of Peter Salem’s dramatic unique rating (performed dwell) for bandoneón, piano, percussion, cello and violin.

Lopez Ochoa, who collaborated with the director Nancy Meckler, establishes early on that one thing is amiss: Veiga convulses and sways off-balance; her followers catch her. Within the second episode, we meet Evita the kid (the valiant Nina Basu) and witness her rejection by her father, who had a second, wealthier household. Younger Evita reappears all through the ballet, typically banished by her older self and typically embraced.

The motion progresses by means of Evita’s transfer to town, depicting her flirtations with males — a show of deft, tango-inflected partnering — and her continued rise to fame and energy. (Whereas a lot totally different from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, this telling of Evita’s story appears to take a couple of cues from its narrative arc.) Chris Bloom, as Juan Perón, is a reliable technician however overshadowed by Veiga’s step by step intensifying gentle. Their chemistry, as spouses and political companions, by no means fairly clicks.

Theatrically, “Doña Perón” suffers from some overwrought and undercooked moments. The specter of sickness asserts itself melodramatically: Once in a while, Veiga falters and clasps her stomach, as projections of what seem like roots or nerves flash throughout the backdrop, a suggestion of the physique’s inside decline. When her character dies, and Bloom tries to revive her, the interplay is nearly cartoonish.

However different passages are as affecting as these are flat. Towards the tip, Veiga (onstage for nearly the complete work) finds herself alone, having been shunned by the waltzing higher lessons. In silence (the music has dropped out), she flings her excessive heels and diamond necklace to the wings and begins to stamp and shout with enthralling rawness: “Che! Che!” The ensemble joins her, multiplying her rhythms with their very own a cappella calls and physique percussion. On this banding collectively, you see not only a riveting story however an organization having reached a brand new horizon.

Ballet Hispánico

By way of Sunday at Metropolis Middle, Manhattan; nycitycenter.org.