San Francisco Ballet
A rehearsal of Yuri Possokhov’s “Damned”
April 17, 2002

Muriel Maffre is working on crushing down Julie Diana to death. Bent deep in a contraction, Maffre’s outstretched right hand clenches into a fist.

“More down,” suggests Yuri Possokhov helpfully. Maffre changes the hand to press palm down and close the fingers into a terrifying ball. It’s a good thing that Diana is about forty feet away in the back as she dies, because she’d be pulverized in Maffre’s fist, but Maffre still isn’t satisfied. “You’ll find it, you’ll find it,” Possokhov says reassuringly. “Let’s go on. From the death of the princess.”

Since the premiere of “Magrittomania” San Francisco Ballet fans have been anxious to see what Yuri Possokhov had up his sleeve for an encore. The answer is “Damned”, a single-act version of the Medea story based on Euripides’ drama. Set to music by Ravel, Possokhov’s version of the Greek tragedy offers not only his usual beautifully-moving, fluid choreography, but also ample opportunity to stretch the dramatic muscles of his casts. All three of his Medeas, Joanna Berman, Lorena Feijoo and Maffre are obvious choices for the protagonist, but one expects that each of them will offer a slightly different read on the character. Similarly, the three Jasons, (Roman Rykine, Guennadi Nedviguine and Cyril Pierre) promise varying interpretations of the deuteragonist.

For a Wednesday afternoon rehearsal, Possokhov is running the ballet with Maffre, Pierre, and Julie Diana playing Creusa, the doomed princess who comes between them by becoming Jason’s second wife. Possokhov has pared down the story of “Medea” to these three along with fifteen dancers for his chorus, the traditional number for a Euripidean tragedy. He has cast both male and female dancers in the corps de ballet, although they all appear to be garbed and masked as the chorus of Corinthian women, but the visual uniformity with the different movement qualities is quite interesting.

The pas de deux for Diana and Pierre (Yuan Yuan Tan and Nicole Starbuck are the other Creusas) begins with complex and intriguing movement that seems to be a hallmark of Possokhov’s style. The pace of the music is measured, but the choreography flows freely within it and Diana and Pierre look delighted to be dancing. The corps behind them echoes their movements in long rippling skirts and pale masks. Possokhov has engaged Thyra Hartshorn, with whom he worked on “Magrittomania” and the dancers are trying out some of the costumes still, but the elements are obviously coming together.

Medea’s first scene is striking. Maffre stands absolutely still with the corps rocking behind her, giving the dizzying effect of a world thrown off-balance. The masks, which may seem strange to modern audiences, are effectively unsettling nonetheless, perhaps more so because they are unusual. Maffre, in her long black practice skirt and blood red leotard, looks even more unsettling. Even without costume, in bare lights, Medea’s sadness and anger is gripping. As she begins a pas de deux with Jason, she is by turns aggrieved and penitent. Then suddenly she slips to the floor in a heap, and Medea and Jason are giggling at each other. Such is rehearsing.

The ballet continues on, drawing the audience from one episode to the next and seems like it’s over too soon. There are things to fix, costumes to settle, and still, in the back, Maffre thinking about that hand.

San Francisco Ballet premieres “Damned” on Program 7, along with Helgi Tomasson’s “Silver Ladders” and Mark Morris’s “Sandpaper Ballet”. Performances run from April 23 through April 28, and you can find out more information online at http://www.sfballet.org.

Return to the review index

This review initially appeared on Criticaldance.com April 17, 2002.

For questions or comments, please contact maryellenhunt@yahoo.com.