Balanchine mixed bill, The Washington Ballet, Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater, Washington

A pleasant evening with many of our favorites doing good work. Elizabeth Gaither opens up the first theme of The Four Temperaments with some impressive stretches; Erin Mahoney masters the speedy footwork of the fourth variation ("Choleric"); and Jared Nelson goes all out with alarming drops to the floor in the third variation ("Phlegmatic").

Michele Jimenez and Luis Torres dance the pas de deux Sonatine, from 1975, with music by Ravel (peformed by pianist Christian Bonvin). What I like about this piece is its closing moments, which happen with an expected swell of music. Instead of the expected big lift center stage, the man and the woman dance off in opposite directions into the wings with tours, at the same time separate and synchronized.

Most everyone gets the opportunity to schtick it up for A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act I). The corps of butterflies and fairies (drawn from the company's school) are very well coached. Jonathan Jordan performs a muscular Oberon. But Hippolyta's Hounds, as costumed, bear a frightful resemblance to the mice in The Nutcracker.

posted: 8:33:14 PM