New Principals Leap Effectively Into Stuttgart Ballet’s ‘Onegin’

Playing the heroes in floridly dramatic story ballets isn’t always easy for contemporary dancers, but the Stuttgart Ballet had several success stories when new principals took over in its sumptuous and satisfying “Onegin” at the Orange County Performing Arts Center over the weekend.

On Saturday night, guest star Susan Jaffe of American Ballet Theatre played Tatiana as a serious young woman with a secret, whose unhappy progression in love flowed smoothly. Disappointingly, her Onegin, Tamas Detrich, was so stiff and remote that it was tough to see why she’d fall for him. Still, Detrich was such a solid partner in their dream duet, they built passion by sailing through lifts that pairs figure skaters would envy.

The other lovers, Alexander Zaitzev as Lensky and Penelope Cantrell as Olga, were well matched, weaving through less frantic duets. Cantrell seemed a bit rattled at first, then settled into the role solidly, hampered only by a distractingly frozen smile. Zaitzev was a model of animated classical ease, from his early buoyant boyishness to his eventual desperate impetuosity.

As Lensky on Sunday afternoon, Philip Barankiewicz was vividly expansive--one of those rare male dancers who looks as if he could have joined the NFL, except that he was having more fun dancing. Oihane Herrero, as his Olga, matched both his explosiveness and sweetness.

Julia Kramer and Robert Tewsley, who are fairly new to the roles of Tatiana and Onegin, were a marvel of acting and dancing grace on Sunday. Tewsley’s Hamlet-esque opening solo and his aloof public persona established him early as a troubled but irresistible object of affection for Tatiana. Add to that Kramer’s articulate limbs, precise attack and nuanced moods, and you have the kind of romantic journey that makes the love-story ballet work.