When last we saw Dennis Nahat, it was during his reign as artistic director of Ballet San José, cast out in a coup d’etat that has re-imagined that company as a regional offshoot of American Ballet Theatre. Now, happily, Nahat has returned to San José with the U.S. premiere of something completely (and that doesn’t even begin to cover it) different.
Yulan — the word means magnolia — perhaps best described as a Chinese-style Cirque du Soleil, is a brilliantly colored, imaginative extravaganza starring the Dalian Acrobatic Troupe, directed by Qi Chunsheng, with whom Nahat’s been working, commuting back and forth to China, for a year. Imported, with a company of 100 and two boxcars full of paraphernalia, from the city of Dalian, it includes amazing acrobatics, lush music, shimmering backdrops, and gorgeous costumes, all performed by an ardent and great-looking cast whose circus skills are so incredible as to verge on the supernatural.
It has a story starring — of all things — the earth, a pageant in 12 scenes of creation, destruction and regeneration, with a gorgeous, happy ending. Yulan, which opened Friday night and continues through the weekend at the historic California Theater in San José, will be followed Dec. 18-29 by The Terracotta Prince, set to Tchaikowsky. It promises to be sort of a Dalian Acrobatic Nutcracker, though Nahat has said he’s enjoined from using that word in San José, where his former company will, of course, be presenting a Nutcracker.
Although director Nahat, along with Song Xiaoxue and Zhang Hongfei, has choreographed dances for the acrobats, it must be said that the performers are not, for the most part, very balletically skilled. They’re better at flying through the air than pointing their feet. No surprise. After all, would you expect Baryshnikov to twist from the flies by his neck? The dancing and pageantry seems designed to serve as throughlines from feat to feat. When that works, it’s a big help. The first half of Yulan isn’t as good at it as the second. It feels like stunt, gasp, stunt, whee, stunt, wow! … you get the idea. The second half, on the other hand, ably fulfills what the production is driving at — a seamless weave of movement, imagination, beauty, and derring-do.
Since admen and meth dealers have supplanted the Ed Sullivan Show, it’s rare that you get to see an acrobat spend five minutes in a one-armed handstand, her body gracefully twisting to mirror a curling vine like the one that’s on the backdrop. Or a juggler who can catch a disc on a skinny little rope — make that two discs — from 20 feet away. Or a couple who can support each other’s weight while hanging 15 feet above the stage. And that’s just the beginning. The effects are pretty wonderful, too, particularly the blanket of white silk that covers the stage to first become a tossing sea and then a mountainous snowscape, disgorging sinuous acrobats. How can anyone (or two, or more) wrap their knee around their shoulder or their feet over their eyebrows? Just wondering.
There are roughly oh, a million people involved in this production. To mention the stellar work of but a few: Zhao Bin, chief planner; Xu Zeng, costumes; Wang Bo, scenery; Paul Chihara, music and orchestration (he also created the music for Shogun years back on TV, by the bye), Jeff Kryka, sythestration and additional orchestration (the music, played by the International Philharmonic Orchestra of Beijing, was recorded), and Jin Xin, video designer. The best display of the evening for this onlooker arrived at the finale. The entire cast was onstage, some striking incredible balances as they stacked upon each other, with a gorgeous crimson magnolia at the center of it all. I look forward to seeing what Nahat and company unwrap in December. And yes, do bring the kids.