Dance Reviews : Susan Jaffe as Kitri in ABT’s ‘Don Quixote’

Among American Ballet Theatre principals, Susan Jaffe is notable for luxurious technical plush, remarkable purity of line and consistent generosity of attack. It was no surprise, then, to find these virtues evident in her dancing as Kitri in “Don Quixote,” Saturday afternoon in Shrine Auditorium.

Her fire in the role, however, was something special--and it wasn’t merely a matter of acting. Jaffe obviously understood the driving, percussive quality of her steps, the flouncy shoulder action, the yielding backbends as keys to her character. And without thoroughly exhausting the possibilities of spitfire abandon, she reveled in these qualities, delivering a scintillating performance.

Ross Stretton ably partnered this vibrant, classy charmer, and he danced smoothly and fluently most of the afternoon--even with a few outbursts of genuine, full-out bravado. But in personality this Basil remained a lox: tame, stolid, arguably the least interesting character onstage (always excepting, of course, Don Quixote himself).

Clark Tippet made an unusually nasty Lorenzo--providing a compelling edge to the parental manipulations of Kitri--and Anne Adair proved an ideally fleet, baby-faced Amour in the dream scene. Terry Orr bumbled expertly as Sancho.

Charles Barker conducted a very ragged performance of the patchwork-Minkus score.