Pennsylvania Ballet displays new director Corella's good influence

The Pennsylvania Ballet opened its season - and the next chapter in its 51-year existence - Thursday night at the Academy of Music with Press Play: The Directorial Debut of Ángel Corella.

It's less than two months since the Spaniard Corella, a former principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre and an international star, took over as artistic director amid a tsunami of changes at the company. His influence has already made improvements.

The program opened with Balanchine's "Allegro Brillante," set to Tchaikovsky. The four couples, led by Amy Aldridge and Alexander Peters, put full energy into the steps, dancing with speed, spring, joy - and, most important, a fearlessness previously unseen. Peters, who in 2012 earned notice as a charming Peter Pan, is beginning to look like a red-haired Corella, particularly in the carriage of his upper body.

Ian Hussey also benefited from a stronger upper-body presentation as he and Lauren Fadeley danced to Chopin waltzes and mazurkas (played onstage by pianist Martha Koeneman) in Jerome Robbins' "Other Dances," created for the great Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova. Fadeley, in her second season as a principal, brought much personality to each section.

The evening also gave younger dancers a chance to shine. Elizabeth Mateer and Lorin Mathis, both from the corps de ballet, were breathtaking in the company premiere of Christopher Wheeldon's "Liturgy" (set to music by Arvo Pärt, including a violin solo by Luigi Mazzocchi). Dressed in simple unitards, they slowly twisted and stretched into beautiful shapes.

Mateer stood out again later in the evening as a personable performer among a cast of 15 in Alexei Ratmansky's "Jeu de Cartes," set to Stravinsky, a piece the ballet premiered in 2011.

In just a couple of months, Corella has put his mark on the Pennsylvania Ballet. Still dancing in some guest performances, Corella is known for his air-catching leaps and strong pirouettes, areas of weakness among some of his new company's dancers. I'm looking forward to watching their development under his guidance.

Meanwhile, the company has had a few more personnel changes: Zachary Hench quietly retired from dancing to focus on his new role as ballet master, and three new dancers joined as members of the corps de ballet: former Royal Ballet of Flanders dancer Olivia Hartzell and a pair from Cuba, Mayara Pineiro and Etienne Diaz.