Sarah Halzack, The Washington Post April 16, 2014   American Ballet Theatre took us twice Tuesday night to a shadowy, enchanted forest ruled by a flock of otherworldly creatures, first in Michel Fokine’s “Les Sylphides” and later in Frederick Ashton’s “The Dream,” a one-act take on Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” But the setting of these two works is where their similarities end, both in construction and execution. The 1908 Fokine work is a plotless reverie defined by its gossamer elegance, while the 1964 Ashton work is a highly narrative tale that is heavy on hijinks and bold, assured dancing. At the troupe’s opening-night performance at the Kennedy Center, one was carried off pitch-perfectly, while the other lacked the magic that its dreamy simplicity demands. […continued]     Read Full Story

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