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The Most Envied Dancer in Ballet
Published: 12/15/2009 3:50 PM
Last Modified: 12/16/2009 4:57 PM

...Well, at least when it comes to some performances of "The Nutcracker" by Tulsa Ballet.

Usually, Ma Cong dances the role of the Mouse King in the first part of the ballet. This includes the Battle scene, in which the Mouse King gambols all over the stage until he's bonked on the head by a shoe-wielding Marie.

Then, in Act Two, Cong performs what has been his signature role in this ballet for years -- the Russian solo, that is another bravura bit of dancing.

But there are times -- say, during last Saturday evening's performance -- when Cong only does the Russian solo.

"That's when he's the most envied dancer in the company," said artistic director Marcello Angelini. "Ma is on stage for less than a minute, but at the end of the night he gets the most applause.

"But the Russian solo has always been a crowd-pleaser, in just about every version of this ballet," Angelini said. "Part of the reason is the music -- it's one of the most familiar tunes in the score. But in Ma's case, it's really because of what he dances, and how he dances."

Granted, Cong danced the Mouse King and the Russian at the ballet's matinee performance that Saturday afternoon, so it wasn't like he was taking a busman's holiday in the evening show.

In any case, his colleagues managed to wreak a little good-natured vengeance on Cong earlier that month. As part of the ballet's "Winter Celebration" performance Dec. 3, fellow principal dancers Alfonso Martin and Wang Yi put together a solo work for Cong they called "V for Vendetta" that required Cong to perform a series of excerpts from the ballets he's choreographed for Tulsa Ballet -- a performance that ended with Cong prostrate on the stage floor, chest heaving from his exertions...but with his smile still intact.

"The Nutcracker" continues at the Tulsa PAC through Sunday, Dec. 20.



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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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