Review: ABT'S CRIME AND PUNISHMENT at Kennedy Center

American Ballet Theatre (ABT) regularly brings new story ballets to DC for their Kennedy Center performances and this year was no different. Crime and Punishment, based on the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, premiered in New York in the fall and is the first full-length ballet by a female choreographer in ABT’s repertory. It’s also a highly complex - and long - story to tell through dance, so I was curious to see if it would be a success. 

Unfortunately, despite a few high points, it largely dragged, feeling longer than its two-hour runtime with the dizzying number of characters and plot twists. Choreographer Helen Pickett and director James Bonas’ Crime and Punishment included beautiful sets by Soutra Gilmour who also did the costumes and compelling, if often distracting videography by Tal Yarden. The video includes occasional supertitles to help distill the plot and clarify which characters are in the action, but it also overpowers the dance at times, adding a cinematic sleekness that detracts from the humility of the dancers and their movements. 

The movement vocabulary itself has a lot of plusses; it’s thrilling to see these classically-trained dancers grieve, throb and hurl themselves across the stage in anger. There’s little pretty on display, which is as it should be. Pickett is also superb when it comes to intricate group dances, and I especially loved the mechanical Citizens or corps de ballet as they marched blindly through the city, living lives of drudgery. Instead of traditional pantomime Pickett gives us lurching gestures with contorted hands. It works here, adding aggression to every interaction. 

At Wednesday’s opening performance Principal dancer Herman Cornejo danced the lead role of Raskolnikov, tormented by his bad deeds and brought focus and intensity to the role. It’s a dramatic lead but not a romantic one, which in a company known for its danseurs nobles could be harder to find. Cornejo here shows the same fleet footwork and sky-high jumps as always, but channels them internally. He’s bereft from the first moment to the end. Stepping in for the scheduled performers were Catherine Hurlin and Aran Bell in the roles of Raskolnikov’s sister and best friend. My favorite moment of the night came in their early pas de deux when Bell first puts his hands on Hurlin’s waist, at her invitation or maybe insistence. It was hesitant and tender, the way first touches of love often are, and was the sort of small, humane gesture recognizable from the last row, no matter where you are in the world. 

If Crime and Punishment is one of your favorite books, please do go see this. For those of us with a more cursory knowledge, review the family tree in the lobby that shows how each character is connected, and you may have a shot at following the action. It’s an ambitious work that doesn’t pan out, but it gave me way more to think about than just another Giselle. 

Performances run through Saturday, February 15

Runtime: 2 hours, 10 minutes including one intermission

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