star quality burns as brightly as
ever. Balanchine a dapted “slaugh-
ter” f rom his 1936 B roadway musi-
cal “on Your To es,” with music by
Richard Rodgers — lots of cymbals
— and it’s little more than a lively
romp of intentionally campy
Broadway tropes. But Kharatian,
coiling and uncoiling in her
skimpy showgirl outfit and heels,
has h er o wn ideas.
Daniel Roberge’s rubber-
limbed Hoofer (in a tremendous
comic turn) tries to possess her,
but he can’t, and she tells us why
with every knowing f lick of a limb.
she is a sophisticated free spirit
with a specific set of skills; some-
one who could, say, boss a guy
around the tennis court while
turning handsprings, then coolly
saunter home for a bubble bath
and some Baudelaire, in the origi-
nal French.
There were other bright mo-
ments in the program, which in-
cluded a crisp, ebullient account
of Balanchine’s “a llegro Brillante.”
Maki onuki and guest artist Mar-
see dance review on c4BY SARAH L. KAUFMANsheer black hose and a few
swishy inches of f ringe have n ever
commanded the stage quite as
they did Thursday night at the
Kennedy Center. The body inside
them had clearly been borrowed
from the Rockettes or a Las Vegas
nightclub, strutting before the au-
dience with a sensational mix of
athleticism and s eduction.
The legs, the attitude: They be-
longed to sona Kharatian, the
Washington Ballet’s dark-eyed
slayer of souls. Her unfurling kicks,
carefree arms and air of easy tri-
umph turned the spoofy Bal-
anchine ballet “slaughter on Te nth
avenue” into her private play-
ground. Kharatian’s performance
as the striptease girl in this 1968
parody of brawling mobsters and
showbiz capped the Washington
Ballet’s “Balanchine + a shton” p ro-
gram at the eisenhower Theater. it
also left an indelible impression of
an artist who owns her work.
Kharatian is in her 20th year
with the c ompany, a nd h er unique
KLMNO
Style
saturday, february 22 , 2020. washingtonpost.com/style eZ re c
DANce review
The pole position for this Washington Ballet dancer
BY MATTHEW GUERRIERIThe dancer is back. on Thurs-
day, for the first time since
november, national symphony
orchestra Music Director gia-
nandrea noseda was o n the podi-
um, gesturing and swaying in
characteristically energetic man-
ner for a Kennedy Center audi-
ence (and video viewers, with
eight cameras deployed in prepa-
ration for a saturday live
stream). The program laid down
a Viennese gauntlet: Franz schu-
bert’s “Unfinished” symphony
no. 8 and gustav Mahler’s vast
symphony no. 5. The action was
nonstop. The plot took some
time to come into focus.
in his opening remarks, nose-
da described the works as
“strange symphonies” — though,
given their ongoing popularity,
perhaps it is the defined parame-
ters of the form that need adjust-
ing. But the schubert did, in the
end, seem a bit anomalous. Con-
ductor and orchestra seemed to
flip between two channels: gen-
tle and detailed, with some beau-
tifully shaped phrases, and f orce-
ful and heavy, with an exciting
but two-dimensional brass-for-
ward sound. in the second of the
two movements, noseda kept the
rhythms and tempo largely
straightforward, with little Ro-
see music review on c2Music reviewA matter of
balance for
the dancing
conductor
BY MANUEL ROIG-FRANZIA in Las VegasThe only sure thing
in Vegas: Uncertainty
photos by melina mara/the Washington posttOP: nevada voters wait in long lines for early balloting in the
chinatown mall in Las vegas. aBOve: Former vice president Joe
Biden walks a picket line with nevada culinary union members at
the Palms resort & casino in Las vegas.T
he season of Democratic dread is here.
as the party alights in nevada’s Mojave
Desert for saturday’s caucuses, the angst and
unease of its faithful are tightly spring loaded.
Voters are twitching with thoughts of dire
unknowns and mulling the complicated realities facing
their party.
outside a Chinese restaurant, where former vice
president Joe Biden — once the “inevitability candidate”
— struggles to be heard, his dwindling fans utter words
that called to mind a hospital ward. “Resuscitate.”
“Recover.” “Pull through.” “ survive.”
in the horizonless, low-slung neighborhoods on the
northeast side of town — a place where sen. Bernie
sanders (i-Vt.) has a base of support — there are worries
that former new York mayor Mike Bloomberg, freshly
unveiled in the top tier with his debut debate appear-
ance Wednesday, could use his vast fortune to buy the
election.
The dread among Democrats is unfolding here in full
view of their political nemesis, President Trump, who
trolled his would-be opponents this week by sleeping in
splendor at the Las Vegas hotel that bears his name —
just up the street from the stage where Democrats
see nevada on c2xmbphotography/Washington ballet
sona Kharatian, with dan roberge, is a sophisticated f ree spirit in “slaughter on tenth avenue.”BY SHAYNA JACOBSNEW YORK — The jury in Harvey
Weinstein’s sexual assault trial
suggested Friday that it was hung
on the two top counts but unani-
mous on the others as it headed
into a break for the weekend.
Justice James Burke gave ju-
rors a brief instruction, roughly a
minute long, asking them to con-
tinue trying to reach a verdict on
all counts. The panel of seven
men and five women must be
unanimous to reach a verdict —
but the language of a note they
sent to the judge indicates they
are not there on the counts of
predatory sexual assault, which
are the most severe in the case
and carry a sentence of 10 years to
life i n prison.
“We the jury request to under-
stand if we can be hung on 1 and 3
and unanimous on the other
charges,” said the note, which
Burke read aloud before calling
the jury in to address them.
The note, despite its specificity,
does not necessarily reflect the
jurors’ eventual verdict — it could
have been posing a hypothetical
scenario or could simply reflect
their confusion over the compli-
cated charges.
about a half-hour after Burke
addressed jurors, they were sent
home. The session was already set
to end early, at 3 p.m., because
Weinstein attorney Donna Ro-
tunno needed to travel home to
Chicago to attend a funeral.
in the courtroom, Weinstein,
leaning over his walker, looked
downtrodden after conferring
with his lawyers about the devel-
opments. Later, in the hallway,
the once-powerful movie produc-
er shrugged and stayed silent as
reporters shouted questions
about the jury indications.
Manhattan District attorney
Cyrus Vance Jr., who has a lot
riding on the high-profile case,
had a wide grin across his face as
he left the courtroom.
The predatory sexual assault
charges that seem to be in dispute
both stem from an accusation
from “The sopranos” actress an-
nabella sciorra, 59, who testified
that Weinstein raped her in late
1993 or early 1994. Jurors would
need to conclude that there was a
pattern of sexual assault that
includes sciorra’s allegation and
the allegations of either or both of
the other accusers: Mimi Haleyi
see weinstein on c2Weinstein
jury signals
a deadlock
on 2 counts