Dance

When Alexander (Sasha) Iziliaev sails across the stage as Prodigal Son in George Balanchine's great masterpiece, he won't just be overcoming gravity. He'll be surmounting a knee injury that threatened his career. He'll come out of Son's great iconic male jump (legs stretching high above the head and body, making the dancer seem to be sitting on air) and land on a leg that kept him sidelined for two years. The bad guys tempting Prodigal will sling Sasha around by his legs, and he'll have to jump over a fence, fall down and crawl—all on a leg that only recently had old surgical screws disintegrating within it.

He notes ruefully, "It happened during a rehearsal run-through, not even a performance. Basically I went one way and my knee went the other." Ouch. The best way to describe it, he says, is that his knee was "loose." He's grateful for excellent company doctors and PAB's unstinting support in keeping him on the principal dancer roster. But it was only last spring that Sasha carefully started taking on small roles.

It helps, too, that Iziliaev's Prodigal partner is wife Arantxa Ochoa. "It's always easier dancing with my wife," he says. "One look between us on stage tells me everything I need to know as her partner." Spaniard Ochoa and Russian Iziliaev met at Hartford Ballet. Iziliaev went on to New York City Ballet, and Ochoa to PAB; exhausting commuting ensued. Iziliaev came to PAB, which offered much the same rep and more stage time, plus Ochoa. He arrived in 1999 and they married in 2000.

Now, what Iziliaev's doing is the equivalent of Donovan McNabb sitting on the bench for two years, then returning for the Super Bowl. Of course, McNabb wouldn't have the inspiration of tossing his passes to his wife.

Western Symphony/Prodigal Son/Theme and Variations, Wed.-Fri., Feb. 1-3, 8 p.m.; Sat., Feb. 4, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sun., Feb. 5, 2 p.m., $19-$74, Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St., 215-336-2000.