Summary
An artistic clash of some proportions as Kirov grandiosity runs into the buffers of Far Eastern theatre and all the things that have made their TV so magnificently weird, strange and, it has to be said, funny to us. A real curiosity of a night.
Background
A company bankrolled by Sun Myung Moon - as in the Head of the Moonies - although the programme says precious little about this support for a company first formed in the mid 1980's.
Of course many companies, certainly in the UK, have Far Eastern dancers in them (as do our dance schools) and usually they are incredibly gifted technically and musically. So what might a company formed for the most part of Far Eastern dancers look like - regimented perfection I possibly thought. As it happened it proved a rather different evening.
Plot
Standard Giselle fare and not particularly mucked about with - all set in dingy Rhineland etc. Girl (Giselle) falls for Prince (Albrecht) masquerading as an ordinary Joe and when the deception is revealed she goes mad with grief and dies. The second act is all about his repentance and her spirit saving him from being killed by her fellow ghosts - Wilis - the ghosts of jilted brides.
It's my favourite 19th century ballet. Above all Giselle is a story of true love, its silly betrayal and its trueness holding through. Its not exactly a happy ending but I find it quite the sweetest of ballets with powerful drama and lovely white corps work.
Design
Colours and layout similar to nearly every other production you have ever seen - all very beige and foresty! Its notable for Giselle house truly being small and nothing special (good) and in the second act actually having some of the trees more centre stage for dancers to walk through and around. I found this very effective though it may have caused problems earlier in the performance by taking up too much room when hidden - either way the company looked a bit cramped at times.
Choreography
Oleg Vinogradov, ex Kirov, is the Universal Ballet Artistic Director and this is his production though naturally based on the Corrali/Petipa 'original'. Vinogradov does not seem to have toned much of it down for a company of lesser stature. This is a shame...
Dancers
The programmes introductory words talk of dancers from 12 nations, but the reality is that most of the dancers appear to be Korean, or nationalities close to, and this gives a very different feel to their work. Its different because one is simply not used to seeing so many oriental faces doing something so western, but different also in that they naturally bring their own national theatrical baggage. The training might be St P's but the unsubtle make-up and big acting looks like incredibly cheap TV to our eyes. While Giselle (Julia Moon? - the casting was not clear) strove for some naturalness (if it came over as rather stiff), in the main everybody was a gross caricature or just didn't seem to know how to act as we would know it - made the worse for the boys by the sporting of quite the most appalling beards and tons of make up. This is a cultural thing, but I can only judge it with my eyes and it just destroys the pathos of the piece for the most part. On top of this the company are attempting to punch rather above their weight - technically they struggle, particularly at soloist level and don't really reach the standard of some of the minor Russian companies that tour extensively the smaller theatres of Britain.
But even so there were some highlights - Myrtha (A Russian girl?) on the opening night was just marvellously natural and introduced herself with the most brilliant of bourrees possibly better than those Tracey Brown (RB a bit back) used to do.
Does it work?
At the moment not for me - an interesting curiosity more than anything. But its worth remembering that the very first Japanese/Far Eastern cars that came over to the UK in the 1970's were thought naff, horribly unsophisticated etc and yet now they are world class. The Far Eastern attention to detail and technique might well win through in the longer term.
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