Kirov ‘Jewels’ reviews all ‘Jewels’ reviews all Kirov reviews This review also on Artsworld

George Balanchine's Jewels is often described as the only full-length 'abstract' ballet, but in fact it's three separate pieces connected only by the 'jewels' concept and by their decor. The middle work, Rubies, is the best known in London - it was in the Royal Ballet's repertoire a few years ago - and it's also the piece you'd imagine the Kirov would have most difficulty with. In fact they catch its jazzy, New Yorker mood extremely well. The corps de ballet strut with obvious enjoyment as well as style, and the leading woman, Elvira Tarasova, finds a sassy, witty approach which fits Stravinsky's music much better than the over-sexy way it's sometimes done. Star of the performance I saw, though, was Anton Korsakov - technically strong as well as exuberantly confident.

The evening opens with Emeralds, a green sigh in a green shade, as different as possible from the spiky cheerfulness of Rubies. Whilst Rubies is American, Emeralds is French: the music is by Fauré and the style looks back to the Romantic ballet. It's a strangely constructed piece, with two women's solos following each other, and later two successive pas de deux, and to make it work the dancers must get the mood just right. The first section, for instance, needs to be done as if in a single breath, and this cast made it look rather chopped up. Both the women - Maya Dumchenko and Sofia Gumerova - are fine dancers, as we've seen elsewhere, but neither quite managed to give the choreography the seamless, effortless effect it needs. But it's a lovely ballet: usually the least appreciated of the trilogy, it fascinates me more each time I see it.

Diamonds, as you might expect, is pure Russian, another episode in Balanchine's long love affair with Tchaikowsky and Petipa. The 'jewel' here is the long central pas de deux, a wonderfully inventive duet referring back to, and playing with, motifs and ideas from Swan Lake, and originally made for the majestic pairing of Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins. Neither Daria Pavlenko nor Igor Zelensky is in that class, but both gave me immense pleasure - Zelensky for his thrilling technical command, and Pavlenko for the lovely musicality of her dancing. I have to say that I find the rest of the ballet much less satisfying. It's set for a large corps de ballet, and it's rather long, and I can't help thinking that if you've seen Theme and Variations or Symphony in C, you're not going to learn much new about Balanchine's 'after Petipa' style from this. Watching the Kirov come to terms with Balanchine has been one of the most rewarding experiences of the last decade of ballet: the problems they encounter can be as interesting as their successes, and Jewels leaves me looking forward more than ever to the triple bill we're promised later in the season.