Kirov ‘Swan Lake’ reviews ‘Swan Lake’ reviews Lopatkina in reviews Gumerova in reviews all Kirov reviews

Last weekend I caught two casts of the Kirov's 1950 production of "Swan Lake" staged by Konstantin Sergeyev. Uliana Lopatkina on the first night gave a superlative performance as Odette, her dancing was most poetic. Due to her recent injuries, her Odile however was less technically secure on this occasion than what she had been capable of in the past. Her Siegfied was the tall and handsome Danila Korsuntsev who danced and partnered impressively.

Korsuntev also partnered Sofia Gumerova in another cast. This talented dancer has a very pure classical temperament which suited her White Swan. Gumerova's Odile turned out to be more glamorous and dazzling than Lopatkina's.

In the pas de trois in Act 1, praise must also go to Irina Zhelonkina who was sparkling as the jumping girl and to the tall Dmitri Simeonov. The Kirov's corps de ballet danced uniformly as one unit in the lakeside scenes as expected. And the Act 3 national dances, taken at very fast tempos, were still danced with a stylistic coherence and panache unmatched by any other company.