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Stars of the BolshoiMay 2001 London, Drury Lane by Kevin Ng |
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The Bolshoi's second programme at Drury Lane is even more enjoyable than the first, and shows off the dancers at their best. The opening work "Chopiniana" has a beautiful white floral backdrop bathed in moonlight. The corps de ballet was however not as polished and uniform as the Kirov's who had danced this ballet at Covent Garden last summer. At the heart of the ballet was the beautiful young ballerina Svetlana Lunkina whose dancing had a pearly lustre. It was a pleasure to see her long delicate limbs etch such beautiful shapes in Fokine's choreography. And she was divine in the pas de deux, splendidly partnered by the tall and noble Andrei Uvarov. In fact this was only Lunkina's second performance in this role, after her debut in Moscow last month. In the waltz Maria Alexandrova sprang like a dart in her grands jetes. In the second half of the evening which consisted of six divertissements, Lunkina made her debut in the pas de deux from Bournonville's "La Sylphide". (She had been coached in Moscow by Raisa Struchkova and Ekaterina Maximova.) Lunkina was an ethereal sylph, and rendered the mime with a delicious charm. James was danced by the blond dancer Dmitry Gudanov who had already captivated us in another Bournonville work in the first programme - "Flower Festival at Genzano" pas de deux. His space-devouring grands jetes and double tours en l'air in both directions were dazzling. The second half opened with the pas de deux from Leonid Lavrovsky's "Romeo and Juliet", which the Kirov had also shown last summer, danced with a sweeping passion by Inna Petrova and Sergei Filin. Filin also returned for the last showpiece "Le Corsaire" pas de deux, partnering Maria Alexandrova. As in the first programme, Alexandrova again struck me as rather dry in her nonetheless impressive pyrotechnics, short on artistry. She managed some impressive double fouette turns and was very rapid in her diagonal of pique turns, but I noticed for instance that her supporting leg in her grands jetes was not well turned out. In between was the grand pas de deux from Grigorovich's version of "The Sleeping Beauty", danced with grace and style by Anna Antonicheva and Andrei Uvarov. However the coda seemed rather underpowered in Grigorovich's choreography. There was also a seldom-seen solo "Narcissus" choreographed by Goleizovsky, splendidly danced by Gennady Yanin who was a last-minute replacement for the injured Nikolai Tsiskaridze. There are lots of jumps in the choreography, and Narcissus' drowning at the end is actually quite subdued. The highlight for me was the pas de deux from Alexander Gorsky's "La Fille Mal Gardee" which I had never seen before, set to music by Peter Hertel, unlike Ashton's version. Gorsky's airy choreography is sheer joy, and abounds in wit and technical bravura. The bravura passages necessitate frequent changes in direction. The choreography was impeccably danced by Anastasia Goriacheva and Yan Godovsky whose delightful dancing lifted the spirits.
It was gratifying to see on this occasion a much fuller house than earlier on in the week, who gave all the dancers a loud ovation at the end.
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