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Kirov BalletMay 2002 London, The Royal Opera House by Kevin Ng |
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The two Kirov galas at Covent Garden this week offered a rare chance to see two pieces from the Soviet era which are rarely seen on the Kirov's overseas tours. The pas de deux from Leonid Jacobson's version of "Spartacus" seemed rather dull and flat in comparison with Grigorovich's version for the Bolshoi. It's surprising that there were hardly any supported lifts in Jacobson's choreography, which however had far too much operatic-style gesturing and exaggerated facial emoting. "Leningrad Symphony" choreographed by Igor Belsky symbolised the city's suffering in the second world war. Shostakovich's score sometimes had a repetitive rhythm not unlike Ravel's Bolero. The choreography was rather cliche-ridden and not particularly inventive, and had a lot of static groupings in a series of tableaux following each other. Daria Pavlenko was the heart of the ballet and danced expressively. An ensemble of white-clad male dancers had a lot of exciting jumps in the first movement. Later, a betrayer figure appeared who was brutalised by a group of soldiers in grey costumes. The city's suffering seemed to be symbolised by a group of women also attired in gloomy grey. The audience also saw snippets from two new ballets created for the Kirov in the past two years and shown in this year's Maryinsky Festival in March. Diana Vishneva, the foremost Kirov ballerina at present, was ecstatic and heart-meltingly lyrical in the pas de deux from Alexei Ratmansky's new production of "Cinderella", with Andrei Merkuriev as her prince. And the waltz of the snowflakes from Kirill Simonov's production of "The Nutcracker" with the corps de ballet in black must have astonished some in the audience. The night before Diana Vishneva and Andrei Merkuriev dazzled in the "Don Quixote" pas de deux. Vishneva was delectable in the series of 'pas de cheval' in her solo and in those 'releve passe', and in the coda threw in some triple 'fouettes' turns. Merkuriev was moving in the title role in Balanchine's "The Prodigal Son", which in Balanchine's expressionist vein actually seemed more avant-garde and less dated than Belsky's "Leningrad Symphony". Daria Pavelenko had the right allure as the siren. For me the most significant work in the two different galas was Balanchine's "Serenade" which was given a transcendent performance by the Kirov dancers. Irina Golub had the most glorious jumps as the Russian ballerina. Natalia Sologub, partnered by Danila Korsuntsev, was poetic in the waltz. I doubt if the New York City Ballet can dance this early Balanchine masterpiece as well nowadays. Sologub (the winner of this year's Golden Mask award for female dancer) and Golub are two rising stars in their early twenties, testifying to the Kirov's consistently strong line-up of ballerinas. Golub also danced in the Blue bird pas de deux from "The Sleeping Beauty" with Vasily Scherbakov whose 'poisson' jumps were impeccable. And Sologub was exciting in Alexei Ratmansky's duet "Middle Duo", strongly partnered by Islom Baimuradov. There were also two pieces in the galas reminding us once again of the Kirov's unsurpassed strength in character dancing - the Act 3 Hungarian dance from "Raymonda", and Fokine's Polovtsian dances from "Prince Igor". In the latter piece Islom Baimuradov, as the male soloist, was most charismatic in his high jumps and virile characterisation. The men's crossbows dance contrasted well with the maidens' veil dance.
The Kirov's return to Covent Garden next year is eagerly awaited.
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