Yuri Gloukhikh Gloukhikh reviews? St Petersburg Reviews?

When the city of St. Petersburg is mentioned, balletomanes tend to think only of the Kirov Ballet. But there are other ballet companies too. The Moussorgsky Ballet is another renowned St. Petersburg company which tour Japan every year under their old name "Leningrad State Ballet". Then there is Boris Eifman's company whose sold-out New York seasons in the past few years have been big hits.

Another company is the one that was founded in November 1994 by the young impresario Konstantin Tatchkine, a former parachutist, bearing the magic name of "St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre". This company, which at present has 45 dancers and its own orchestra, has been based in a palatial building in Liteiny Prospekt in St. Petersburg since its establishment. When I first visited the company at those premises last October, the dancers were busy rehearsing for a new production of "The Sleeping Beauty" which was going to premiere on that stage in early November, just in time for the British tour.

Unlike the illustrious Kirov Ballet whose Covent Garden seasons in the past two years have garnered glowing reviews in the national papers, the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre's tours in Britain haven't been as widely covered in the press. The company first toured the UK in 1999, and then returned in 2000 and 2001. The winter tour 2001/2002 was the longest so far, lasting nearly four months from mid-November until early March, covering a total of 18 cities including Belfast, Edinburgh, and Bournemouth. It commenced at the Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton and the last venue was the Wimbledon Theatre in London.

The St. Petersburg company's repertory consists solely of the Petipa classics, and for this latest tour they brought the three Tchaikovsky ballets - "Swan Lake", "The Nutcracker", and the new production of "The Sleeping Beauty", which was favourably reviewed by John Percival in "The Independent": "the production looked good...and was decently danced."

Yuri Gloukhikh as the Nutcracker Prince
Photograph by Kevin Ng for St. Petersburg Times

After their return home from Britain, the company has plans to stage "La Bayadere". Mr. Tatchkine told me that he has recently bought the lease of a larger theatre near the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, where the dancers will re-locate later this year. And another long tour - to Singapore, Australia and New Zealand - has been scheduled for next winter.

The dancers have mainly been recruited from the Vaganova Academy, a fact which contributes to the good schooling of the corps de ballet. One of the young principal dancers who has particulary caught my eye is a tall and handsome blond dancer Yuri Gloukhikh, who just celebrated his 22nd birthday in mid-January in Northampton where the company was performing that week. In the Vaganova Academy, Yuri was a contemporary of the Kirov Ballet soloists Anton Korsakov (whom I interviewed in the August 2001 issue of Ballet.co Magazine) and Irina Golub whose performances in various roles impressed the London audiences last summer.

Yuri is a natural 'danseur noble' possessing a pure classical style. He has a pleasing long line, a high elevation in his jumps, as well as an innate charm that reminds me of the ABT star Vladimir Malakhov when he was still dancing as a member of the Moscow Classical Ballet in London back in the late 1980s. Yuri's acting as Siegfried has a touching naturalistic manner. His Nutcracker Prince is beautifully danced with ease. His Prince Florimund is truly classical, and was best described by David Dougill in "The Sunday Times": "...and the elegantly mannered Yuri Gloukhikh is a Prince Florimund with the boyish appeal of Prince William."

Yuri had a day off in London in mid-January after his performance of "The Sleeping Beauty" the night before to a practically full house at the Royal Albert Hall. I met him in his hotel in central London. I asked him the usual question about which male dancers he particularly admires, and Vladimir Malakhov is actually one of the few whom he admires the most: "I've recently seen the video 'True Prince' featuring Malakhov. He danced so beautifully in 'Manon' and 'Giselle' that it made me cry." Malakhov, incidentally, will dance in St. Petersburg with the Kirov Ballet in the Maryinsky International Ballet Festival in March.

Yuri also admires Igor Zelensky, whom he last saw at the Maryinsky Theatre dancing with Diana Vishneva in "Manon" last October. "And Andrian Fadeyev (the 24-year-old Kirov principal) too. He has such a perfect line and beautiful style," added Yuri.

Yuri normally danced the first cast in each city on the UK tour with his usual partner Irina Kolesnikova, who was also in his class at the Vaganova Academy. They have been dancing together for several years now, and no doubt have developed a close rapport with each other.

Yuri however hasn't yet guested with other companies. "I long to dance with the German companies like the Stuttgart Ballet, as well as in Japan. I have heard from some of my friends about the wonderful experiences they have had when they toured Tokyo and other Japanese cities. My good friend Anton Korsakov told me how much he loves Japanese sushi!"

Yuri Gloukhikh relaxing after his Nutcracker performance
Photograph by Kevin Ng

I commented on the small repertory of the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre. Would it be at all boring for the dancers to perform only the three classics and nothing else for four months in Britain? "But we are only a young company, and we can only build up our repertory gradually. Besides we tour such a lot, and they only ask for the classics for our tours. Of course it would be wonderful to dance the Balanchine ballets, but I suppose that it would cost a lot to ask the Balanchine Trust to come and stage those ballets for our theatre."

Later that evening the English National Ballet were going to dance two Balanchine masterpieces at the London Coliseum - "Apollo" and "Who Cares?" - in a triple bill programme which also included Christopher Hampson's "Double Concerto". So after our interview I arranged to buy an extra ticket so that Yuri could join me to watch the ENB performance. Yuri had seen "Apollo" before, but not "Who Cares?". He admired very much Thomas Edur's portrayal of the young god, and Dmitri Gruzdyev as the male soloist in Balanchine's Gershwin piece. Gruzdyev, a former Kirov dancer, was nearly ten years Yuri's senior at the Vaganova Academy. Hampson's inventive choreography impressed him as well.

Yuri's coach in the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre is another former Kirov dancer Yuri Gumba. I wonder if he regrets not having joined the more prestigious Kirov company. "No, not at all! I myself prefer to dance the leading classical roles early on with Tatchkine's company instead of serving my time in the Kirov's corps de ballet. And besides, our company dances more performances on tour than the Kirov does anyway."

The small stages in some British theatres, however, were a concern to him. "I had to curtail my jumps in those theatres."

Yuri has greatly enjoyed the present tour. Before our interview, he went shopping in the morning with his good friend and colleague Irina Novikova in Harrods, as well as in the dance-wear shop Bloch. "I am so happy that I managed to buy a Zara leather jacket at a good discount in the winter sales."

"I look forward to my two days of holidays after we return home. I miss my sister Yulia and my mother, but we phone or send each other SMS messages nearly every day." His family must have been delighted to see him being interviewed on Russian television in mid-January just before his performance of "The Sleeping Beauty" at the Royal Albert Hall.