© John Ross 'Chopiniana' reviews 'Les Sylphides' reviews Kirov 'Les Noces' reviews 'Les Noces' reviews recent Kirov reviews more Bruce Marriott reviews

Chopiniana
We know it as Les Sylphides; this is Fokine's take on Romantic ballet. No plot (a shock at the time) though the 'Young man' in the Kirov version is often known as 'The poet' in the West. Regardless, he wafts through the piece along with 3 ballerinas and the corps, all consumed by a deep, impenetrable melancholy. Everything in this ballet should be smooth, weightless, ethereal - you know it's desperately difficult really but done properly it's a stunner of fluid refinement. I only have to see the corps daisy-chained around the stage to ache at the wonderful beauty of it.

The dancing was a mixed bag, the corps looking less impressive in some of the lines than they should and a few of the poses (it's a ballet of poses) looked rather stiff and unnatural - more like mannikins or Duane Hanson models. I've seen better but overall I was cheered on seeing an old friend of a ballet for the first time in ages.  

Les Noces
"Four Russian dance scenes with music and song" says the cast sheet. Les Noces is a take on a pre-revolutionary Russian wedding. Put like that you'd imagine a jolly thigh-slapping work - it's a wedding for goodness' sake. However this is the original Wedding from Hell and I suppose at least it might show us why there was a revolution.

I find the Stravinsky score (4 pianos, 4 singers, much percussion) tough listening and the choreography hunched, clipped and often en-mass with the odd tableau thrown in. Inventive, but is that enough? The ballet if often depicted with that image of the stacked interlocking heads, topped by the Bride, but milestone though this piece is often thought, I don't think the Kirov dancing or production will do much to endear it to audiences. Only premiered in June this year, the dancing looked very ragged and the dancers not at all convinced that they should really be there and trying to do steps like this. This won't do - they need 110% conviction to carry off older work like this.

Sum-up
Two trusted Kirov shorties should please most but Les Noces struggles. Expensive for a triple bill.

(*) although I subsequently gather that I may have actually missed something of a treat. Never mind, there was certainty in Newsnight!