© Igor Zakharkin 'Raymonda' reviews Antonicheva in reviews Beloglovstsev in reviews recent Bolshoi reviews more Renee Renouf reviews Discuss this review (Open for at least 6 months)

While the program credited Yuri Grigorovich, with extracts from Petipa and Gorsky, reviewers were informed the first and third acts were largely Petipa, Aberakhman’s dances were Grigorovich’s and Gorsky’s contribution was probably limited to the Gypsy’s dance in Act II and a Gallop in the middle of Act III. Grigorovich probably was responsible for paring down characters, sequences and mime in this version dating from the early ‘90's. Beaumont’s account of Petipa’s original libretto evinces several missing nuances. Prime among them was the mysterious Castle Ghost leading Raymonda through her prophetic dream and who interjects herself when Jean de Brienne and Abderakhman fight. This paring down seems to be a favorite habit of choreographers in Eastern Europe; let’s concentrate on the essence of the principals, forget the supporting players.

It’s hard to eliminate too much in this tale of medieval France, a setting of Christian-Saracen conflict rather than a Russian-Turkish or Russian-Tartar emphasis. The setting eluded me previously, it still possessed the implausible when the Gypsies wear lengthy gowns, but comported themselves like Romanies east of the Elbe and Vistula. The costumer got to make handsome medieval gowns for the court ladies, and dressed the men like elegant playing cards. Petipa put them through equally soignee paces, thoroughly at odds with historical reality.
 

Bolshoi Ballet in Raymonda
© Igor Zakharkin

One goes to Raymonda to see how a prima ballerina handles such non-stop dancing attached to a plot, how good the soloists are; Petipa’s skill at ensemble and solo invention crystallized; the apotheosis of Franco-Russian style. One can imagine how Matilda Kchessinska tore into the role. I wish I might say the same for Anna Antonicheva; winning the gold medal at Jackson, her classicism was clearly superior. Though impeccable and musical, she was not electric; reactions to her dream or when confronted with the live Aberakhman seemed perfunctory, even for behavior de rigueur for a medieval French lady. Danced by Dmitry Beloglovstsev, her husband, his Saracen was patently pale-faced, though large with grandiose gestures of passion. I could imagine Irek Mukhamedev in the role.

Sergey Filin as Jean de Brienne was handicapped by height; his Raymonda needs to be two inches or more shorter. A dancer with strong, muscular thighs with a straight forward delivery, he probably would be happier in a role with more jumps than that white satin cape. Given the historical license of the plot, why didn’t the designer give the two knights shorter capes? A cold winter in the Pyrenees perhaps?

Henriette or Ekaterina Shipulina, the dancer in Act I’s second variation, was a revelation of inevitability: ideal body, musicality, utter ease of execution, personal charm and classical restraint. As a whole, the vision scene demonstrated not only Petipa style, but the musicality of the corps, even in that cramped space; on a larger stage, how they must fly!

The third act celebration lacked the participation and panache of Nureyev’s version, where The Countess and the King both dance, instead of remaining figureheads. Those roles with the Bolshoi were inhabited by character dancers, most dressed in spectacular patterned black and white costumes. Surprisingly, in the Grand Pas the male variation with the successive double tours was shaky; I have seen better locally. The most beguiling soloist was Yulianna Malkasyantz in the czardas; all of a piece, her torso and head responses, while practiced, reaffirmed my expectations of Russian verve.

That the company lives up to the word bolshoi was never doubted. I look forward to seeing the Bolshoi with identifying photographs down to the corps de ballet.