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Bolshoi BalletAugust 2007 London, Coliseum by Ian Palmer |
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Gaze upwards to the top of the proscenium at London’s Coliseum and there, to the side of the Imperial Roman Eagle, you will see inscribed the names of Caesar and Cicero. Warrior-hero and Poet-Thinker: if ever this dichotomy has played itself out on this hallowed stage it was earlier this week in the Bolshoi’s performances of Spartacus. Carlos Acosta is a titan, a gladiator whose muscular strength drives him onwards through the battles of Grigorovich’s choreography. Much has been written and spoken of Acosta’s hero, the way he plundered the role’s psychological depths and explored them with such understanding intensity. If we must see this work as a Soviet allegory, can we not also see it as a Cuban boy’s struggle to dance and lead the world?
Denis Matvienko is an idealist, a thinker whose guide is freedom in the common good. He appears more spindly than Acosta, though his partnering is in fact more technically assured: the one-handed lifts which had proved something of a hurdle for Acosta were accomplished with spectacular ease. It helps that facially he bears a striking resemblance to Vladimir Vasiliev (and has even grown a beard), but his classical line and effortless polish seem at odds with the bombast the role requires and sometimes it seemed as if Bluebird had escaped and donned a nipple-revealing leotard. Jumps and multiple spins are no effort for him, but landing from them and finishing a phrase, are. He is at his best when partnering Phrygia in the lyrical duets and with Svetlana Lunkina clinging to him like a climbing bramble, these sometimes stylistically awkward moments (Phrygia wrapping herself around his neck and then splitting her legs open in a request to do goodness knows what) made shapely sense.
 © John Ross
It is the orgies (as somebody once – unsuccessfully - tried to convince me in a nightclub) that are the greatest fun and the music for them is pure Cuban Nights. But one thing always bugs me: this is Ancient Rome and I think most of us are mature enough to have watched the film Caligula – where are all the homosexuals?
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