© John Ross Bolshoi 'Spartacus' reviews 'Spartacus' reviews Acosta in reviews 'Spartacus' Photographs Bolshoi 'Don Quixote' reviews 'Don Quixote' reviews Osipova in reviews Vasiliev in reviews 'Don Quixote' Photographs recent Bolshoi reviews more Jeffery Taylor reviews Web version held on Ballet.co by kind permission of Jeffery Taylor and the Sunday Express Express Website

On Monday Carlos Acosta made a spectacular UK debut as the eponymous revolting slave in Spartacus with the Bolshoi Ballet. Created in 1968 by former Bolshoi director, Yuri Grigorovich, known as the Stalin of Russian Ballet, it remains an icon of Soviet art. As a People’s Ballet it is intended to hammer home a simple doctrine to a mass audience. Grigorovich has achieved the impossible by blending the lowest common denominator with high art, an elusive unholy grail that cursed all Russian artists of the day.

Its message is simple and predictable. The Imperial Roman (Tsarist) horde is a brutalised, robotic war machine led by Crassus (Alexander Volchkov), a glamorous, athletic retard with simple life ambitions – winning and self glory. Spartacus (Carlos Acosta) is the People’s (Soviet) Slave provoked by a 1st century AD social conscience into a “let my people go” state of mind. Grigorovich has grasped the essential mythic element of the situation and has unequivocally opted for large scale classic. At the heart of which is one of the most physically punishing dancing roles ever designed for man. Acosta gave it all he had, as always. In a series of solos, or monologues, he ran the gamut from chained prisoner to rebel leader and the shock of authority, exchanging humiliation and despair for hope and self respect. Though unsurprisingly a little tense, he also overcame the savage non stop physical demands that have other brave male dancers vomiting in the wings. Acosta and Spartacus deserve each other and if the liaison is long lived will have a rewarding future, for us as well as them
 

Later in the week, Natalia Osipova, 21, was joined by 18-year-old Ivan Vasiliev in Petipa’s Don Quixote, a riotous gallop through a pastiche of rural Spain. All three acts are a colossal study in style superbly realised by the entire Bolshoi company. Young Osipova already dances with the attack, brilliance and authority of a seasoned ballerina at the height of her powers. What is staggering is that Vasiliev matches Osipova’s precocious achievements gasp by gasp. This is not just excellence, this is uncanny. Osipova deals with rustic beauty, runaway bride, classical purity and finally, triumphant woman with utter conviction, a breathtaking sense of occasion and a staggering technique. Vasiliev is a shade behind thanks only to fewer costume changes. How do you describe the status after best? Genius is the only word left.