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As I commute from far-off Washington, DC, I attended only Saturday afternoon's performance of GISELLE, starring a very young pair - Maya Dumchenko and Andrian Fadeev. Both are graduates of the near-legendary Vaganova Academy "Class of 1995," which produced so many current soloists, Diana Vishneva, Sofia Gumerova, Alexandra Iosifidi, Svetlana Ivanova, Ilya Kuznetsov, Elena Vasyukovich, Dmitri Peikachev, Kirill Simonov, etc.

As Giselle, Ms. Dumchenko gave a lovely, lovely performance inspired by the ballerina who coached her in the role - Galina Ulanova (who also coached her as Juliet). The Mad Scene was understated, yet powerful. The child-like details made famous by Ulanova were all there, such as the tugging up of her skirt as she coyly hid behind Albrecht as her mother was searching for her. Like Ulanova, Dumchenko chose to maintain her hair in a tight bun during the Mad Scene-no need for histrionics here; the madness was apparent in the face and the quivering, marionette-like arms. Dumchenko's bird-thin and extra-long arms are unlike any I've ever seen, and she uses them to tremendous effect. Her desperate run into her mother's arm is the most moving I have seen; it brought chills down my spine.

Andrian Fadeev is a tremendously gifted young danseur, with Nordic good looks. One could call him a "baby face," except that he has developed strength and musculature since the days when I saw him graduate from Vaganova Academy. He danced cleanly, if not in a terribly inspired way, in Act I. However, in Act II he really came into his own, delivering a textbook-perfect solo, completing his double-tours so early that, I swear, I could almost see him float down onto the stage and neatly tuck his feet into fifth position. Exquisite ballon, delivered in an easy-going manner.

The character roles were crisply defined, with excellent miming by all, particularly the tall blonde "hunk" Ilya Kuznetsov as Hilarion. Also notable was the tall, dark beauty with an elongated torso and wasp-waist - Alexandra Gronskaya - as Bathilde. But pride of place goes to the Kirov's senior female mime artist on this tour - Nina Mikhailova-Borchenko - in a moving performance as Giselle's mother, Bertha. This is an Act I chock-full of mime, giving way to pure dance in Act II. With the BIG exception of the Cuban Ballet's version of GISELLE, the Kirov troupe does the best job with the GISELLE Act I mime.

The corps de ballet of females, The Wilis, was heavenly...same height, elongated body types, and Vaganova style. This is their ballet. Nobody does the series of "Wave" moves like the Kirov's Wilis!

Tatiana Amosova was Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis. A veritable Valkyrie in stature, she possesses an operatic chest and forceful attack that, to me, are at odds with the Romantic Style. On the other hand, a perfect Myrtha for the future could be found in the young, dark-haired dancer essaying the secondary role of Zulma that afternoon - Daria Pavlenko. Pavlenko has the powerful dark facial features of Celia Franca...Franca's "spittin' image"! With that glare, she could chill any man to death as a Wili! In her brief demi-solo, she practically bored holes into the MET stage with the power of her pique-penche arabesques. And all of this in the dainty body of a typically-proportioned Kirov dancer. No need for a Valkyrie to convey anger and force. [The Moyna, Veronika Part, was fine but has too ravishing & angelic a face to come across as a man-hater.]

Now on to the not-so-good: This was probably the very worst Peasant Pas de Deux I've seen performed by a professional pair of dancers - Anton Korsakov and Yulia Kassenkova. Both have fine qualities as individual dancers in other ballets, but what we saw on the stage of the MET in this pas de deux was a travesty. True, Korsakov lost his usual partner in this piece - the short-ish Elena Chmill - to injuries. Kassenkova, who is about one foot taller than Chmill and big-boned, was called in as a replacement. Not only was the dancing labored and behind the music, but many of the choreographic details were botched, such as the end of the adagio, when she pirouettes into a quick-stop passe position, hooking her arm under the boy's arm. Twice, she gave the appearance of "crashing" into Korsakov. Kassenkova's solo lacked in the bounding, airy quality that it should have. Korsakov DOES possess marvelous ballon, which was somewhat in evidence in his solo but, again, he appeared nervous, as if saying to himself, "Oh no - here comes the coda & I'm going to have to partner HER again!" [I'm told by friends who attended Friday night's performance that Korsakov & Kassenkova were even WORSE there...Korsakov had to put a hand on the floor after his solo to steady himself, for example.]

My pet peeve of the GISELLE production: Where was the tiny child-Bacchus who normally sits astride the wine keg during the Harvesters March? OK, ok, this seems trivial, but it is not so in this production Without the child, we got a big empty wine keg brought onto the center of the stage, with 20 bars of music during which the villagers just milled about, smiling & gesticulating at the wine keg, as if someone were on it. (I kid you not!) The dancing for the villagers doesn't begin until the wine keg and the child are removed from view. . With so many child supers & dancers in SLEEPING BEAUTY, surely the Kirov could have found one little boy to portray Bacchus on the wine keg? A huge oversight by whoever did the staging at the MET.

Finally, I must praise the Kirov Orchestra for its superb playing of the Adolphe Adam score, under the baton of Boris Gruzdin. To me, it was welcome relief to hear the original, complete arragements of GISELLE following the bad memories of having to listen to John Lanchberry's sacharine arrangements at American Ballet Theater.