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Kirov BalletLa Bayadere, February 1998, Maryinsky, St Petersburg by Jennifer Delaney | |||||||
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A companion piece gives the full and marvelous background to this review. Do go and have a read..... Darcey Bussell borrowed her mother's fur coat and abandoned the homeless Royal Ballet for the chillier climes of St Petersburg last weekend, wher, surrounded, by elephants, parrots, stuffed tigers and an exquisite corps de b allet, she danced the lead in Petipa's La Bayadere in the sumptuous Maryinsky theatre. In the process she joined an elite group of westerm ballerinas who have been invited to guest with the Kirov. The role of Nikiya is one of Bussell's best, calling on her strongest qualities as a dancer, while her guest appearance was an opportunity to consolidate her partnership with Igor Zelensky of the Kirov. The rapport between the pair, already noticeable last year in Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Ballet, is growing stronger, and is having a major impact on their dancing. Bussell's nerves were showing on her first entrance on the Maryinsky stage, where she was not just under the scrutiny of a strange audience but also the critical eyes of a new company. Her palpable relief when she was joined by her partner translated into her dancing. The combination of nerves and Zelensky produced a level of performance from Bussell rarely seen before. She flung herself into the first pas de deux with an energy and passion that revitalised her interpretation of Nikiya and also one's perceptions of her as a dancer. Throughout the evening she displayed a renewed understanding of her character that promises well for future performances. Her first night did not go entirely without hitches. A previously unperformed Act II pas de deux - with Dmitri Korneyev - culminated in a difficult dead lift that produced more than its share of worries - it looked as if Bussell's partner was unlikely to succeed, but he prevailed in the end, although she looked distinctly unhappy when hoisted onto his shoulder, while her final dance in Act II, when she is murdered, was marred by a missed balance. By her second and final performance, her worries had obviously been ironed out. Her luminous performance proved why she had been invited, while her partnership with Zelensky brings out an extra quality in both of them. There is total trust between them onstage, and particularly in the serenely classical Act III, they do not seem to communicate at all, each knowing instinctively what the other is doing. Bussell is supremely confident that Zelensky will be there, while he seems equally confident that she will succeed at anything. The only nerves on display on Sunday night were Zelensky's, who anxiously watched Bussell sail through a tricky solo. Ironically, now that she has found her perfect partner, Bussell's best performance came in her solo at the end of Act II. Her beautiful line in the adagio expressed the tragedy of the scene - she is dancing at her lover's betrothal feast - while a lethal gift from her rival led to a precise desperation in her dancing as she switched to a furiously fast combination of jumps. Like all great dance performances, the choreography was used to directly express emotion, rather than adding a layer of "acting" to her dancing. In the pas de deux, she pushed herself beyond her limits, most noticeably in her perfect balance and high extension. Her confidence in Zelensky expresses itself in her dancing and is a quality she has sometimes lacked in the past. Zelensky also benefits from the partnership. His solos are always exciting while he has the rare quality of seeming to hang in mid-air when he jumps. A fast dancer, he can make exhausting combinations seem effortless and then lift his partner without any indication of strain. What he has sometimes lacked in the past is dramatic ability, a problem he shares with Bussell, but not when dancing with her. He is also hugely popular on his home stage. An insistent audience demanded four curtain calls after one solo, before letting the performance continue. Neither have been particularly good actors in the past but the security of their partnership makes them convincing as doomed lovers, which covers most of the classical repertoire. It would be interesting to see them dance more dramatic roles - like Giselle and Albrecht - in the future. In her dressing room, Bussell chatted briefly about working with the Kirov. She admitted that she was nervous - the company is 200 strong and has numerous principals, including a superb line-up of ballerinas, while she has been very much on display during her visit there. She also felt she had to justify her presence there in the face of so much competition, "I felt that they must be thinking 'What are you doing here',". Not speaking Russian didn't help either. As for the fumbled lift, she had one week to rehearse the entire performance, including the pas de deux, which was totally new to her. After rehearsals, Bussell wanted to drop the lift which was proving difficult, "but Igor said to me, 'You have to do it. It's his job to lift you and he'll be fired if you don't'." She looked quite horrified at the thought. The Kirov is a gentler company in some respects however. Used to being vehemently pushed around at the Royal Ballet she was quite surprised to find that her onstage rival, Gamzatti (Irma Nioradze) barely touches her arm to push her away during a fight. It's also a taller company. For once Bussell (5ft 8in) did not tower over her colleagues and the men at the Kirov are strong enough to handle tall partners, her perennial problem at the Royal Ballet. The hierarchy is more strict and the competition is intense. The result is a serious company culture - very different from the Royal Ballet. Bussell's guest performance at the Kirov may well be a one-off, but it is not the last we will see of this superb partnership. In July, they are performing La Bayadère, Manon and Sleeping Beauty with the Royal Ballet at the Coliseum, and although no further plans have been announced yet, those around them - including Royal Ballet director Anthony Dowell and Michael Fisher, Zelensky's agent - seem determined to promote this relationship further. An edited version of this article originally appeared in the Independent on Sunday.
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