Kirov Ballet. - Maryinsky Theater, St. Petersburg, Russia - dance reviews

Dance Magazine, May, 1996 by Arsen Degen

ST. PETERSBURG FEBRUARY 9-11, 1996

Russian audiences saw the work of George Balanchine for the first time since 1924 when the Paris Opera Ballet presented Le Palais de Cristal in Moscow in 1958. A few years later, the ballet masters own New York City Ballet performed here; I still have a vivid recollection of the tour. Since those days, the prestige of Balanchine, perhaps the classical choreographer of our century, has always been high in his homeland. Nevertheless, the opportunity to become familiar with his work, rather than just catch a glimpse of it, has come to St. Petersburg artists only recently. His Scotch Symphony, Apollo, and Theme and Variations have been performed on the Maryinsky Theater stage for several seasons. Now this list is supplemented by Symphony in C--which began life as Le Palais de Cristal--one of Balanchine's best-known works.

The appearance of this new production at the Kirov, now known at home simply as the Ballet of the Maryinsky Theater, would come as a surprise to American audiences, less so to French ones who know the Paris Opera version. instead of the ascetic white tutus familiar to New Yorkers, Irina Press, the designer of the St. Petersburg production, offers an imperial splendor of costumes. While twenty-four members of the corps de ballet (six in each movement) are still dressed in white, the costumes for the soloists are embellished with different colors: brown for the first movement, followed by green, blue, and violet for the subsequent sections. The color is distributed in a variety of imaginative ways: to the skirts of the second soloists, to the velvet collars of their partners, and to the bodices of the principals, both female and male, which appear to be strewn with jewels. This magnificence is augmented by three huge chandeliers twinkling above the stage and backed by a sweeping red curtain trimmed with golden tassels--a sign of an earlier, glorious time.

Despite this visual splendor, the dance and its interpreters dominate the ballet, staged by Patricia Neary and John Taras. A new generation of ballerinas and--to a lesser extent--male dancers is coming to the fore of the Maryinsky troupe. Many of them shone at the premiere. The diversity of gifts of these performers corresponded to the character of the various movements of Bizet's symphony. The sharp, slightly abrupt plasticity of Irma Nioradze in the first movement gave way to the cold majesty of Ulyana Lopatkina in the Adagio. The scherzo of the third movement had its visible analogue in the image of the flitting butterfly of Diana Vishneva. In the finale, Zhanna Ayupova managed to preserve her charm and elegance in a kaleidoscope of masterly passages. Victor Baranov, Alexander Kurkov, Sergei Vikharev and Stanislav Belyevski--as befits true classical ballet cavaliers--did not try to distract from the success of their partners.

The second cast, performing two days later, did not yield much to the first. Particularly noteworthy were Yulia Makhalina (with her new partner Vyacheslav Samodurov), whose interpretation of the Adagio was full of emotional nuances; the airy effects of Samodurov in the scherzo; and the purity of contour of the delightfully young Maya Dumchenko in the finale. Confirming its mastery, the entire troupe danced lightly, energetically, and in the elegant manner St. Petersburg is famous for.

Over the last several years the Maryinsky Theater Orchestra has achieved great renown. Alas, at ordinary ballet performances it does not always play up to the mark. But under the guidance of the experienced (but new to the orchestra) conductor Pavel Bubelnikov, Bizet's music sounded graceful and natural. As a whole, the premiere of Symphony in C in a cold St. Petersburg February was like a splendid fireworks in the frost.