St. Petersburg Chamber Ballet. - Chamber Ballet Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia - dance reviews

Dance Magazine, June, 1995 by Arsen Degen

Chamber Ballet Theatre, St. Petersburg February 2-15, 1995

On February 2 a new dance troupe opened its first season in its own theater. St. Petersburg Chamber Ballet is not large, but among almost forty dancers there are - quite unusual for Russia - five foreigners, two of whom are recent Vaganova Academy graduates, while the other three (Yena Kang, Laura Best, and Conrad Belknap) are students of the Kirov Academy of Ballet. Perhaps not incidentally, the new theater is separated from the famous Maryinsky Theater only by the narrow Kryukov Channel, and both troupes are directed by Oleg Vinogradov.

It is anticipated that stars and talented youth alike will take part in performances in the new theater. In these first concerts the prominent dancers Farukh Ruzimatov, Altynai Asylmuratova, and Konstantin Zaklinsky appeared with such young talents as Diana Vishneva, Ulyana Lopatkina, and Anastasia Volochkova. A laureate of the 1994 Prix de Lausanne, Vishneva had made her debut at the Maryinsky immediately prior to these performances in Don Quixote.

Chamber Ballet differs from other institutions first and foremost in its repertoire. Here you can enjoy one-act classical performances, such as Petipa's late choreographic masterpiece, Harlequinade, and Fokine's Les Sylphides and Le Spectre de la Rose, as well as time-honored excerpts from old ballets such as Flower Festival in Genzano, La Vivandiere, Le Papillon, La Esmeralda, and The Fairy Doll. A sort of trademark of the new troupe is a spectacular fragment from the final act of La Fille Mal Gardee staged by Vinogradov that completes each gala.

The company's repertoire does not stop with its traditional, though unique, choreography. On February 15, the troupe presented the premieres of two one-act ballets created especially by its chief choreographer, Dmitry Bryancev, Nine Tangos and Bach (music by Astor Piazzolla and Johann Sebastian Bach) and Spectral Ball. An intense interest was aroused by the latter, in which the somewhat eccentric creative manner of the choreographer (renowned for his stagings in the theaters of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and for his famous television ballets starring Ekaterina Maximova) has acquired the ripeness of lyric wisdom.

Chopin - nocturnes, mazurkas, and excerpts from his piano concertos - provides the musical base of Spectral Ball. There is no overt plot; perception and understanding are left to the spectator. Five duets, alternating between elegy and ecstatic drama, are framed by group scenes in which successive couples find each other. Striving for a kindred spirit, even for a short time, seems to be the most important point in the choreographer's conception.

After Fokine and Robbins, it is not easy to find a new interpretation for Chopin's music. Nevertheless, Bryancev's composition is fresh, and it evoked a passionate response from the audience. Much credit is due to the excellent dancers. A duet by Asylmuratova and Makhar Vaziyev charmed the audience by the beauty of its line and the subtlety of its emotion.

Plans call for the troupe to present two more works by Bryancev, Cowboys (to Gershwin's music) and Bravo, Figaro (to music by Rossini). Vinogradov intends to make new versions of his ballets La Fille Mal Gardee and Coppelia. In spite of its initial success, the future of Chamber Ballet Theatre is not unclouded, first and foremost for financial reasons. But this is also true for all of disturbed Russia.