JEWELS

What a dazzling display of dance!

The magnificent Bolshoi Ballet Company is displayed like a jewel itself in the glittering, imposing auditorium and absolutely dazzles with its more than sensational dancing. With new set and costume designs this is an elegant, extremely impressive evening. The first two acts had a design sort of like a bracelet or similar that could be interpreted as city skyscrapers (others have suggested stained glass windows).For ‘Diamonds’ we saw a lyrical, starry backdrop.

Choreographed in 1967 by George Balanchine the work is in three acts –Emeralds , Rubies and Diamonds .Each act has its own distinct character and showcases a different style of classical ballet – ‘Emeralds’ to Faure is in the elegant ,sophisticated romantic French style , ‘Rubies’ to Stravinsky is based on the US jazz/musical/showbiz style and ‘Diamonds’ to Tchaikovsky is a glittering Petipa/Russian style tribute .We are encouraged to think of  three of the main cities choreographer Balanchine lived in during his life Paris,  New York and St Petersburg.

The green mid-length tutus for Emeralds were ravishing , the dancing superb. Some of it perhaps choreographically reminded me of Balanchine’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream ‘ .It was cool, elegant , dreamily romantic and sometimes had an underwater feeling . Some of the mirroring and intricate intertwinings evoked Balanchine’s “Serenade”. In the pas de trois there were some very intricate interlocking arms. Anastasia Stashkevich positively glowed and has huge expressive eyes combined with a fluid epaulement and lyricism . Actually , rather than French I kept on thinking of the Fonteyn/British style (which actually Balanchine apparently disliked intensely). The second main couple –  Anna Tikhomirova and Vlasislav Lantratov –  had a sensational pas de deux full of lush melancholy . Lantratov was amazing in his dazzling showy solo full of incredible soft ballon and turns.

For me , ‘Rubies’  the middle section was , while splendidly danced ,perhaps a trifle disappointing. The costumes were short , snappy red ones with gold fringes .Some of it was extremely acrobatic and quite obviously different in style to ‘Emeralds ‘– far more similar to Balanchine’s spiky ‘neo classical’ works like ‘ Agon ‘ ‘’The Four Temperaments’  etc and with hints of his ‘Prodigal Son’ perhaps too. There were some very complicated rhythms and patterns both musically and choreographically .Sometimes the dancers apparently had to be boneless! But I agree with others of my colleagues who think the dancers just fractionally didn’t quite ‘get’ this piece as well as the other two sections.And I didn’t like the odd way the hands were used and held at times. However, I must admit that the dynamic pas de deux with Ekaterina Krysanova and Vyacheslav Lpatin stopped the show .

Superb , dazzling ‘Diamonds’ , full of grace and precision ,was at times obviously Petipa influenced and you could see snippets of choreographic quotes from  ‘Swan Lake ‘ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’ for instance. It was a cool crisp ‘ballet blanc’ tribute that dazzled . What was interesting was the way some of it was photographed from above to distinctly show the interlocking weaving patterns of some of the choreography.Special mention must be made of the breathtaking performance of Olga Smirnova , regal and with incredible slow control in the adagio sections and full of brittle filigree beauty. Semyon Chudin’s performance was explosively jaw-dropping.

All the men in the performance were tremendous but they didn’t really get much of a chance to show what they were capable of except very briefly .Balanchine was definitely heavily focusing on displaying the women ( remember his famous quote’ Ballet is woman’).

This screening is important as not only do we have the rare chance to see this major Balanchine work – hardly ever performed in Australia – but also is of note as a  year after the horrifying  acid-throwing attack that seriously damaged his eyes, Sergei Filin, the company’s artistic director, was interviewed by the Bolshoi’s press officer,  Ms Novikova onstage at interval. Wearing special dark glasses , with easy grace  he talked about the Company and this performance very enthusiastically .  Ms. Novikova, a regular participant of the Bolshoi broadcasts, translated his Russian deftly into French and English for us . The other interval interview was with legendary Merrill Ashley the repiteur who had mounted the work and talked about the Balanchine Foundation.

Running time 2 hours 30 mins (approx) includes two intervals (which ,for the screenings, include interviews with Sergei Filinin and Merryl Ashley also Olga Smirnova .Screening at Dendy Opera Quays and Newtown  16/2/2014 and other selected cinemas nationally.