Mariinsky Ballet: Swan Lake; Homage to Balanchine

Royal Opera House, London

Geraldine Bedell



Occasionally you see the sort of technically accomplished and emotionally calibrated performance that makes you want to buy your family and friends tickets for the ballet and make them go.

Uliana Lopatkina, the reigning queen at the Mariinsky Ballet, gave not one but two performances like that last week, in Swan Lake and the company's Homage to Balanchine. Her excellence is partly a matter of academic rigour, partly of interpretation. Luckily, though, you don't need esoteric knowledge to enjoy it. Children who don't know their pliés from their piqués love ballet, as well as aesthetes, because when a dancer is in symbiosis with the music, anyone can see it.

As Odile in Swan Lake, Lopatkina had a queenly set to her shoulders yet a vulnerability and tentativeness in her partnering with Siegfried (Daniil Korsuntsev). Her poise and tranquillity - she has been described as dancing as if in a trance - emphasised the foreignness and unreachability of Odette; swan-like, as well as womanly. And she was a haughty and compelling Odile.

Several other performances were impressive: Andrei Ivanov was a flirtatious and thrilling Jester and Ilya Kuznetsov a menacing and dramatic von Rothbart. The corps de ballet, a dazzle of white swan maidens, was as harmonious as audiences have come to expect from the Mariinsky. It's a shame that the production had such a silly happy ending, because if this story and this music don't demand a dying fall, I don't know what does.

The Balanchine evening opened with Serenade, the choreographer's poignant interpretation of classical ballet for the machine age. With winding shapes, snapped feet and flicked wrists, the dancers inscribed beautiful shapes against a luminous blue background. The second piece, Rubies, is actually the middle part of a three-act ballet, Jewels. A glittering drama of energetic, jazzy rhythms (the music is by Stravinsky), it has been described as the Russian choreographer's love letter to America.

But it was Symphony in C, the final work, that was outstanding, not least because the piece makes considerable demands on the corps de ballet, in particular in the final movement when the stage is awash with dancers and the music calls for such verve. But there are few corps as well schooled as the Mariinsky's; it is exciting to watch the fourth girl from the back, knowing every line of her will be accurate. A blur of tutus resolved time and again into perfectly controlled tableaux, providing a high-energy visual crescendo, and conveying a sense of sheer delight in the music.

And the second movement, the adagio, was breathtaking. Lopatkina was delicate, graceful, languorous, dancing so slowly she seemed to defy physics. Her stillness was compelling. She seemed like a dancer at the top of her game, with astonishing feet (the arches go on and on). Balanchine talked of wanting dancers to become clear conduits, "poets of gesture"; and watching Lopatkina move to Bizet's plangent oboe melody, you could see exactly what he meant.

The Sleeping Beauty by the Mariinsky ballet, Covent Garden

By Sarah Crompton
Published: 11:28AM BST 17 Aug 2009



Ten years ago, the Mariinsky Ballet (then known as the Kirov) unveiled a production of The Sleeping Beauty that attempted to take it back to the first version unveiled in St Petersburg in 1890. The result was a kaleidoscopically colourful vision, full of grand effects, lasting for almost four hours. I adored it: it gave real, lively insight into the masterpiece of classical ballet that Petipa and Tchaikovsky created.

However, the company's acting director Yuri Fateyev has jettisoned that reconstruction, so the version of Beauty performed at the weekend was one staged by Konstantin Sergeyev in 1952. The problem is that it looks more old-fashioned than the one made in 1890. With the exception of a gauzy red forest for Act 2, the sets by Simon Virsaladze are garish and flat, and, while the costumes are attractive, they appear alongside some of the worst wigs ever to walk on stage.

The staging feels full of action and no direction. The dramatic effects of the ballet – the arrival of the evil Carabosse, her curse and eventual defeat – are oddly muffled; even the glories of the famous "Rose Adagio", where Aurora receives the gifts of her suitors, are blunted by a lot of strange business surrounding it. The whole thing is a pantomime rather than a ballet.

In this context, it seems hard for the dancers to shine. As Aurora, Evgenia Obraztsova, who had dazzled in Balanchine's Symphony in C, had one of those nights when nothing went quite right. Yet it was the fact that her performance went no further than a light jump, some pretty lines and a pert smile that made her portrayal seem so thin. There was no transformation, no sense of true love found.

Igor Kolb was a strong partner but similarly undramatic as her Prince, while Ekaterina Kondaurova as the Lilac Fairy, hampered by a costume that made her look like a 1940s starlet, was beautiful but steely, with little of the beneficence the part surely requires. As the Bluebird, Maxim Zuzin showed great promise, but once again it was Yana Selina both as the Brave Fairy and the White Cat whose dancing and liveliness caught the eye. The orchestral interludes were a joy.

In a sense, therefore, this Beauty revealed the problems besetting the Mariinsky rather than its undoubted strengths. It, too, feels like a slumbering princess in need of a little tender care.

Over the past fortnight, dancers such as Uliana Lopatkina, at the height of her powers, and Vladimir Shklyarov at the start of his career, have lit up the stage. The strength of the dancers' training makes their overall technical standard incredibly high. But some of the dancing lacks qualities you would normally associate with this company: an instinctive musicality and an understanding of the way classical dance conveys meaning. The dancers are also lumbered with productions that have seen better days, like jewels in a tarnished setting.

Someone needs to blow the cobwebs away, if they are to preserve their wonderful traditions for another 250 years.

TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

A tired Sleeping Beauty

By Sarah Frater, Evening Standard 17.08.09

Closing its London visit with The Sleeping Beauty should be a hit for the Mariinsky.

As well as Tchaikovsky’s wonderful music and Petipa’s filigree choreography, the company has the ballet in its bones, having danced it pretty much continuously since the original was made for it way back in 1890.

However, it felt a bit thin on Friday night, with the tired 1952 Sergeyev production not a patch on the Mariinsky’s fabulous 1999 version (last seen London in 2001), and a cast comprising almost all dancers from the corps de ballet.

Admittedly, the Mariinsky juniors are often better than the higher ranks of other ballet companies but for a work on the scale and grandeur of Beauty, you need soloists in the many featured roles.

Even the two principals (Evgenia Obraztsova as Princess Aurora and Igor Kolb as the Prince) weren’t at their best.

Obraztsova is a small, pretty dancer but she didn’t deliver the regal grace you want in the role.

Nor did she connect with the underlying melancholy in Tchaikovsky’s melodies. Kolb looked strained, over-emphasising many of the steps, although he was much improved in the final act.

Also unappealing were the rather manic Fairies in Act I, and the feeble acting from Soslan Kulaev as Catalabutte (the King’s Master of Ceremonies).

That said, Islom Baimuradov was excellent as Carabosse, as were Daria Vasnetsova and Maxim Zuzin as Princess Florine and the Blue Bird, while Yana Selina’s White Cat epitomised feline playfulness and all its allure.

The Sleeping Beauty, Royal Opera House, London

By Clement Crisp

Published: August 17 2009 22:24 | Last updated: August 17 2009 22:24

The Mariinsky Ballet has brought us a new Aurora, enchanting in manner, brilliant in means, to illuminate Petipa’s sleeping princess and the company’s handsomely traditional staging which tells her story. Evgenia Obraztsova is youthful, lovely and, by today’s standards, might be thought petite.

She has a beautiful physique, an exquisitely placed head on a long neck, and she came on stage on Friday night, when The Sleeping Beauty completed the Mariinsky repertory for this all-too-short season, armed with dazzling skills. Her feet sparkle in small steps, and she charms the choreography – as she charms us – with that stylistic clarity, that inevitability of phrasing and pose, which are the product of St Petersburg’s long and golden traditions. She made her entrance for Aurora’s birthday, and won the audience by the sweetness and grace of her temperament and the freshness of dancing unclouded by mannerism, natural (in these most unnatural of circumstances) as a bird throwing off impossible roulades of notes. Thereafter the role, which can freeze a ballerina’s nerves, so absolute are its demands upon security of technique, was Obraztsova’s.

The Aurora of the first act was radiant in feeling as in step, though (to carp for one critical micro-second) I wish she had looked at her suitors as she took those death-trap balances. Aurora’s Vision in the hunting scene (which was filleted of any sense through concerns about its length, I hazard, and became a miserable travesty of what the Mariinsky knows it should be) was danced with delicately subdued emotion. The Aurora of the wedding was all assurance and grace, Obraztsova admirably conveying the necessary grandeur of the occasion, and both the artist’s acceptance of the need for the very best kind of fireworks for her public and the exigencies of St Petersburg style at this moment. Here was a most beguiling reading of the greatest challenge a ballerina can know.

The Mariinsky staging has looked better in the past: the horrid cuts in the hunting scene, some less than disciplined ensembles, the Bluebird’s solo ending in a collapse to the ground as if the Dying Swan was worth copying, were disappointing. Igor Kolb was Obraztsova’s sterling prince; Ekaterina Kondaurova a fine and lustrous Lilac Fairy. ★★★★☆

Homage to Balanchine, Royal Opera House, London

Reviewed by Zoë Anderson
Tuesday, 18 August 2009

The Mariinsky Ballet celebrates George Balanchine, in the only mixed bill of this London season. Sometimes they're on top of this choreography, sometimes not.

In Serenade, the corps de ballet shift into position in blocks, rather than letting patterns emerge from the flow of the dance. But when they all take an arabesque pose, they're thrilling: torsos proudly held, limbs boldly stretched.

Serenade, Rubies and Symphony in C were among the company's early acquisitions. The Mariinsky have been dancing them for more than a decade. So why is their grasp on this choreography so variable? Serenade was solid enough, but Rubies and Symphony in C had some serious wobbles.

Rubies is Balanchine at his jazziest. It has New York attitude and a flashing Stravinsky score, with showgirl poses, thrust hips and gleeful syncopation. This performance looked generally under-rehearsed, with some bright moments to remind you that these dancers could get it right. In the soloist role, Ekaterina Kondaurova jumped onto her pointes, arriving in position with a bang. The corps rushed in from the wings, snapping triumphantly into their leggy formations.

Elsewhere, the same corps struggled with intricate steps, sometimes not far from the staggers. Rising star Vladimir Shklyarov has a strong technique, but this bravura role kept running away with him. His pas de deux with Irina Golub went in and out of focus. Pavel Bubelnikov conducted a sprightly performance, with glittering solo piano from Ludmila Sveshnikova.

Symphony in C is a superb showcase for a classical company: four ballerinas, each supported by her own court of partner, solists and corps. Tereshkina, who had already danced a fine "heroine" in Serenade, led the first movement. There's a handsome simplicity to her line, without fuss or exaggeration.

Ulyana Lopatkina gave a remote account of the slow second movement. She danced as if holding her breath, unwilling to let go. Arm positions are lightly sketched, without much weight.

Elena Evseeva and Evgenia Obraztsova were lively in the third and fourth movements. Again, the corps looked under-rehearsed. The end of Symphony in C is a surefire excitement-builder, with wave after wave of exuberant dancing. It didn't fail here, but it could have had so much more momentum.

The Sleeping Beauty, Royal Opera House, London

Reviewed by Zoë Anderson
Wednesday, 19 August 2009



The Mariinsky Ballet's visit draws to a close with a fine new Aurora in a creaking old production. Konstantin Sergeyev's 1952 version of The Sleeping Beauty suffers from a much-modified text, very leisurely pacing and dreadful wigs. Even so, Evgenia Obraztsova shines as the lead.

This is a Soviet Beauty, trimming and adapting Petipa's original. The question is why the Mariinsky brought it in the first place. Ten years ago, the company staged a lavish reconstruction of the original 1890 production, with a much richer text. The 1890 costumes were sometimes curious, but they had nothing on the horrors credited to Simon Virsaladze. (The 1952 version sticks one of the fairies in an acid orange tutu, then surrounds her with attendants in hectic lilac. Ouch.)

So why go back to the previous production? There's been a retro look to many of the Mariinsky's recent decisions. At first, the company responded to the end of the Soviet Union by looking outwards, taking on Western choreography, re-examining its own past. It even changed its name, dropping the Soviet Kirov and returning to the old imperial Mariinsky. That impulse has faltered. Dancers who seemed excited by Forsythe or Balanchine now look under-rehearsed in those works.

It's not all bad news. There are still fine dancers, led by Obraztsova's lovely Aurora. Running on for her birthday party, she has an exuberant happiness. Small, with a pretty face and heavy-lidded eyes, she's bouncy and elegant. In the "Rose Adagio", her balances are steady enough, but the sense of celebration is more important. As she turns, arms held wide, she has an expansiveness that fills the Tchaikovsky music.

Igor Kolb makes an efficient prince. He jumps and partners briskly, but is short on depth. Maxim Zuzin's Bluebird has more energy. Ekaterina Kondaurova is an imperious Lilac Fairy. The corps de ballet were on untidy form, with far too many rough edges. Soloists fall into mannerisms. The lifted chin, a Mariinsky habit, was running riot.

Islom Baimuradov had some swagger as the wicked fairy Carabosse, but my favourite mime performance came from an attendant. Carabosse punishes the master of ceremonies by ripping off his hat and plucking his hair out. The attendant picked up the loose hair and hid it in the hat, trying to spare him embarrassment. It's the kind of detail that this production so often misses.

'Ballerina' documentary reveals the evolving promise of young ballerinas

By Camille LeFevre | Published Fri, Aug 21 2009 9:01 am

Facing the dearth of serious, professional dance on stage in August? In need of a ballet fix before the fall dance scene kicks into gear? Rent "Ballerina," the 2006 documentary by Bertrand Norman (recently made available through Netflix).

This quiet documentary goes behind the scenes of Russian ballet and the ballerinas who have made it iconic. In Russia, as narrator Diana Baker’s voiceover states, "Ballet is a national art" and its ballerinas are celebrities with their own groupies (who bring them juice, hugs and copies of "The Great Gatsby").

The film begins with a look at the arduous training young women receive at the Vaganova Ballet Academy. While the footage is free of images of twisted, tortured feet, bloody toeshoes and investigations of eating disorders — some of the common situations ballet dancers submit to in their striving for perfect techniques and bodies — there is one rather horrifying scene in which twiglike 10-year-old girls audition naked except for their underpants, as an older man lifts and twists their limbs to examine their extension. Sheesh.

Otherwise, the film is all decorum and loveliness as it follows five young ballerinas at various stages of their careers with the Kirov Ballet, housed in the Mariinski Theatre. There’s the youngest, Alina Somova, who wins a place at the Kirov Ballet after her Vaganova graduation performance. She goes on to mature so quickly that she’s dancing the principal role in "Swan Lake" by age 18.

One of her counterparts at the Kirov is the memorably oval-faced Evgenia Obraztsova, who dances with a youthful confidence that’s utterly beguiling. She’s so beloved for inhabiting her characters that she is asked to act in a French film, winning praise from the director. But she returns to the stage at the Mariinski and her ballet career immediately after.

Ulyana Lopatkina, after injuring her foot, married and had a daughter. But she’s longing to return to the stage, and works diligently to regain her former level of excellence. She succeeds, and the footage of her dancing in "Legend of Love" is breathtakingly incisive.

Diana Vishneva, who has received accolades throughout Europe and the United States recently, is seemingly able to take on any personality or role, infusing each one with her singular sense of personality and style.

That ballet is "a very severe discipline" requiring a life of self-deprivation is made somewhat clear in the film, as the dancers talk about rehearsing all day and performing at night, and their teachers drill them to the point of exhaustion. But this film is more a look at the dancers’ constant drives to improve, so they may move from the corps de ballet to the coryphée to duets and short solos, and finally to principal roles.

Perhaps most impressive, however, is how each of the dancers profiled — all of them schooled in Russian ballet — display their own stylistic personalities despite their similar training. Which makes this film insightful training for the ballet watcher's eye as we prepare for the upcoming dance season.

Lady in red

Mariinsky soloist Yekaterina Konaurova talks to The St. Petersburg Times about her plans and aspirations.

By Kevin Ng

Just before the Mariinsky Ballet 2008/09 season closed last month, Yekaterina Kondaurova, a rising star and soloist at the Mariinsky Ballet, spoke to The St. Petersburg Times at the end of the company’s two-week season at the Royal Opera House in London.

Yekaterina Kondaurova, known to her New York fans as
‘Big Red,’ is a rising star at the Mariinsky Theater.

Kondaurova, having risen to prominence in the past two years, looks a likely candidate for promotion to principal dancer in the future. At Covent Garden she had a heavy workload in the second and final week of the tour, dancing several roles almost non-stop within the space of a week — Odette/Odile in “Swan Lake,” the lilac fairy in “Sleeping Beauty,” and, perhaps most demandingly, three roles in the Balanchine program — the waltz ballerina in “Serenade,” the second soloist in “Rubies,” and the adagio ballerina in “Symphony in C.” On the day that we met she had just finished taking the morning class, and there was only an hour to spare before the general rehearsal for the Balanchine program in the early afternoon.

Kondaurova is affectionately known as “Big Red” to the New York ballet-going public. It would be easy to imagine that it was simply down to Kondaurova’s red hair. “No,” she explained, “it was actually because of my costume in ‘Don Quixote.’ I danced a variation in the last act of the ballet. I shouldn’t have done, actually, because at the time I didn’t have a costume for that variation. And I wore the only costume available at the time for that ballet, which was a big red tutu. And after that they started calling me ‘Big Red.’”

This summer, Kondaurova was the face of the Mariinsky’s London tour, with the publicity poster and booking brochure featuring her as the waltz ballerina in Balanchine’s “Serenade.” A week after the London tour, Kondaurova celebrated her 27th birthday in Barcelona where she spent three weeks with her husband and fellow Mariinsky dancer Islom Baimuradov.

Looking forward to the new 2009/10 season, which ballet does Kondaurova particularly hope to learn and dance? “I really hope to be able to dance ‘La Bayadere’ next season.” Last season she finally made her leading role debut at the Mariinsky Ballet in “Swan Lake.”

“I made my Mariinsky debut in the autumn of 2008, partnered by Danila Korsuntsev. But actually I had danced “Swan Lake” first with the Petrozavodsk Ballet, whose director is Kirill Simonov. It’s Simonov’s own version of “Swan Lake.” I learnt this classic in just two weeks before my performance with the Petrozavodsk Ballet in a festival in Finland. For my Mariinsky performance last year I had about a month to prepare and rehearse the role. In July, I got good reviews for my ‘Swan Lake’ during the Mariinsky tour to Amsterdam. One critic wrote that I should have danced the opening night instead of a matinee!”

Kondaurova’s first leading role at the Mariinsky was
in ‘Swan Lake.’

Kondaurova continued, “Actually, when I was much younger I didn’t really like ‘Swan Lake’ as a ballet. But, of course, having now danced the ballet several times, I’ve come to love it. It’s fascinating, this dual ballerina role of the black and white swan.” So, which side of this suits her best? “Some people think that Odile, the black swan, suits me more than Odette, the white swan. But it really depends on my emotions on the day. I love dancing both the black and white swans.”

Kondaurova joined the Mariinsky Ballet in 2001. “Really my career breakthrough was after I danced the William Forsythe program. I danced Forsythe’s ‘In The Middle’ and then his ‘Steptext’ and ‘Approximate Sonata’ later.”

Kondaurova and Baimuradov created the leading roles in “The Glass Heart” choreographed by Kirill Simonov which opened the 2008 Mariinsky Festival, as well as roles in Noah Gelber’s “The Golden Age.”

Kondaurova married Baimuradov, a distinguished principal character dancer, in early 2008 in a very low-key manner. “We just went to the registry that day at 8 a.m., before our daily class. My mother didn’t even know. We were joined by two of our friends who acted as our witnesses. After the ceremony, we went to take class in the Mariinsky Theater as usual.” Didn’t they host a party that night? “No, we didn’t have a party. We had to dance in a performance of ‘Swan Lake’ that evening!”

Their home is about 10 minutes’ walk from the Mariinsky Theater. “I am interested in fashion design and cooking. Islom and I love to cook and try new recipes. Actually both of us seldom talk about ballet at home.” Are they planning to start a family soon? “Maybe later we’ll have a baby, but not now. I want to spend more time with my husband first.”

The Mariinsky Ballet’s 2009/10 season will open with “Shurale” on Tuesday.

Mariinsky Stars Welcome Guests at the Royal Ballet

By Kevin Ng
Special to The St. Petersburg Times

The Royal Ballet in London has invited two Mariinsky ballerinas as guest dancers this year. Following Yekaterina Osmolkina’s guest appearances in “Swan Lake” in March, another star, Yevgenia Obraztsova (who was in Cedric Klapisch’s 2005 film “Russian Dolls” as well as in Bertand Normand’s 2006 film “Ballerina”), appeared in “The Sleeping Beauty.”


Natasha Razina / For The St. Petersburg Times

Last Saturday, for her second and final performance, Obraztsova was superb and showed herself to be fully at home in The Royal Ballet’s production of “Beauty.” This production was premiered in 2006 to celebrate the illustrious British company’s 75th anniversary and artistic director Dame Monica Mason based it on the company’s landmark 1946 production by Dame Ninette de Valois which reopened the Royal Opera House after the Second World War. This production is far superior to the Soviet production by Konstantin Sergeyev that is danced by the Mariinsky Ballet this year, and which was also shown at Covent Garden last summer during their London tour. Sergei Vikharev’s reconstruction of the original 1890 Imperial Ballet version of “Beauty,” which is, unfortunately, seldom danced by the Mariinsky, is still the definitive production of this classic.

Obraztsova was a classically pure Aurora in the best of Mariinsky traditions. Every element of her dancing was perfectly pitched, as well as being rich in detail. Her dancing maintained the complex balance required by the Rose Adagio in Act 1. In the Act 2 vision scene, she was warm and tender, giving an exquisite solo, and in the final wedding act she was radiant in the grand pas de deux.

She was strongly partnered by the Royal Ballet principal David Makhatelli, although he was not as technically polished, his solo lacking precision. Earlier last week the Royal Ballet star Alina Cojocaru (a favorite of St. Petersburg audiences and a regular guest with the Mariinsky) also gave a superlative performance with her regular partner Johan Kobborg, which was even more satisfying than the Obraztsova/Makhatelli performance. These “Beauty” performances were splendidy conducted by another Mariinsky guest, Valery Ovsyanikov.

Another significant ballet program was staged at the Mariinsky Theater the week before. The Mariinsky Ballet revived Balanchine’s 1952 masterpiece “Scotch Symphony” after a gap of more than 15 years. This staging was by Ben Huys, a former New York City Ballet dancer. Balanchine staged this ballet to music by Mendelssohn following his visit to the Edinburgh Festival. The great choreographer, captivated by the Scottish landscape and the theatricality of the military parades of the Scottish regiments, created a very poetic ballet.

Alina Somova was expressive in the lead role, while Alexander Sergeyev was full of passion as her cavalier. The Mariinsky corps de ballet was wonderfully alive and vibrant, illuminating the engaging patterns choreographed by Balanchine. The whole cast was triumphant in the final joyful movement.



“Scotch Symphony” and another Balanchine masterpiece, “Theme and Variations,” were the first two Balanchine ballets to be staged in Russia — the Mariinsky (then known as the Kirov) Ballet staged them under former artistic director of ballet Oleg Vinogradov.

Fittingly, this new program also included “Theme and Variations,” Balanchine’s fantasy on “Sleeping Beauty.” Viktoria Tereshkina danced the demanding lead role gloriously, and Vladimir Shklyarov was, as usual, technically dazzling.

This excellent program was completed by “In The Night,” created by Jerome Robbins, the second greatest New York City Ballet choreographer after Balanchine. A chamber ballet set for three couples, it depicts the three stages of a woman’s relationship with her lover, danced by three different female dancers.

In the first passionate duet, Maria Shirinkina and Filipp Steppin were youthful and flowing. In the aristocratic second duet, Konstantin Zverev danced with a noble bearing, partnering a radiant Maya Dumchenko. And in the emotional final duet, Mariinsky prima ballerina Uliana Lopatkina was excellent. The ending was moving, with the three different couples uniting on stage and greeting each other.

The Mariinsky Ballet will depart early next week for a three-week tour to Japan.