The Kirov at City Center: Petipa Programme

Thursday April 3, 2008 - My friend Susan had been telling me about the Kirov's season at City Center and in fact has invited me to their Balanchine programme on April 18. Meantime, while looking at the links she had sent me I became curious about some of the Kirov's dancers and I thought it would be wonderful to see their Kingdom of the Shades from BAYADERE. I am much obliged to Helene Davis for making it possible. This is the Kirov's Petipa programme and aside from the BAYADERE it features Act III of RAYMONDA and the Grand Pas from PAQUITA. Of the dancers, only Diana Vishneva was familiar to me thru her lovely performance as Aurora in ABT's unhappy production of SLEEPING BEAUTY (which, I understand, has been improved upon since I saw it).

After reading Alistair Macaulay's NY TIMES review of the opening night of this Kirov season at City Center, I was a little wary as I waited for the performance to begin. Macaulay described something of a circus atmosphere, both onstage (virtuosity seemingly trumping artistry) and among the audience (gratuitous applause and an obbligato of conversation during the dancing): a potential nightmare for me. I already knew that the staging would include a somewhat pared-down version of the Kingdom of the Shades with a reduced corps (24) and no ramp!

Tonight's audience seemed mostly attentive and I thought the dancers showed a nice mixture of dazzle and refinement. None of the dancers that I saw seemed to be  grandstanding and some of them showed exquisite depths of artistry, most notably Viktoria Tereshkina (John Ross photo as Odette) and of course Diana Vishneva.

The big appeal of RAYMONDA is the Glazunov score which Balanchine mined for his RAYMONDA VARIATIONS and CORTEGE HONGROIS. Beautifully partnered by Danila Korsuntsev (photo), Ms. Tereshkina was very much to my liking. She has that mixture of delicacy and strength - silk and steel - that put me in mind at times of Wendy Whelan. I'd love to see Tereshkina (photo) in other ballets - she's listed for BALLET IMPERIAL on my return visit (4/18) but I've got to try to add a performance if I can. Mr. Korsuntsev is a very fine dancer but his performance - and indeed the entire programme - was hampered by the space limitations of the City Center stage. Stepping out for his solo, Korsuntsev seemed to dance the first few measures of it in place whereas clearly he should have already been traversing his diagonal. I admired his esprit de corps and well as the nicely lyrical feeling of his dancing. Nadezhda Gonchar contributed a very pretty solo.

Anton Korsakov and Alina Somova starred in the PAQUITA; I was familiar with this 'grand pas' from the ABT video release with Cynthia Gregory and Fernando Bujones although this version is a bit different: there are five solo female variations rather than four. And the Kirov costuming has a vast color palette whereas the ABT version has a traditional Spanish black-and-red look. The ultra-controversial Ms. Somova, criticized for her extreme extension and other stylistic misdemeanors, did seem very different in approach from her colleagues. However, I certainly found her attractive - and entertaining. She dances on a grand scale and if her fouettes had an unusual 'kick' of the whipping leg she easily reeled off what seemed like several dozen of them, much to the delight of the crowd. Mr. Korsakov is perhaps just a bit too short for the leggy Somova but they managed well enough, and he is a fine dancer. The corps looked very pretty indeed and the five soloists were a resplendent group, led off by the charming Gonchar. Then the dancer I was most curious about appeared: Ekaterina Kondaurova. Try imagining a blend of Kowroski and Reichlen...with red hair, which was nicely set off by her tourquoise-blue bodice. Her variation literally held the house in a breathless state as she deployed a luxuriant extension and beautifully modulated arms. She won an explosion of applause and had to bow twice. Valeria Martynyuk was vivacious and Ekaterina Osmolkina very appealing, and then Ms. Tereshkina, appropriately wearing royal purple, gave a stunningly phrased solo with a beautifully fluid upper body and impeccable musicality.

I can't think of any single scene in the ballet repertoire that holds a candle to the Kingdom of the Shades from BAYADERE. Musically and in terms of structure and atmosphere it truly casts a spell unlike anything else I have experienced in the theatre. Tonight's performance underlined the disadvantages that large-scale ballets face on the City Center stage where even the smaller ensembles in Paul Taylor's works earlier this year seemed somewhat spatially constrained. And in fact without the ramp for the entree of the Shades the ballet really loses an essential element, since the spirits no longer seem to be descending from heaven but merely stepping out from the darkened rear of the stage. Reduced in number to 24, the Kirov corps  presented this iconic 'white act' with such compelling clarity that space limitations were forgotten. Olesia Novikova (brilliant traveling hops onto pointe), the very accomplished Nadezhda Gonchar and the stellar Ekaterina Kondaurova were the solo Shades. Kondaurova showed off a velvety adagio style before her final bravura diagonal took her to within centimeters of the edge of the stage.

Yevgeny Ivanchenko and Diana Vishneva (in a Damon Winter/NY Times photo) were ideal and deeply satisfying as Solor and Nikiya. Impressive as her ABT Aurora was, Vishneva shone to far superior advantage here because Nikiya plays to her deep, womanly mystique and sense of poetry. So technically polished is she that her dancing seemed completely effortless. Mr. Ivanchenko was a superb Solor despite having to rein in some of his combinations to accommodate  the lack of space (Vishneva too had to linger in place in some of her diagonals to avoid  prematurely swirling into the wings). Ivanchenko is tall and noble and while I wished for tights rather than the slightly floppy harem pants his costume did show off a very nice midriff. Vishneva and Ivanchenko were a very elegant partnership and garnered cheers at the end of the evening.

Gene Schiavone's gorgeous photograph of Vishneva costumed as Nikiya. The Kirov will be at City Center thru April 20 it's very much worthwhile to see their dancers and to experience some of the rarities on offer. Visit the site for a look at repertoire and principal casting. I was very glad to run into Juan and Susan during the intermissions and for Susan's help in clarifying some of the cast changes. And it was nice that Susan got her wish: Igor Zelensky is now announced as the Golden Slave in Fokine's SCHEHERAZADE for April 6 matinee.   

Comments

[nysusan]

Glad you enjoyed the evening. I have to say that while I absolutely hated Somova in Bayadere, I though she was just fine in Paquita. The razzle dazzle of the choreography and spanish rhythms suit her style perfectly and I think I will feel the same way about her in Etudes. The Balanchine is a question mark. I just read a very interesting review of the opening night cast by Mary Cargill online at DanceViewtimes.com. I agree with all of her impressions, even her slight critisicm of Vishneva, although what I consider to be Vishneva's dramatic take on all her roles doesn't bother me, I just think every dancer approaches a role differently and although I have my favorites in each role I enjoy Vishneva's interpretations as musch as Lopatkina's & Tereshkina's

[Laura]

I saw Alina Somova last night. I feel like there is something "wrong" with her body. She looks slightly bow-legged and her extension is more gymnastics than ballet, in my opinion. I mean, I am all for a good extension, but her hips are distorted and she is clearly "cheating". Anybody who has ever been a ballet dancers knows what cheating means. I just wasn't a fan. Diana Vishneva was gorgeous. Also, I was not impressed with the men AT ALL.

[Philip]

Somova is certainly not going to be to everyone's taste and I am not sure I would like her in every ballet but after all the things I had read she was better than I expected.

Tereshkina & Kondaurova were revelations for me and I thought Vishneva was really a perfect Nikiya.

I wonder if the men might have been more dazzling if they'd had more space to work with?

[Laura]

I agree, Philip, the men certainly did not have enough room to dance. Actually, neither did the women! Overall it was a good program and it's always nice to see a different company and style.

[Philip]

The space constraints were the only real negative aspect of the evening for me. I'm sure many of the individual dancers would have made even stronger impressions if they could have danced full-out.

[Susan]

No doubt the lack of floor space has had a negative impact on the male dancing, especially for the taller men but I think that some of the Kirov’s leading male dancers (like Korsuntsev and Ivanchenko) are more “leading men” than virtuoso dancers.You know, the Charles Askegards of Russian classical ballet. Tall, elegant and noble with beautiful line, technique and perfect partnering skills. They are certainly excellent dancers but neither are the highest jumpers or fastest turners.They are the Princes for the Kirov’s tall ballerinas.

If you’e looking for their Corella or De Luz I think you’d be more impressed by Sarafanov & Kolb, though I don’t know if I’d really consider Kolb a virtuoso. He is a beautiful dancer and a great artist and I find him much more impressive in pure dance terms than Korsuntsev or Ivanchenko. He was phenomenal tonight (or last nght by now) in both Spectre de la Rose & Sheherazade.

[Philip]

Susan, I agree with your view of the male dancer 'types'...I never expect dazzling virtuosity from taller men (though sometimes they have it) and often their bravura passages are more dutiful than thrilling. But if we want tall ballerinas then we have to have tall men to partner them.

I'm looking forward to seeing Kolb on the 18th; I don't think I'll get to see Sarafanov this visit. What's Fadeev (Fadeyev?) like?

Now I'm regretting not having planned to see more of the Kirov...and press tickets seem to be a rare commodity. It's fun watching the various dancers on YouTube but that doesn't really come close to experiencing them in the theatre.