Today, one of my dreams
came true, to go to the Bolshoi to see the Bolshoi Ballet. I felt like a nine year old the night before
as could not sleep as so excited. Unfortunately
S couldn’t make it due to jet setting around the world with the family she works
for, so I had a spare ticket. Through my
various advertising on social networking sites there was no taker, hard to
believe, I know. It’s the BOLSHOI!! I took the ticket with me
and what do you know, there were people looking to buy spare tickets, problem
solved. The guy I sold it to was from
Mexico and it was also one of his dreams to see the Bolshoi ballet on the main
stage. Result!
Having been on the
Bolshoi tour before Christmas, being inside the auditorium when the lights were
on was breath taking! All the gold detailing had a glow to it, the chandelier
and frescos on the ceiling were in sharp detail and it was quite magical.
Swan Lake is one of my
favourite ballets and I have seen it three times and all done by Russian
companies. This has been the best so
far. Here are my thoughts/review of it:
The Cast-
Odette/Odile………...... Anna
Nikulina
Siegfired……………… Semen Chudin
(yes, an unfortunate first name!!)
The Fool……………… Dimitriy
Zagrebin
These two made a lovely
pairing and the crisp clear jumps by Chudin were landed very lightly. He had a
bit of a ‘look at me, aren’t I great’look about him and the acting was a tiny bit forced, but I
like that Grigorovich explored the
character of Siegfried and almost made him the centre of the story. Like a lot of dancers and Nikulina was no
exception, their portrayals of Odile are normally danced and well-acted. Odette, on the other hand, Yes, Nikulina had
beautiful lines and lovely extensions but she didn’t convince me as much as her
Odile. The Russian productions of Swan
Lake normally have a jester/fool and this production was no exception. Zagrebin twirled and jumped as if he had a
coil inside him and the Corps de Ballet were precise and together, as you would
expect from the Bolshoi.
There was some beautiful playing
in the Orchestra but a few cracked notes by the brass, but some sublime playing
in the Par de Deux by the cellist and violinist, Boris Lifanovsky and Mikhail
Tsinman respectively. The acoustics are pretty fine and you could hear every
note clearly.
I can see what
Grigorovich was trying to do with this Swan Lake, the majority of it had lovely
choreography and it was good to see the male dancers of the company doing more
dancing but I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, it was beautiful and it did make
me cry but it ends with Odette being killed by Rothbart (or The Evil Genius, as
called by Grigorovich) and Siegfried at the front of the stage weeping, he also
changed the order of the score and made
it finish on a very tragic, sad bit of music. In other productions although
they both die there is a sense of salvation, that the lovers will be together
in eternity, and this is reflected in Tchaikovsky’s glorious score. That was the only downside to a marvellous production.
I can’t wait to go again sometime.
