Saturday 17 March 2012

Swan Lake at the Bolshoi


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.  

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