Don Quixote
The Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet
Royal Festival Hall
13th January 2005

This Production of “Don Quixote” is dancing all the way, often at the expense of the narrative, even the Don himself gets to dance, possibly as a consolation for robbing him of his opening scene dreaming of chivalry amongst his musty books. But this version staged by Alexei Tchitchinadze certainly moves at a lick, even if those unfamiliar with the story do start wondering just who the old geezer with the lance is. A couple of the Spanish numbers appear to have gone missing and I was unsure of the merit of the new pas de deux for a romantic gypsy couple danced to the music of the soulful female solo usually seen in the second act.

It’s not easy to make the notoriously unsuitable RFH stage look good for dancing, but the tasteful set created the illusion of more space than there actually is. Of course the RFH’s stage isn’t wooden, so an amusing change took place at the point (no pun intended) when the matador’s daggers are thrust into the floor for the Street Dancer to weave in and out. Instead of daggers she danced between a row of tankards: not the same thing at all. In the windmill scene Don Q. just gets to tilt (and dance) at the windmills as the sails here do not turn, but as the effect of him being lifted off his feet and then a dummy falling to the ground never usually works, only eliciting laughs, it’s no great loss in my opinion.

With so little drama involved it’s all down to the dancers to impress, and as the audience enthusiastically applauded everyone and everything, they seemed to have been thoroughly impressed. “She’s so light!” I overheard someone say after Act 1, she being the Kitri of Natalia Ledovskaya, a fact I won’t dispute at all as her jumps were some of the highest and most effortless I’ve seen in recent years, but her high extensions, perhaps more acceptable here than in other classics, didn’t endear her to me. As Basil, Roman Malenko, played the few mimed passages that are left very well and was an alert and supportive partner, but this role is better suited to a stronger personality.

Of the other roles I actually enjoyed the Gamache of Anton Domashev, a character I usually find tedious. Domashev played him more as a classical dancer with an ego problem and terminal mannerisms and this approach was funnier than most I’ve seen. Also impressive was Sergei Orekhov as Lorenzo, Kitri’s ambitious dad, unable to understand his daughter’s preference for a penniless barber over a rich idiot. The Espada of Dmitri Romanenko however went a bit over the top with his exaggerated Spanishness, strutting his stuff just a little too much.

Taken as a whole it’s not a bad production and despite the cuts here and there stays more or less faithful to the Gorsky choreography and the standard of dancing is pretty high. It’s also a good choice for the Christmas season: a fine antidote to the cold and dark outside.

Does anyone know what happened in the case of the Moscow Stanislavsky's director. I recall reading that he disappeared last summer -- was he ever found?

"... was he ever found?"

You are asking about Dmitry Bryantsev, Mehunt.
No, he has not been found. Since the search and investigation are continuing nobody can be appointed on his post as the Artistic Director. Therefore, the Stanislavsky Ballet is being managed now by the collective group of the company's ballet masters and teachers.

There's also this topic in the Issues forum:

<a href=http://forum.criticaldance.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=000746>Dmitry Bryantsev Missing</a>

I'll copy the last two posts there. Thanks for the response, Coda.

Bryantsev-- I was trying to remember his name. Thanks so much for the update coda... what a bizarre and sad story.

There is a new information on the Stanislavsky Ballet's website that from the next season Mikhail Lavrovsky will become the Artistic Director of the ballet company.

Lavrovsky? From the Bolshoi? That's interesting. Thanks for the news, coda!

<small>[ 28 January 2005, 12:56 PM: Message edited by: mehunt ]</small>

Yes, that very Mikhail Lavrovsky, the son of Leonid Lavrovsky, from the Bolshoi's incredible galaxy of stars of the 60-70s.
His personal website is in Russian only but if you click this link http://www.lavrovsky.com/artist.html
you will see a list of his main roles on the left. Clicking on each of them can be like a game of guessing which roles and ballets you see there.

Thanks coda. I have a tape of Lavrovsky doing Don Q I think. So impressive!

It’s an awfully long knight
The Stanislavsky’s Don Quixote fizzes with energy, but leaves the audience wilting at windmills, says Clifford Bishop for The Sunday Times


The idea of Don Quixote is always more seductive than the intractable reality. The addled, indomitable and self-dubbed knight errant has been a touchstone and patron saint for artists of all stripes since Cervantes dreamt him up at the beginning of the 17th century. Just how many of them have read the addled, interminable book that first described his adventures, however, is debatable. Choreographers, especially, play fast and loose with the original, usually reducing the Don to a peripheral figure in a simple little love story about a barber and a village tease.

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