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The focus of the Kirov season just ended was on its young ballerinas in their early twenties. While the spotlight of the first week was on Diana Vishneva, the first-cast Aurora and ballerina in "Rubies", the spotlight of the second half of the <BR>season was on her contemporary Svetlana Zakharova, who showed off her exceptional ballerina quality in "Swan Lake", "La Bayadere", and "Diamonds". And in view of the paucity of young ballerinas in other major ballet companies, it is quite a remarkable achievement of the Kirov to be able to develop these two gifted <BR>ballerinas in their early twenties, as well as Veronika Part and Daria Pavlenko among the more prominent young female talent.<P>SWAN LAKE<P>I think that this 1950 production by Konstantin Sergeyev of this classic is <BR>arguably the best in the world. Everthing is pared down to its bare essentials, and is<BR>absolutely right in scale. The Kirov's corps de ballet of swans is still one of the glories of all ballet, though it was even more uniform in the past. The Valse Bluette in Act 4 is especially dignified. The Act 3 <BR>national dances still maintain a stylistic coherence unmatched by any other company, and it is so exhilarating to see the Mazurka danced at such a fast tempo.<P>The Act 1 pas de trois was a treat. The 20-year-old Anton Korsakov, one of <BR>the princes in "The Sleeping Beauty" in the first week, showed off his springy jumps and high elevation. His two friends were Maya<BR>Dumchenko as the 'turning' girl, and Yulia Kasenkova/Natalia Sologub as the <BR>'jumping' girl. Kirill Simonov as the Jester brought the house down every time with his fast and well-centred multiple pirouettes.<P>The first cast however was a shade disappointing. Veronika Part had an <BR>innocent sweetness as Odette, but nothing more, and some glamour as Odile, but fell short of the high expectations based on her performances the week before as the Lilac Fairy and as the second female soloist in <BR>"Emeralds". Igor Zelensky's Siegried was rather bland, typical of his performances nowadays.<P>What a difference the second cast made. Replacing the injured Uliana Lopatkina, Svetlana Zakharova as the Swan Queen was emotionally resonant and technically dazzling. Her six-o-clock extensions recalled Sylvie Guillem in her youth. But she is also capable of tenderness; her series of 'petits battements serres' at the end of the White Swan pas de deux was among the most delicate I have ever seen. Zakharova has an open upper body carriage which is most expressive, typical of the Russian school, and in fact her whole body has a melodious line. Daniil Korsuntsev was her dark <BR>and handsome prince. In a later performance, her Siegfried was Igor Kolb, a clean classicist with an inborn nobility.<P>LA BAYADERE<P>The Kirov's corps de ballet of 32 shades impressed in their uniformity, actually more than their corps de ballet in "Swan Lake". When the shades were lined up in stillness on both sides of the stage after their entrance <BR>in endless arabesques, their beautiful legs had a moonlight lustre. The three shades solos were danced with the requisite grandeur by Yulia Kasenkova, Irina Zhelonkina, Natalia Sologub/Maya Dumchenko. The character <BR>dances - the Djampe, the drummer etc. - had an exotic colour.<P>Uliana Lopatkina, the first-cast Nikiya partnered by Igor Zelenksy, struck me as rather dry and mechanical in her pyrotechnics in the Shades Act. I later learnt that she was actually dancing with a foot problem, <BR>which explained why she substituted her manege of grands jetes with <BR>pirouettes. However in Act 2, she performed compellingly the dance with the basket of flowers.<P>The superb Svetlana Zakharova had more spontaneity and depth of emotions, capturing more the spiritual quality of Nikiya in the Shades Act. Yulia Makhalina, dancing on the Saturday matinee, gave an outstanding performance measuring up to her past glory in the early 1990s.<P>Makhalina's capable partner was the tall 18-year-old Dmitry Simeonov who had only made his debut as Solor in St. Petersburg several months ago. Simeonov has a pleasing line, high elevation and a commanding stage presence. So it is all the more a pity that he does not seem to be cast at all in the Kirov's August season.<BR>------<BR>As I am writing this, the Kirov must be on their way to Berlin (as the Berlin season's first night is tomorrow), after only a few days of rest back in St. Petersburg from London. What tireless troupers the Kirov dancers are!<P>
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<BR>Svetlana Zakharova in Giselle<P><BR>BTW, this is from a review by Ellen Dunkel of "Sleeping Beauty" at the Met, "Most beautiful of all, appropriately enough, was Svetlana Zakharova as Aurora, the sleeping beauty. Just three years out of the Vagonova Ballet Academy, the school that feeds into the Kirov, and a principal dancer for the last two of those years, Zakharova certainly met the balletic idea of beauty. She was a charming, smiling Aurora, who easily lifted her leg 180 degrees -- perhaps even farther -- particularly in arabesque and a la seconde. Most successful ballet dancers have strong feet, but Zakharova's are deeply arched and lovely in pointe shoes":<P> <A HREF="http://www.bergen.com/yourtime/kirov30199906305.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.bergen.com/yourtime/kirov30199906305.htm</A>