more...


***

more...


***

more...

Darcey Bussell & Igor Zelensky
Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London
Tuesday 28 November 2006

Not long after Carlos Acosta had presented his own programme with friends and colleagues from the Royal Ballet, Darcey Bussell presented her own programme in collaboration with the Mariinsky dancer and presently director of the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, Igor Zelensky.

Though Bussell and Zelensky had danced together before, the truth is that their partnership has never had real resonance in the dance world. Unfortunately for the fans of both artists, the programme they chose to perform at Sadler's Wells consisted of different pieces that looked rather disjointed as a whole. Moreover, the two famous dancers only performed together at the end of the evening in Roland Petit’s masterpiece “Le Jeune Homme et la Mort”.

The first piece was a duet created for Bussell - partnered by William Trevitt - by Alastair Marriott. “Kiss” was a pas de deux that attempted to be modern, but failed at actually delivering any clear purpose or lasting impression. It simply lacked any sort of framework in which its abstract theme –romantic, one would guess- could be inscribed.

Alla Sigalova’s “Concerto Grosso”, created for Igor Zelensky, was also lacking in real substance, both in terms of theme and choreographic development. The solo was too long for its aim and it failed at bringing out of the dancer dramatic qualities that might have helped the work otherwise.

“Whispers in the Dark” saw soloists from the Novosibirsk company performing new choreography by Edwaard Liang. Though a correct work performed with good technical standards, the ballet could not make the evening shine.

The long awaited moment came at the end of the evening, when both Bussell and Zelensky performed Petit’s “Le Jeune Homme et la Mort”. Created in 1946 for Jean Babilée, the ballet caused a storm at its premiere and has been ever since a favourite for male stars around the world. Petit’s sense of theatre and drama, together with his willingness to adapt his choreography to new interpreters, has made the work survive in very good shape. Having seen the ballet at the Paris Opera not so long ago with Marie Agnes Guillot and Nicolas Le Riche, I was terribly disappointed with Zelensky and Bussell's interpretations of the piece. Neither of them managed to make the ballet shine... Zelensky’s interpretation lacked depth and tension. Though the props kept flying around the stage, there was no real sense of the “angst” and struggle through every single muscle of his body and mind. Bussell as the impersonation of Death also failed at providing this character with the almost metallic quality and brutality that it requires. She played the role as some sort of sexual temptress and some of the movements simply looked too cliché.

It was a shame that neither Zelensky or Bussell managed to live up to their status in the dance world. If only the dancers had worked a bit closer in the choice of their pieces, the evening could have been a more rewarding affair.

I was disappointed with this programme too, in fact I haven’t spoken to anyone who enjoyed it. One friend told me he left in the interval as he could see so little through the gloom with the poor lighting in the first half seriously undermining the show. The lighting for Kiss was so unflattering to Darcey Bussell that she would have been justified in doing some serious damage to the lighting designer. Also it was unacceptable to promise an orchestra and then have to make do with rather poor recordings, and by the way, Handel’s Concerti Grossi are opus 6 and not opus 10 as it erroneously stated in the programme.

Juene Homme et la Mort is a real rarity and from the applause at the end it can still weave its spell on an audience. However I thought Zelensky was totally wrong as the young man – too old to start with but at the same time perhaps too young to have a handle on existentialist Paris. Bussell was better than her partner; she’s not a natural actress, but I thought she had more instinct for the work than Zelensky.

Compared with Guillam and Khan’s enjoyable ‘Sacred Monsters’ not so long ago, this pairing of another two stellar names in the dance world was a wasted effort.