A magnificent showcase for the Kirov

Ballets of Balanchine, Rating: *****(out of 5)

by Judith Mackrell in The Guardian

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I agree with Ms Mackrell. The Company looked very fine in this triple bill as they did in 'Jewels'. These two Balanchine programmes show the Kirov at its best. Over this season, the Kirov dancing is rarely less than wonderful, but the productions of the cosmeticised 'Manon', the kid's story 'Le Corsaire' and the long-winded original setting of 'Sleeping Beauty' have not impressed me.

I saw their 'Swan Lake' last year, but missed it this time. However, i have to say that I consider the English National Ballet production markedly better. In the Kirov version, the Jester, no matter how impressive his dancing, does seem to get in the way and the happy ending takes away much of the tragic resonance.

Clearly the Balanchine style suits the Kirov and I look forward to further productions. Any suggestions for which Balanchine works you'd like to see the Kirov performing?

[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited July 04, 2001).]

<small>[ 19 December 2003, 03:45 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

They really excel in Balanchine and both the Jewels and Homage programmes were outstanding. Yes there is a ballet I would love to see them dance. Ballet Imperial. The mixture of Balanchine, Tchaikovsky and Kirov would be sublime. And with Lopatkina please.

Yes to all of the above...sublime. <BR>But I'm struck by the suggestion (was it in Ismene Brown's review?) that it's EARLY Balanchine which resonates so instinctively with the Kirov...those first years of heady exploration of new lands (balletic, psychological, geographical). Would there, I wonder, be the same intuitive empathy with late Balanchine?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Would there, I wonder, be the same intuitive empathy with late Balanchine?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>That is an interesting question Nino. Do people think that the Balanchine black and white ballets would suit the Kirov?<P><BR>Some more reviews of the delightful Kirov Balanchine programme. I have to say though that I was not as convinced by Veronica Part as the two correspondents below. I enjoyed Zelensky in 'Apollo' more than i have ever done before. It's close to an ideal role for him:<P><BR><B>Kirov pays beautiful homage</B><P>by Clement Crisp in The Financial Times <P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Serenade was the first ballet George Balanchine made in America. He produced it in 1934 for the students of his new School of American Ballet - a title uncompromising in its intention of making ballet American. On Monday night we saw Serenade given by the Kirov Ballet, who acquired it three years ago. And how beautiful and fascinating it looked. <P>Here were Balanchine's heirs reclaiming their patrimony in a ballet originally meant to teach raw American students how to dance like Americans.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR><A HREF="http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=010705000931&qqw=78654&query=ballet" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P>************************************************<P><BR><B>Kirov brings an old-world grace to the best of Balanchine</B><BR> <P>Ismene Brown in The Daily Telegraph reviews 'Homage to Balanchine'. <P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>GIVEN the high ticket prices this year, the question of which Kirov night to go to has pressed hard on many ballet-lovers. The thousands who risked the Balanchine triple bill rather than a full-length classic will be smiling like cats who got the cream. They saw the Kirov spread out its artists in three of the most magical ballets that exist.<P>All three are early Balanchine pieces, suffused with his Russian heritage rather than his American future, and the Kirov claim them with all their Russian instincts.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=005429779561712&rtmo=3H83BBnM&atmo=rrrssssq&pg=/et/01/7/5/btisme05.html" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P><BR><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited July 05, 2001).]

<B>In the leap of the gods</B><P>The Kirov honours the great choreographers who got away <BR> <BR>BY DEBRA CRAINE in The Times <BR> <P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>For the final two programmes of its mammoth Covent Garden season, the Kirov Ballet has been paying tribute to two choreographers who were born and bred in the Kirov’s own Maryinsky Theatre but went on to greatness in the West. Mikhail Fokine and George Balanchine had a huge influence on the development of ballet in Western Europe and America, but it is only in recent years that the Kirov has made a special effort to bring their ballets back to St Petersburg.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR><A HREF="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,62-2001231215,01.html" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P>Nadine Meissner in the Independent on the Balanchine programme. "Serenade has a distinctively Russian, singing quality and seems custom-made for its fabled corps de ballet". <P><BR><B>Kirov's Homage to Balanchine</B> <P>A rare, fabulous pleasure<P>Reviewed by Nadine Meisner in The Independent<P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The Kirov's Homage to Balanchine was so fabulous, it deserved a dozen performances, not two. And as the company that was Balanchine's alma mater, it seems especially fitting that they should begin with Serenade and end with Symphony in C – just as Balanchine's own New York City Ballet did for their London début 51 years ago this month.<P>The Kirov's prodigal son based his choreography on the classical precepts he learnt from them, but then he pushed his inheritance into new areas that they have only discovered in the past two decades.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR><A HREF="http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/dance/reviews/story.jsp?story=81966&HL" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P><p>[This message has been edited by Admin (edited July 06, 2001).]

I also saw the Kirov in the Homage to Balanchine, and as most people have said is that how fantastic it was.<BR>I throughly enjoyed it but the highlight for me was Ulyana Lopatkina in Symphony in C she was absolutely breathtaking, I have never seen a dancer who can control such an adage movement. Also another highlight for me was May Dumchenko in Serenade. I thought she had a wonderful quality in the role and brought something quite unique to her role. I felt that she was better suited to this than the very lyrical solo/pas de deux in Emeralds. I had never seen Miss Dumchenko in such a way. I felt that Tsiskaridze in Sumphony in C was wonderful, he is a dancer of incredible facilities, beautiful legs and feet, good elevation, although I do not like his playing to the audience I think it is fine to begin with but after a while it becomes tiresome, but that is my opinion. He does not need to so obviously play the role as it comes across so well in his dancing. <BR>I look forward to future Balanchine evening by the Kirov!<BR>I would also very much like to see the Bolshoi also perform Balanchine as I feel they would bring a very special quality to the ballets. Has anyone seen them do Balanchine?

Hello, James, and welcome. Thanks for your honest opinions. Can I ask you which part in "Serenade" Dumchenko danced?

my New York colleagues (one who has dance with NY City Ballet) inform me that they consider Zelensky to 'BE' Apollo.

<B>Three steps to heaven</B><P>The Kirov's triple bill in homage to Balanchine leaves David Dougill in The Sunday Times at a loss for superlatives. Also reviewed positively is Company Toothpick from Finland. <P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>It is only in the past five years that the Kirov Ballet has taken to dancing world-famous works by one of its greatest émigré choreographers, George Balanchine - starting in 1996, seven decades after his defection from Soviet Russia, and 13 years after his death. In the interim, as we know, a lot of politics and artistic entrenchment got in the way.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR><A HREF="http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/07/08/sticuldnc03002.html?" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A>

Thank you Azlan for welcoming me in responce to your reply Maya Dumchenko danced'Russian' in Serenade.

Thank you, James.

Based on the Kirov's glorious dancing in this Balanchine programme, I do think that the Kirov can do these early Balanchine masterpieces far better than the New York City Ballet these days.

It comes full circle:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Homage to Balanchine</B><P>ANTHONY LEWIS, NY Times<P>When their plane landed in Moscow, an interviewer in the crowd waiting at the airport said, "Welcome to Russia, home of classical ballet." Balanchine replied: "I beg your pardon. America is the home of classical ballet. Russia is the home of romantic ballet."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/14/opinion/14LEWI.html?searchpv=nytToday" TARGET=_blank><B>More</B></A>

The UK newspaper critics are pretty unanimous in their praise of the Kirov. Ismene Brown of the Telegraph lauded the Kirov interpretation of Balanchine, and like Kevin, appreicates their performances over NYCB :<P>"Balanchine, for them, is a new world, but he is also one of their ancestors, and they dance him with a perfumed, old-world grace - grander, more courteously correct, and with more bewitching arms - than the Americans do." <P>Again, Jann Parry, writing in the Observer:<P>"In their [Kirov] account of Serenade, the moonlit girls behave like a classical ballet corps; they keep (more or less) in line, in time, arms and legs at the same height. When Americans dance Serenade, each member of the corps believes herself a soloist, choosing to move to the same music as the others. The resulting dynamic is very different. Americans surge like a breaking wave; Kirov women ebb and flow like the sylphs in Chopiniana."<P>(The full texts of their reviews appear above).<BR>