criticaldance.com - Kirov Ballet on Tour in the US 2003

Ilya Kuznetsov, Principal, Kirov Ballet
by Joanne Brack
"I like the way 'Manon' is danced in the West but we have a school of our own and we are expected to contribute something of our own to it. We love to dance 'Manon,' and put our souls in it and how can you criticize souls? "
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Yulia Makhalina, Principal, Kirov Ballet
by Petra Tschiene
"Life today is so demanding so it is really important to keep your connection to nature and to feel it giving strength back to you."
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Irma Nioradze, Mariinsky/Kirov Ballet
by Emma Pegler
She hasn't appeared as a guest with other companies and she has found the repertoire at the Mariinsky sufficiently diverse to sustain a domestically focused career. The result of this is that she is adored within Russia.
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Irma Nioradze
by Patrizia Vallone
Irma has an affectionate and courteous word for everybody, and she seems surprised at all the compliments she receives, though she should be used to them by now!
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Sergei Vikharev, Kirov Ballet
By Cassandra
I like to preserve what is inherited from the former generation, some are interested in new trends but I am more interested in what was achieved before.
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Igor Zelensky, Principal, Kirov Ballet
by Emma Pegler
Igor Zelensky is a man back from the brink. Two years ago it was not at all certain that he would ever dance again.
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Nikolai Zubkovsky
by Cassandra
If Nikolai Zubkovsky were a Londoner I'd be describing him as "a bit of a geezer."
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recent reviews

Check back often for the Critical Dance team's coverage of every city on the
Kirov's historic US tour!

Tour Preview, San Francisco Chronicle (Catherine Pawlick): "Beautiful moves behind the scenes / Vasiev updates Kirov repertoire" and "Kirov dancers hold tradition aloft"

• Swan Lake
The Washinngton Post (Sarah Kaufman): "The opening night cast was strong from the top to bottom. Daria Pavlenko was a supremely tragic Odette. Rarely lifting her eyes, she danced under a veil of melancholy. She has a singularly pliant spine -- a hallmark of the Russian style -- and in her use of it one saw a series of resonant images...."

• The Nutcracker
Critical Dance (Dani Crawford): "Chemiakin, who designed the entire production, set, and costumes must have had some fun in devising this ... one got the sense there would be mischievous goings on everywhere... I had a hard time keeping my eyes on the dancers as there was so much to see in the set design..."

• La Bayadere
- Cleveland Plain Dealer (Wilma Salisbury): "The opening-night cast featured the impeccable Daria Pavlenko as a Nikiya of inner calm, emotional range and technical perfection. A ballerina of star quality, she was to have been partnered by superstar Igor Zelensky as Solor.. ."
- Critical Dance (Julie Gervais): "They achieve divinity through the simplicity of first arabesque and tendu devant."
- Detroit News (Barbara Hoover): "In a blaze of white tutus, the Kirov Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia, demonstrated at the Detroit Opera House why it remains one of the world's great dance companies."
- Critical Dance (Jeff): "... the final act... requires a corps of superlative caliber to pull off that dreamlike/trancelike effect of an infinity of spirits emerging from Hadean recesses. Congratulations are due the company for using the slower tempo to accentuate the adagio effect."
- Critical Dance (Art Priromprintr): ” the corps, the marvelous corps de ballet: Each movement was perfectly timed, and their cohesiveness was breathtaking."
- Orange County Register (Sara Wolf): "Vishneva, every inch the star ballerina, tends to feel wrapped up in her own mystique ... the chill of Vishneva's easy execution was palpable."
- LA Times (Chris Pasles) - Interview with Diana Vishneva: ” ...'My concept of dance is pretty far from just enjoying it. I need to express my internal feelings, and this is more important than just enjoying being on stage.'"
- LA Times (Lewis Segal): “ The Kirov... remain an indispensable treasure with their performance of 'La Bayadère' ..."

• Balanchine's "Jewels"
- Critical Dance (Catherine Pawlick): “Jewels” greets us with boundless energy, stylistic accuracy and impressive artistry."
- San Francisco Chronicle (Janice Berman): "...here the stunning work of the leggy and perfect Daria Pavlenko, floating into one arabesque from another, and her beau ideal, Danila Korsuntsev ..."
- Critical Dance (Art Priromprintr): “ Golub had the same technical flash as Vishneva, but her personality was completely different..."

• Fokine Program: 'Chopiniana,' 'Scheherazade,' The Firebird''
- Boston Globe (Christine Temin): "the dancing is a harmonious whole, harmony being the Kirov's glory, the quality that distinguishes it from the eclecticism of Western troupes..."
- Boston Herald (TJ Medrek): "Fokine... infusing classical steps and poses with a more modern, emotive quality "
- Critical Dance (SE Arnold): "...Nioradze... found in the rich colors of Rimsky (Korsakov)’s harmony and orchestration the motivation for her character’s emotional and thoughtful conflicts..."
- Boston Herald (Theodore Bale) Interview with Irma Nioradze: "Yes, the torso and the arms are really soft and feminine in Fokine, but what is most important is the soul."
- Orange County Register (Laura Bleiberg): " glorious spectacle, a rainbow melange of artistic layers both obvious and subtle ."
- LA Times (Lewis Segal): " the program offers a level of spectacle virtually unknown these days."
- Critical Dance (Art Priromprintr): "... In (Chopiniana) the dances "float" atop he music; the effect is dreamlike and beautiful."
- Critical Dance (Lisa Claybaugh): "...attention to detail and craft was without equal."
- Contra Costa Times (Mary Ellen Hunt): "...ineffable grandeur."
- San Francisco Chronicle (Ann Murphy): "...grandiloquent displays of virtuosity."
- San Jose Mercury News (Anita Amirrezvani): "...realms as lush as legends and as inventive as dreams."

tour schedule

• Berkeley, CA - Zellerbach Hall
Oct 7-9: 'Chopiniana,' 'Scheherazade,' 'Firebird'
Oct 10-12: 'Jewels'
www.calperfs.berkeley.edu
510-642-9988

• Hollywood, CA - Kodak Theater
Oct 15-19: 'La Bayadere'
www.kodaktheatre.com
www.ticketmaster.com
213-480-3232 or 714-740-2000

• Costa Mesa, CA - Orange County Perf. Arts Ctr
Oct 21-23: 'Chopiniana,' 'Scheherazade,' 'Firebird'
Oct 24-26: 'Jewels'
www.ocpac.org

• Detroit, MI - Opera House
Oct 29-Nov 2: 'La Bayadere'
www.MichiganOpera.org
313-237-SING

• Cleveland, OH - Playhouse Sq. Ctr, State Theater
Nov 6-9: 'La Bayadere'
www.playhousesquare.com
216-241-2346

• Boston, MA -Wang Center for the Performing Arts
Nov 13-16: 'Chopiniana,' 'Scheherazade,' 'Firebird'
www.wangcenter.org
617-482-9393

For the latest news, reviews and chatter, please visit our Kirov Ballet forum.

more interviews

Inside the Kirov: An Interview with Nikolai Kabaniaev
by Catherine Pawlick
"Many people say that even if you tried to ruin the Kirov, it would still survive for another 100 years, because there are such traditions and such training behind it that the idea is that it doesn't really matter who runs it, it will run by itself. It's still a tough job."
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Howard Sayette, Ballet Master (PART 1)
by Stuart Sweeney
It's a shame that a lot of the young dancers of today are so driven by technique that they have little curiosity about the past and the important figures from the history of ballet. Some of them have barely heard of Margot Fonteyn.
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Howard Sayette on Staging the Classics (PART 2)
by Francis Timlin and Dean Speer
"As a follow up to my earlier interview on "Les Noces," I would simply say that the Kirov's organizational structure is not conducive to staging new works."
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past reviews

'Chopiniana,' 'Les Noces,' 'Scheherazade'
by Stuart Sweeney
July 30, 2003 -- Covent Garden, London
The unfolding of the final tableau was very beautiful and raised some gasps around me.
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'Chopiniana,' Les Noces,' 'Scheherazade'
by Lyndsey Winship
July 29, 2003 -- Covent Garden, London
The dancers capture the essence of delicate sylphs...
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'Chopiniana,' 'Les Noces,' and 'Scheherazade'
by Cassandra
July, 2003 -- Covent Garden, London
Exquisitely danced by the Kirov's superlative corps de ballet with every last dancer catching the reflective dreamlike mood.
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Gala: 'Chopiniana,' 'Manon,' 'Dying Swan'
by Rosella Simonari
July 18, 2003 -- Teatro Rossini, Civitanova, Italy
Touches the audience's heart like a soft and caressing cloud of silky wind.
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'Serenade,' 'Rite of Spring,' 'Etudes'
by Cassandra
August 5, 2003 -- Royal Opera House, London
Themed titles can be silly or irrelevant, but this programme's name, "Contrasts", reflected the different styles and themes of the three works on show.
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'La Bayadère'
by Cassandra
August 2, 2003 (matinee) -- Covent Garden, London
For me the strengths of the production are threefold: the reinstatement of original chorography, some of it of great beauty, the far more logical sequence of the drama and the more attractive costumes.
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'La Bayadère'
by Thea Nerissa Barnes
August 2, 2003 (matinee) -- Covent Garden, London
All power to the corps de ballet! Their unity was their grace.
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'Le Corsaire'
by Cassandra
August 9, 2003 (matinee) -- Covent Garden, London
After seeing the Kirov's "Le Corsaire" on Saturday afternoon, I thought it was about time I read the Byron original to see just how much of Byron remains in the ballet.
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'Le Corsaire'
by Art Priromprintr
July 23, 2003 -- Covent Garden, London
There were isolated moments of brilliance...
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'Le Corsaire'
by Stuart Sweeney
July 23, 2003 -- Covent Garden, London
Many find "Le Corsaire" great fun, but not me, I'm afraid.
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'Le Corsaire'
by Joanne Brack
July 22, 2003 -- Covent Garden, London
It was the quality of the dancing that will excite the London ballet fans.
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'Le Corsaire'
by Rosie
July 21-22, 2003 -- Covent Garden, London
If done well, “Le Corsaire” is an exhilarating experience.
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'Swan Lake'
by Cassandra
August 7-8, 2003 -- Covent Garden, London
A highly conventional production that tells the familiar story in a straightforward manner with relatively unembellished choreography, it is streets ahead of its competitors.
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'Swan Lake'
by Art Priromprintr
July 25, 2003 -- Covent Garden, London
From the moment the curtain lifted, each dancer was thoroughly “with” the production, performing impeccably...
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'Swan Lake'
by Emma Pegler
July 25, 2003 -- Covent Garden, London
The chemistry between Prince and Swan Queen is nicely charged, although not desperately passionate.
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