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 Kirov
Ballet
'Swan Lake'
by Art Priromprintr
July 25, 2003 --
Covent Garden, London
Many companies that
I have recently seen perform “Swan Lake” namely the Perm State Ballet
and the Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet have been caught walking through
the performances. This ultimately makes the evening an unexciting, three
hour ordeal but yet I go to see it because “Swan Lake” happens to be
the only thing that the company is performing. And so it was with some
trepidation that I came to the Kirov Ballet’s “Swan Lake” on Friday night.
But, I came away from the performance liking “Swan Lake” as much as I
did the first time I saw it (which was a lot). The Kirov gives it real
life and genuine power, performing it with the same kind of energy and
thoughtfulness that it would give to a new production. The Kirov is a
company that clearly treasures “Swan Lake” as an important part of its
legacy, and takes great care to perform it well. From the moment the curtain
lifted, each dancer was thoroughly “with” the production, performing impeccably
- from the bottom ranks of the corps de ballet to the principals. That
made for an exciting evening of ballet.
The Kirov corps was excellent and impressive, especially in the lakeside
acts. Their precision made for some truly mesmerizing moments; I especially
enjoyed the entrance of the swan corps in Act II, and their work in the
White Swan Pas de Deux (no, they’re not the focal point there, but when
they’re good, they add a lot to the pas de deux).
The soloists were great as well. Sofia Gumerova has very clean technique
(two minor, accidental wobbles that made the audience near me gasp, but
one can’t be perfect every single time); everything was very clean almost
perfect. She wasn’t remarkably expressive, but her very good execution
of the choreography appeared to be enough to do the trick. She did notice
that her partner was there, however which is much more than can be said
of many Odettes that I have seen recently. I was also immediately impressed
with Gumerova and how, in Odette’s very first dance in Act II, she “froze”
for what couldn’t be more than a second in arabesque. It made the pose
seem to linger in the air for a really long time, giving it that much
more of a dramatic impact. The program lists Gumerova as a soloist not
a principal but she was still mighty impressive.
Daniil Korsuntsev
as the prince doesn’t have very much to do in this production, but his
partnering work was great throughout and he shined in his Black Swan pas
de deux solo. The Act I pas de trois deserves special mention; the dancers
were all completely spot on and exciting to watch. The pas de trois can
really go either way with “Swan Lake.” I’ve seen instances where the soloists
compete with each other for the audience’s attention, which makes a mess
of the dance; and, I’ve seen instances where the dancers are so focused
on executing the steps that the whole thing is boring. But with the Kirov,
it was simply excellent.
A few notes on the production: as much as I could gather from the program
notes, this is the same production that was staged in 1950 (correct me
if I’m wrong). But it’s a great production, and I really like it. It has
dramatic clarity that many productions lack, and it also doesn’t have
the excesses that many productions heap on in an attempt to make more
out of “Swan Lake.” I like the Kirov’s production is simply “Swan Lake,”
pure and simple. Act IV, despite the happy ending, is my favorite part
of the production. The dances have a kind of surreal quality to them,
with the geometry and simplicity of the choreography combining for a fantastic
effect. One can overlook the fact that two dances are performed to non-“Swan
Lake” music (two Tchaikovsky piano pieces were orchestrated and inserted
into act IV by Riccardo Drigo for the 1895 production) simply because
these dances are so great. I
also like the way that the corps, through use of both white and black
swans weaving into and out of each other, impressionistically represent
the conflicting forces of good and evil in the story. So by the time the
Soviet-imposed happy ending appears, one doesn’t mind that its not the
ending that was written into the music: the ballet ends happily as the
audience goes away happily.
Side note: this Los Angeles native loved the Royal Opera House. Despite
the fact that I was in the upper reaches of the amphitheatre, it still
felt more intimate than some of the theatres at home not to mention
that the house is much more beautiful than many of them. So much for improvement
in theatre-building technology: the brand new Kodak Theatre in Hollywood
(where the Kirov performs La Bayadere this coming October) is an airplane
hangar painted red with seats installed in comparison to the ROH.
Edited by Jeff
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