Performers
Mathilde Froustey
Dmitri Gudanov
Mathias Heymann
Ilya Kuznetsov
Uliana Lopatkina
Irma Nioradze
Yevgenia Obraztsova
Farukh Ruzimatov
Andrei Batalov
Maria Kowroski
Igor Zelensky
|
Tribute To Diaghilev
Conducted by Valeriy Ovsyanikov
Royal Opera
Covent Garden
7 June 2009
Ninette de Valois, founder of British ballet, herself danced with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in its later years from 1922 to 1926. She brought home not only seismic inspiration from Diaghilev’s company but also astonishing creativity and leadership. Without de Valois (“Madam”) we may not have the The Royal Ballet as we know it today. But what would she have made of the vulgar variety show, Tribute to Diaghilev, produced by Ensemble Productions in co-operation with Alfa Bank at Covent Garden on June 7th?
Proceedings opened with a brash announcement through speakers in the style Britain’s Got Talent, followed by a plodding programme which might have been mistaken for a ballet competition. On a virtually bare stage, in no logical order we were treated to eleven pas de deux and four solos from the Ballets Russes repertoire. Even the garish, badly laid out printed programme fell far short of Covent Garden’s own standards.
The treat for ballet goers, if you could afford a ticket, was the chance to see so many top class dancers in a single programme. Ulyana Lopatkina from the Kirov Ballet and Igor Zelensky opened with the lengthy pas de deux from Scheherazade. Luscious world class dancing in one of Fokine’s most spectacular ballets is a strange choice to open programme; and to end we had Lopatkina again, incomparably elegant in the The Dying Swan. But why The Dying Swan? Why such a muted (forgive the pun) end to the evening? It was not Diaghilev’s signature piece. It was Anna Pavlova who gave it legendary status, dancing it anywhere she could. A more fitting finale surely would have been a livelier bird, The Firebird in full. It is, after all, part of the Royal Ballet’s own tribute to the Ballets Russes this season; or wouldn’t Ensemble Production’s budget stretch to a full cast? Instead we saw only the opening pas de deux, danced with full blooded Russian passion by Irma Nioradze and Ilya Kutzenov from the Kirov.
From the home team Natasha Oughtred of the Birmingham Royal Ballet lifted the spirits with crisp and joyous dancing in the pas de deux from Frederick Ashton’s Daphnis and Chloë, partnered by the Royal’s Federico Bonelli. In a rag-bag of a programme Oughtred and Bonelli brought us a ray of sunshine, and you’d swear they were really in love. But it was hard on Dimitri Gruzdyev to follow with a mere fragment from Petrushka. It could have been a real downer, but in only a few minutes Gruzdyev made a powerful dramatic impact, enough to remind us of the richness of Diaghilev’s vision and the creations he commissioned and nurtured which have become part of our staple culture. Just a glance at the modern music in the programme gives us Stravinsky, Ravel, Poulenc and Manuel de Falla. “Spanish” to his snapping fingertips, Dmitri Gudanov of the Bolshoi brought sinewy machismo in the miller’s dance from de Falla’s Le Tricorne.
In Le Spectre de la Rose, the only complete ballet in the programme, Gudanov wowed us again, soaring effortlessly through endless leaps. And then a discovery for London audiences — the phenomenal Mathias Heymann, a newly elevated etôile from the Paris Opera Ballet, reminding us of the young Baryshnikov. In the pas de deux from Giselle, both Heymann and Mathilde Froustey seemed to fly and then land with hardly a sound, perfectly capturing the romantic style of the ballet.
Equally romantic, the Royal’s Tamara Rojo and David Makhatelli brought noble distinction to the ghostly lyricism of Fokine’s Les Sylphides. Rojo has matured into a great dancer, combing artistry with technical mastery and an ever widening her range.
Finally, every gala needs fireworks, so the The Black Swan pas de deux is one way to drag in the obligatory 32 fouêttes, rattled off by Marinela Nuñez. But how much do we really owe to Diaghilev for Swan lake? The first performance took place when Diaghilev was only five years old. History tells us that he introduced a version of Swan Lake to London in 1911, but soon afterwards he also introduced The Sleeping Beauty, the ballet which, through Ninette de Valois, became the classical cornerstone of the Royal Ballet’s repertoire and surely its Grand pas de deaux would have been a more fitting tribute for a gala at Covent Garden.
Max Farber |
