Bolshoi's Giselle Second Time Round

Standard YouTube Licence

Bolshoi Ballet  Giselle 8 April 2016 Pathé Live

The recording of Giselle (for which the Huddersfield Odeon charged me £15.15 even with a 10% discount) was first performed on 11 Oct 2015.  I reviewed that performance in The Bolshoi does the Business - Giselle streamed from Moscow the next day.  I liked it then and I still liked it when I saw the recording on Sunday though I would have much preferred to have seen a live work.  The Bolshoi was dancing Spartacus on Sunday with Denis Rodkin in the title role, Lantratov as Crassus, Zajharova as Aegina and Nikulina as Phrygia.  Now why couldn't the Bolshoi and Pathé Live have shown us that?

However, it was good to see Zakharova, Polunin, Shipulina, Tsvirko and Khokhlova again.  In contrast to his Swan Lake about which I had expressed reservations in Grigorovich's Swan Lake in Covent Garden 31 July 2016 after I saw it in London, Grigorovich's Giselle is one of the best I have ever seen.  I explained why in my 2015 review: a superlative cast, a fin orchestra and although I found the backdrops somewhat dowdy in contrast to the Royal Ballet's they are a good deal better than the sets for the Bolshoi's Swan Lake.

I am writing this article at a time of increasing tension between my government and the government of Russia following events in Syria and Salisbury.  Though I agree reluctantly with the decisions that my government have taken in solidarity with its international partners on those issues, I am and always have been a great admirer of Russia and its people for their contributions to science and technology as well as the arts.  I have never been to that country or learned Russian but have always wanted to do so. I look forward to better days.

While watching the recording of Giselle I received an email from Kirklees Active Leisure accepting my booking of the dance studio from at Huddersfield Leisure Centre from 15:00 to 16:30 on 26 May 2018 (see We now have a studio 8 April 2018 Powerhouse Ballet). If you would like a free 90 minute ballet class in Huddersfield with an inspiring teacher click the button marked "Register" below.  You will find more details in the Powerhouse Ballet blog.

The Golden Age

Standard YouTube Licence

Bolshoi Ballet The Golden Age, streamed from the Bolshoi Theatre, 16 Oct 2016, 16:00

The history of The Golden Age is almost as fascinating as the ballet itself and could easily be the plot of a ballet in its own right.  As Katerina Novikova told cinema audiences briefly in the interval, this ballet was originally about football. It was originally a three act ballet which was choreographed by Vasili Vainonen, Leonid Jacobson and V. Chesnakov and first performed in Leningrad (St Petersburg) at the Kirov (Mariinsky) Theatre on 26 Oct 1930.

Wikipedia gives the following information on the plot:

"The ballet is a satirical take on the political and cultural change in 1920s' Europe. It follows a Soviet football team in a Western city where they come into contact with many politically incorrect bad characters such as the Diva, the Fascist, the Agent Provocateur, the Negro and others. The team fall victim to match rigging, police harassment, and unjust imprisonment by the evil bourgeoisie. The team are freed from jail when the local workers overthrow their capitalist overlords and the ballet ends with a dance of solidarity between the workers and the football team."

The score was composed by Dmitri Shostakovich when he was only 24. He wrote a profusion of danceable music as  Jean-Christophe Maillot has shown with his masterly The Taming of the Shrew (see Bolshoi's Triumph - The Taming of the Shrew 4 Aug 2016). Even I have danced to one of his works, namely Shostakovich's Waltz for Flute, Clarinet and Piano "The Return of Maxim"1937 Op 45 (see The Time of My Life 28 June 2014 which Mel reviewed very generously in The Dance DID go on - Northern Ballet Academy Show 2014 28 June 2014). Apart from being a great composer, Shostakovich was something of a football fan describing the so called "beautiful game" as the "ballet of the masses". Rather more flattering than John Osborne's description of ballet as "poofs' football" (see page 387 of John Heilpern's John Osborne: A Patriot for Us Google Books).

Apparently the original ballet was performed 18 times before it was pulled by the Soviet authorities and never staged again. Shostakovich's beautiful score remained forgotten for many years like The Sleeping Beauty until it was revived in 1982 by Yuri Grigorovich and Isaak Glikman. They produced a new libretto based on the rivalry between Boris, a young fisherman, and the criminal, Yashka, for the heart of Rita, a cabaret dancer which is complicated by the jealousy of Yashka's moll, Lyuska, who competes with Rita for Yashka's attention. The synopsis is set out in some detail on the Bolshhoi's website.

The fascinating part of Grigorovich's plot is that it is set in 1923 immediately after the civil war when Lenin revoked some of the controls of war communism to incentivize agricultural and industrial production in order to feed the Soviet who were suffering a catastrophic famine. That relaxation was known as the New Economic Policy ("NEP"). It achieved its economic objectives very quickly but led to all sorts of inequalities and imbalances and ultimately crime which are the backdrop to the ballet. The NEP was reversed in 1928 after Joseph Stalin came to power and many of those who responded to the incentives provided by the policy were destroyed over the next few years in Stalin's purges.

In their version of The Golden Age, Grigorovich and Glikman created powerful roles for the protagonists, Boris, Rita, Yashka and Lyuska, as well as some great character roles and some spectacular dances for the corps. Simon Virsaladze created some gorgeous sets and costumes for the 1982 production. I caught the tail end of Ms Novikova's conversation with a wardrobe mistress who described how those costumes had been lovingly preserved all those years in the hope of a revival. Audiences were given a glimpse of the workmanship in close ups of the dancers while waiting to take their curtain calls at the end of the show. Grigoroivch appears to have borrowed some of Shostakovich's music from other shows - or perhaps the other way round - for I recognized Tea for Two which ends The Taming of the Shrew at the start of Act II of The Golden Age.

Boris was danced by Ruslan Skvortsov whom I had last seen as "the prince" (otherwise known as Siegfried) in Swan Lake in London (see Grigorovich's Swan Lake in Covent Garden 31 July 2016). Nina Kaptsova danced Rita. I think yesterday was the first time I had seen her but I hope it will not be the last. More familiar was Mikhail Lobukhin who danced Yashka.  I had seen him before at least in HDTV transmissions.  Another face that I think I recognized was Ekaterina Krysanova who was Lyushka.

The choreography had so many breathtaking lifts and jumps not to mention spectacular fouettes, grands jetes en tournant and other virtuosity not only for the principals and soloists but also for the corps that it is hard to single anything out for special attention. However, I loved the first pas de deux between Boris and Rita in Act I where they fell in love and was riveted by Lyushka's passion at the end of Act II where she throws herself at Yashka and is stabbed for her pains. We are used to praising the Bolshoi's dancers for their technique but the four principals are also superb dance actors.

The ballet appeared to receive a rapturous curtain call in Moscow which must have been echoes in cinemas around the world. There was clapping even at the National Media Museum in Bradford, hundreds of miles from Moscow, even though it could not possibly have been heard on the Bolshoi's stage. Our Yorkshire audience floated out of the Cubby Broccoli on a cloud as elated as if we had been there. A wonderful compliment to the engineers of Pathe-Live as well as the magnificent artists in Moscow who brought us that great spectacle.

Don't Expect Petipa

Standard YouTube Licence

The last time I saw Northern Ballet's Swan Lake I felt quite deflated. It was my birthday too and I felt as Vlad the Lad must have done after his mum and I beat him at snakes and ladders in the best of three on his birthday. We still had Tchaikovsky's majestic music. The dancing was superb.  But the story and settling were quite different.  I beetled down to London at the first opportunity to see the Royal Ballet's production. It was several years before I ventured back into the Grand for Northern Ballet.

Since then I have seen Grigorovich's production, Christopher Moore's and of course Matthew Bourne's so I am more receptive to the idea that there can be different versions of that great ballet. I am therefore rather gingerly giving Northern's version a second chance.  It is starting in Leeds between the 3 and 12 March before wending its way to Milton Keynes by way of Sheffield and Norwich.

If my feelings about it don't change I still have David Dawson's for Scottish Ballet to look forward to. They are coming to Liverpool on 1 June. Now that will indeed be a treat.

The Bolshoi's Encore

Last Sunday I took another butcher's at The Bolshoi's performance of The Nutcracker of 21 Dec 2014. I reviewed it last year in Clara grows up- Grigorovitch's Nutcracker transmitted directly from Moscow 21 Dec 2015 so this was literally a case of déjà vu. The company is actually dancing The Nutcracker on Sunday with Semyon Chudin in the title role. So why could we not see that performance in England? My guess is that the cinemas think they can make more money from showing the latest Star Wars and if that is the case they are almost certainly right. Love a duck! So much for popular taste. May the force be with us!

I enjoyed the show a bit more second time round as I knew what to watch for. Having seen Rodkin on the stage in St Petersburg Ballet Theatre's production of La Bayadere in September (see Blown Away - St Petersburg Ballet Theatre's La Bayadere 24 Aug 2015) I expected fireworks and that was what we got -  particularly in the final pas de deux with Nikulina, Russian ballerinas can be rather grand, remote if not slightly frosty ladies. Nikulina is sweet and sparkly. She is as exciting to watch as any other Russian principal dancer but she can also act. She looked genuinely frightened in the fight between the Nutcracker and King Mouse. She looked as though she needed a hug and a cuddle.

I saw the video at the Pictureville cinema at the Bradford Media Museum. It was quite full for a Sunday afternoon screening. On leaving the cinema I overheard one of the denizens of Bramhope or Huby remark to her companion "I'm seeing The Nutcracker again you know.  By the "Royal" Northern Ballet" (sic). Now there's a thought.

The Bolshoi's "A Legend of Love" streamed from Moscow

 A Legend of Love is not well known in the UK which is a pity because there is a lot to like about the ballet. A fine score by Arif Malikov, spectacular choreography by Yury Grigorovich and striking set and costume designs by Simon Virsaladze. It was first performed by the Kirov (now the Mariinsky) Ballet in Leningrad (St Petersburg) in1961. Grigorovich introduced it to the Bolshoi when he moved to Moscow. The Bolshoi performed it for the first time in 1965 with Maya Plisetkaya and Maris Liepa in the leading roles.

My first encounter with the ballet was watching a rehearsal during World Ballet Day on 1 Oct 2014. I saw an HDTV transmission from Moscow at the Wakefield Cineworld this afternoon. An HDTV transmission is not the same as watching a ballet in the theatre but Pathé Live's broadcasts are the next best thing. Although the Royal Ballet's transmissions are getting better they are still some way behind Pathé Live (see "Manon Encore at the Huddersfield Odeon" 20 Oct 2014).

The scenario for the ballet was contributed by the Turkish poet and playwright Nâzım Hikmet who based it very loosely on the 12th century Persian poem The Labours of Ferhad. There is a synopsis on the Bolshoi's website but the point to remember is that the hero, Ferkhad, chose to sacrifice his love for the beautiful Princess Shireen in order to secure a water supply for his drought ridden neighbours. Very public spirited. Indeed very socialist minded.  Just the sort of thing that Stakhanov might have done.

There are six strong roles in the ballet:

• Queen Mekhmene Banu danced by Maria Allash
• Ferkhad danced by Denis Rodkin
• Princess Shireen danced by Anna Nikulina
• the vizier danced by Vitaly Viktimirov
• a stranger danced by Eugeny Golovin, and
• the jester danced by Igor Tsvirko.

Grigorovich inserted some exhausting looking jumps for the men, particularly the jester in act II and at least as many fouettés for the Queen as in Don Quixote or Swan Lake. Indeed, he really put that character through her paces forcing her to adopt the most awkward, angular poses including one that resembled a table with one leg thrusting in the air like a flag post,  Nearly all her movements were en pointe even in the reverence at the end.  The effect was spectacular - one feat after another - just as in a firework display.

The most remarkable thing about this ballet is that it was created by very young men.   Malikov was in his late twenties when he wrote the score and Grigorovich was in his early thirties when he choreographed it. Both of those gentlemen are still alive and Malikov was in the audience.  He was interviewed by Katerina Novikova in the second interval and it was wonderful to see him as he rose to acknowledge applause in his box when a spotlight beamed on him just before the start of the third act. He took a bow to thunderous applause at the end of the show when the conductor invited him onto the stage. 

In her interview Ms Novikova asked him about his teachers and mentors. He listed a number of distinguished composers and musicians culminating with Shostakovich. Charmingly and not at all cheesily he noted that the title of the ballet was A Language of Love and wished everybody a little bit of love in their lives.

One of the reasons for the success of Pathé Live's transmissions is the remarkable Ms Novikova.  Always elegant - today she wore a smart blue top and trousers - fluent in French and English and very knowledgeable her discussions and interviews are as unmissable as the dancing.  As well as Malikov she spoke to Rodkin who was down in Moscow from the Mariinsky. She got him to talk about how the great dancers of the past, Liepa and Plisetkaya, had inspired him and how he had realized his ambitions of dancing Spartacus and Ferkhad by the age of 24. 

Last week I was driven to the hot dog stand after the umpteenth gushing tweet about "Federico" and "Marianella" not to mention the platitudes of the presenter. The Bolshoi and Pathé Live know they are good. They have sufficient self-confidence not to need such endorsements. They make good use of the intervals. They don't refer to their principals as Denis and Maria as though they were the neighbours from number 36. They have what the Americans call class and therein lies the difference.

Post Script

I posted an edited version of this article on the BalletcoForum blog and received the following responses from a lady I know only as "Amelia" and a gentleman called "Bruce Wall".

Amelia wrote:

"Thank you, Terpsichore, for your tribute to this remarkable ballet, which, in my view, should be seen on the Bolshoi's historic stage.

I just want to mention that the 24-y-o Rodkin has never been a Mariinsky's dancer. The Bolshoi has been his only employer since 2009."

I replied:

"Thanks for that information, Amelia.

I was foxed by the absence of a hypertext link to Mr Rodkin on the Bolshoi cast list but the presence of a link to him on the Mariinsky's site. I should be grateful if you could shed some light on the apparent anomaly.

I am afraid that I do not follow either company as closely as I should wish because I see them only when they visit London (and even then only once or twice a season because I live 200 miles from the capital).

You on the other hand do follow the Russian companies much more closely and I am always grateful for your information and opinions."

Mr Wall wrote:

"Terspichore, Denis Rodkin was one of the two prized private students of Nikolai Tsiskaridze, when he was still with the Bolshoi prior to becoming the Acting Rector of the Vaganova School. The other was Angelina Vorontsova ......  She is by all reports a lovely dancer and......, is now with the Mikhailovsky Ballet and features prominently in that company's NYC season at the Koch theater next month frequently dancing with I. Vasiliev."

I thanked him for that information as well.

If anyone else can assist us with information about Denis Rodkin's background and antecedents I should be glad to hear from them.  I know this blog is read in Russia so I should be particularly glad to hear from anyone who follows ballet closely in that country.

Spartacus - streamed live to Wakefield

Scene from the Bolshoi's Spartacus        Source Wikipedia

In my review of Don Quixote I compared the relationship between ballet streamed to a cinema and ballet in a theatre to that between hamburger and fillet steak (see "¡Por favor! Don Quixote streamed to Huddersfield" 17 Oct 2013). Well in today's HDTV broadcast of Spartacus to nearly 1,000 cinemas around the world we tasted some raw meat. Or at any rate steak tartare since the performance was brought to us by Pathé Live.

This show was an eye opener: a great score, great choreography and above all great dancing. There was spectacular athleticism from each of the male principals, sultry sexiness from one of the ballerinas and innocent tenderness from the other, a mighty duel and an even mightier battle.  It is a great shame that this ballet is not seen more often in this country.   It is an even greater shame that it is not in the repertoire of any British company.

I suspect that one reason for that is that Spartacus is perceived as a ballet of the Soviet era.  It was first performed by the Kirov (now the Mariinsky) in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1956 which was the year that Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest.  The production that we saw today was choreographed by Yury Grigorovich in 1968 - the year the Warsaw pact deposed Alexander Dubček.  The historical Spartacus has a special place in Communist mythology - though without the slightest basis in Roman history. He is said to have been one of Karl Marx's two heroes (see "Karl Marx's  Confession" 1 April 1865). The revolutionaries who very nearly took control of Germany at the end of the First World War called themselves The Spartacus League.

Very little is known of the historical Spartacus. He was a gladiator and he did lead an insurrection known as the Third Servile War between 73 and 71 BC but there is no evidence that he had a wife called Phrygia (which was a region of Anatolia) or that he worsted the politician and property speculator, Marcus Licinius Crassus, in single combat. The story upon which the ballet is based is a novel by Raffaello Giovagnoli and it bears as much resemblance to classical history as English history does to King Lear.

It is a very good tale, though, and for those who have yet to see the ballet this is the gist. Spartacus and his wife Phrygia are captured by the Roman general Crassus and brought to Rome as slaves. Spartacus is made to fight as a gladiator while Phrygia is forced into concubinage. In one of his fights Spartacus kills a friend. Overcome by remorse he stirs his fellow slaves into rebellion.  While rescuing Phrygia he confronts Crassus and challenges him to duel which Spartacus wins.  Though Crassus is at his mercy Spartacus lets him go. Humiliated at losing the duel, Crassus gets his concubine Aegina (another geographical name, this time an island near Athens) to infiltrate the rebel camp and distract the slaves while his soldiers creep up and ambush them. It is true that Crassus crushed the rebellion but he did that by cruelly disciplining his own soldiers and crucifying the slaves he captured along the Appian Way.

This story creates two powerful roles for the two male principals: Spartacus danced by Mikhail Lobukhin and Crassus danced by Vladislav Lantratov. There are two very different female roles - the proud, seductive, scheming Aegina danced by Svetlana Zakharova and the sweet Phrygia danced by Anna Nikulina who has a lovely smile on her web page but looked understandably the picture of misery in her role.

Having grown up during the cold war I had always thought that the Soviet Union was very straight laced. How, I wondered, could Grigorovich have got away with Aegina's seduction scene during that time.  That question  was actually put to the ballerina who first danced that role by the presenter, Katerina Novikova. She replied that she was told to tone it down the night the authorities were in the auditorium but then she could dance it normally.  The same question might also have been asked about Aram Khatchaturian's score. We in the UK know the adagio from signature tune for the TV series The Onedin Line but there is so much more to this lovely score parts of which reminded me of Bernstein.

Save for a break in transmission towards the very end this was a delightful transmission. I liked  the understated presentation with a single presenter and cameras in the slips and foyer during the intervals. It was a revelation to see Lobukhin limbering up with press-ups before the curtain rose and the shots of the audience in the foyer.  Seeing members of the audience in Moscow chatting or snapping one another with their mobile phones made us feel as though we were in the theatre.  And that is perhaps one of many reasons why people clapped tonight in Wakefield whereas they sat in stony silence in Huddersfield on Wednesday.  I think the Royal Opera House has lessons to learn.