Bolshoi Ballet
Royal Opera House, until 8 August
At the beginning of the second week of its new London season, the Bolshoi Ballet presented the classic Giselle, a ballet which, not unlike other 19th-century works, underwent myriad changes, cuts and choreographic adaptations. It was only after Mary Skeaping attempted to restore the original text in the 1970s that most ballet companies adopted what has today become a sort of standard text. Interestingly, this is not entirely the case with the 1987 Bolshoi production, in which historical originality does not play such a central role.
Although the production follows strictly the scene order prescribed by the ballet’s original musical and choreographic scores, Yuri Grigorovich’s 1987 reading seems to ignore the fact that Giselle premièred in 1841 as a ballet pantomime, as there is very little mime, if any at all. And those accustomed to the more historic productions might find awkward that the entrance of the hunting party — traditionally, a pedestrian parade of armour, dresses and stuffed animals — is actually danced by the Duke of Courland’s guards, with some funny half-hops. They might also object to the removal of the mime recitativo for Giselle’s mother, which causes a musical and dramatic imbalance with the beginning of the second act, and to the somewhat unrecognisable adaptation of the few surviving gestures. Still, this is a grand-scale production, with loads to admire — including Simon Virsaladze’s designs.
Although the cast I saw, led by Anna Nikulina and Alexander Volchkov, was not particularly exciting, this production provides a unique showcase for the company’s soloists and, most of all, for its corps de ballet. Their perfect lines, and their ethereal portrayal of the battalion of doomed female spirits in the second act, counteracted and compensated for the bitter disappointment engendered by a rather uneven rendition of Balanchine’s Serenade, which preceded the performance of Giselle.
Issues of historical accuracy also underscored the second programme of the week, a varied triple bill. I have already had a chance to express my reservations on these pages about Sergei Vikharev’s staging of Fokine’s 1911 Petrushka, a version that seems to contradict the wealth of historical sources on Fokine and the Ballets Russes available in the West. Apart from such reservations, I have to admit that the production is both colourful and entertaining, and I loved Nina Kaptsova’s interpretation of the Ballerina.
Yuri Burlaka, artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, has also had a stab at reviving the past, by recreating a version of the famous Grand Pas from the ballet Paquita that takes into account the ballet’s narrative context. Alas, historical accuracy is not always a plus, and, in my view, the recontextualisation of the celebrated divertissement detracted greatly from the fun this showcase of technical bravura has always provided in ballet galas and other performances. Personally, I would have gone straight to the fun and done without the initial parade of courtiers and the seemingly never-ending and choreographically sterile mazurka for the children — as a great theatre genius, Petipa also knew how to wow audiences with cheesy ideas.
Luckily, Maria Alexandrova was exactly what a prima ballerina assoluta ought to be as Paquita, and many of her colleagues shone in the series of demanding variations that compose the Grand Pas. Next to her Nikolai Tsiskaridze looked dashing, though too far over the top for my taste. The programme included a modern piece, Russian Seasons, by Alexei Ratmansky. Set to Leonid Desyatnikov’s music, the ballet highlighted the artistic versatility of unique artists, among whom Natalia Osipova was, undoubtedly, prima inter pares.
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