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Ardani Artists Management Presents:
Kirov Ballet
www.kirov.com
And Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre
Valery Gergiev, Artistic & General Director
Mikhail Sinkevich, Conductor
At
City Center
www.citycenter.org
Media: Helene Davis Public Relations
Program Two:
Le Corsaire (Le jardin animé and pas de Deux)
Diana and Acteon (Pas de Deux)
Don Quixote (Grand Pas de Deux)
La Bayadère (The Kingdom of Shadows)
Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower
April 9, 2008
Program:
Le Corsaire (Le jardin animé and Pas de Deux): Music by Adolphe Adam, Choreography by Marius Petipa.
Diana and Acteon (Pas de Deux): Music by Cesare Pugni, Choreography by Agrippina Vaganova.
Don Quixote (Grand Pas de Deux): Music by Ludwig Minkus, Libretto by Marius Petipa, Based on the novel by Miguel de Cervantes, Choreography by Alexander Gorsky after Marius Petipa, Costume design by Konstantin Korovin.
La Bayadère (The Kingdom of the Shades): Music by Ludwig Minkus (1876), Choreography by Marius Petipa, Costume Design by Yevgeny Ponomarev.
Tonight’s classically styled program again featured the choreography of Petipa, with the exception of Vaganova’s Diana and Acteon. Le Corsaire is best known for the virtuosic male solos (Conrad and Ali) that follow one another, along with Medora’s thirty-two fouettés and rapid pirouettes. Tonight’s Act I “Le jardin anime” and “Pas de Deux” were thrilling, for the introduction of Igor Kolb as Ali, Slave, and Ivan Kozlov as Conrade. The lanky Uliana Lopatkina was Medora, and she was carried on high by Ali, in the iconic walk across the stage. Mr. Kolb had his leg en air during the spins, with flourishes and ornamentations. Mr. Kozlov imbued suave strength and attitude, as well as excitement in backward leaps. Ms. Lopatkina executed her fouettés with pointed attention to the rhythm, and these bravura solos were book-ended by the Garden scene, with hoops of flowers, as the corps added pastel Springtime to the vibrant Medora-Conrade-Ali solos and Pas de Deux.
Diana and Acteon Pas de Deux is another example of virtuoso fireworks, and Ekaterina Osmolkina and Mikhail Lobukhin brought the vocal Russian audience to interruptions of applause. Ms. Osmolkina and Mr. Lobukhin fed off each other’s energy in this mythological and primal pièce de résistance. In Don Quixote Grand Pas de Deux, Victoria Tereshkina was Kitri, Anton Korsakov was Basilio, and Alina Somova danced the Variation. Ms. Tereshkina was confident, poised, and did not hesitate in her fouettés, nor did the partnering with Mr. Korsakov include moments, other than scintillating togetherness. Ms. Somova sped through her Variation with vivacity.
The final work tonight was “The Kingdom of Shadows” from La Bayadère. On the second viewing it was even a stronger presentation, with each Kirov corps dancer in tight synchronization to the repetitive, echoing score, arms and legs outstretched in unison, white scarves wrapped in space. Alina Somova substituted as Nikiya, with Andrian Fadeev as Solor. This was Ms. Somova’s second performance tonight, and she seemed just as fresh here, in the dream-sequence of Solor’s opium fantasy.
Kudos to Mikhail Sinkevich, Conductor.
Uliana Lopatkina in "Le Corsaire"
Courtesy of Mariinsky Theatre
Olesia Novikova and Leonid Sarafanov in "Don Quixote"
Courtesy of Mariinsky Theatre
The Kirov Ballet in "La Bayadère"
Courtesy of Mariinsky Theatre
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