The Russian State Ballet returned to Dublin with a divertissement programme that was set within a stripped-back stage with basic screens to hide entrances and exits, writes Michael Seaver.
The Russian State Ballet, NCH, Dublin
Ballet has always had an attractive mystique for western audiences. The renowned Ballet Russes de Serge Diaghilev seduced Europe with its orientalist productions, yet the company was created and based in France and never once performed in Russia. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union many offshoots of the great Kirov and Bolshoi companies are taking similar routes, touring Europe and the US with Russian dancers and choreography.
The Russian State Ballet has visited Ireland with full productions of Tchaikovsky favourites but this divertissement programme is set within a stripped-back stage with basic screens to hide entrances and exits; the focus clearly on the dancing. Galina Stepanenko, prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet, luxuriates in arabesques and completely fills the music in the Act One pas de deux from Swan Lake, capturing the necessary vulnerability and idealism. The "black swan" pas de deux, by comparison, seemed undramatic and instead of ending with the black swan towering over the Prince in a dramatic high arabesque, artistic director Vyatcheslav Gordeev adds on an applause-seeking lift (and also short-changes us with the infamous 32 fouetés). She was also not helped by unsympathetic partnering from both dancer Ruslan Skvortsov and conductor Georgi Zhemtchazhin.
Maxim Fomin was a more secure partner in the extract from Don Quixote, but his voracious dancing was restricted by the small stage, as were Rimma Sologubova and Andrei Joukov in Scheherezade. Alone on stage Monica Loughman danced the Dying Swan from Swan Lake with a quiet presence and confident technique, although her performance, along with many others, seemed less dramatic when removed from the context of the complete work.
The strength of a divertissement programme is in featuring a range of choreography and a chance to see rarities such as Vasily Vainonen's sparse Nutcracker and the rarely performed Carnival of Venice by Petipa, although some works felt dated, such as Alexander Gorsky's Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah. It was these works, rather than the more popular items, that saw the best dancing. - Michael Seaver
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Once Upon A Summertime, Bewley's Café Theatre
Susannah De Wrixon has really only to sing and talk to conquer her audiences - but she does more. Her voice has that memorable quality of giving little darts of pleasure; it has a velvety texture, and slides through the octaves with unforced ease, making every song special. She stitches them together with poems, prose memories and some fun stuff, more than just a linking narrative. A strong stage presence, based on her considerable acting skills, establishes an intimacy that carries the show.
Her new outing has all the merits of its predecessors, and, of course, its own special theme and treatment. The nostalgic American Song Book is rummaged for new numbers, and the great composers - Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, the Gershwins and their peers - contribute some of the best. Our hostess, in one of her many asides, confides that she had waxed sentimental for many years, thinking that George and Ira Gershwin were a loving married couple. It makes a nice lead-in to the wistful But Not For Me.
Another apt match is a recital of an excerpt from Rudyard Kipling's poem If with Kern's immortal song Pick Yourself Up And Start All Over Again, with its rippling scales and jazz-oriented melody. Our hostess is a natural singer in the jazz idiom, always stirring grace notes and variations into the arrangements. When she cuts loose, as in Thelonius Monk's Straight, No Chaser, it is clear that this is her territory, well and truly conquered.
She can also carry melodies with great feeling and style. Her versions of Till There Was You (from The Music Man), Autumn Leaves (in both English and French) and It Might As Well Be Spring (from Rodgers and Hammerstein's State Fair) are quite beautiful, as are several others. Music lovers, take note. - Gerry Colgan
Ends today
