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The Kirov Ballet in Amsterdam
Swan Lake and The Nutcracker
December, 21, 22 and 23, 1999

By Marc Haegeman

By the hazards of endless touring it so happened that the Kirov Ballet was spending Christmas and the New Year performing in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Pompously showcased as the Centenary Celebration of Classical Ballet, the company brought its perennial favorites Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and the Fokine triple bill (Chopiniana, Scheherazade, Firebird) in a generous two-week engagement of 13 performances at the RAI Congrescentrum, running December 21st through January 2nd.

Expectations were undoubtedly high, deceptions were even bigger when the opening night of Swan Lake on December 21st turned out to be a cold shower. First of all the place was wrong. The RAI Congrescentrum, located in an outskirt of Amsterdam, is definitely not a suitable venue to present ballet of this caliber. A shallow stage, a floor which proved to be an icy nightmare for the dancers, an orchestra pit of about half the width of the stage, dreadful acoustics, an inadequate timing which still allowed hundreds of people to enter the auditorium minutes after the performance had started -- it all made the bumptious air of prestige and glamour that had been painstakingly applied to the event by the Dutch organizers look even more fake. With excellent theaters in the center of Amsterdam, having to watch the Kirov Ballet in this house was anything but a pleasant experience.

The opening performance itself was surprisingly (or maybe not, considering the odds) low-key, with the company looking nervous, uncommitted, and tired. Even two of the company's most acclaimed stars, Uliana Lopatkina and Igor Zelensky, could not save the day. Lopatkina, whom we know from several previous performances as one of today's finest interpreters of this ballet, was not in her best form, over-cautious and hardly succeeded in even touching the role. Zelensky, too, was merely fulfilling his duty, at times laboring through his variations without much enthusiasm, showing little of the qualities this artist is famed for. That both dancers finally started to get their act together somewhere in the coda of the Black Swan Pas de Deux was a rather meager consolation.

The national dances were performed without the usual fire and panache, the pas de trois in Act one had weak soloists, the corps de ballet danced too much on automatic pilot and the reputed Orchestra of the Maryinsky Theatre under Alexander Titov frequently sounded scratchy. Badly lit even the otherwise magnificent sets of this production looked dull and dreary. And to see three dancers (including Lopatkina during her entrance) falling on a treacherously slippery floor during the performance wasn't exactly a supreme joy either.

Still, the organizers found the courage to congratulate themselves with the event (after all the opening night was sold out, as would be most of the other evenings of this season) and one of the VIPs commented in a newspaper that she had tears in her eyes by the sheer beauty of the spectacle. There was indeed some reason to weep.

The second night things improved a great deal with a company miraculously recovered (Christmas was nigh for something.) Above all there was soul and inspiration again, starting from the top. Irma Nioradze, grand in style and manner, without having to rely upon the outsized shapes that became the trademark of so many Kirov soloists, proved she is a superb Swan Queen with heartfelt, even poignant characterizations and first-rate dancing. Her Siegfried, the young Danila Korsuntsev, tall, strong and elegant, remains a somewhat cool and distant prince, especially in the duets, yet his dancing became vigorously exciting.

The pas de trois after the miscasts of the first night was a true marvel with a delicate Irina Zhelonkina, a lively Elvira Tarassova and a daring Ruben Bobovnikov. Many flaws of presentation in this theater remained, yet at least the company seemed to believe in it and was performing in strength again.

On the third night the Kirov brought Vasili Vainonen's Nutcracker, surely one of the most successful Russian stagings of this ballet. I always found this a thoroughly enjoyable version of The Nutcracker. Definitely a child of its age (it was premiered in 1934 when socialist realism was the official doctrine), it also presents a serious effort to find a choreographic answer to the challenges posed by Tchaikovsky's score. However, sad to say, the presentation in Amsterdam didn't always bring out the best of this production. The performance was made unnecessarily long by the inclusion of two intervals, with the first one already right after the Christmas party, breaking the dramatical and musical build-up. Again the presentation suffered from inadequate stage facilities, especially lighting. The scene with the growing Christmas tree and the ensuing battle with the mice have never been the most spectacular in this staging, but the transformation of the house into a snow-covered landscape used to be more appealing than it was handled here. Most of the magic of the transformation scene disappeared in obscurity, putting extra weight on the dancers. And for some reason it never snowed in this Nutcracker.

The company didn't bring any children and even the role of Masha was danced by the ballerina from the very beginning. Diana Vishneva was a radiantly sweet young Masha, presenting her character in the first act with sensitivity and care. Vishneva's interpretation undoubtedly developed since I first saw her in this role in 1996 and she did work on her stage appearance. She danced with youthful exuberance and easy strength. Yet, to my eyes she still falls too easily into the trap of showy effects and especially the first duet with the Prince resembled too much of a competition number. More seasoned artists like Altynai Asylmuratova or Zhanna Ayupova moreover invest the final pas de deux with a sense of restraint and a hint of sadness, clearly mirroring the innate melancholia of Tchaikovsky's music, an aspect that eludes Vishneva completely. Vishneva's performance may be immediately appealing, but it is hardly memorable.

Farukh Ruzimatov was her concerned and enjoyable Nutcracker Prince. Not everything works in the way it used to for Ruzimatov, but when he catches a second breath he delivers with a positive vengeance.

Nothing but praise for a now magnificent corps de ballet in the Waltz of the Snowflakes and the Waltz of the Flowers. The awesome precision and clarity were back and the girls thankfully got the better of the wicked floor. In the first act we had delightful acting from Vladimir Ponomarev and Nina Borchenko as Mr. and Mrs. Stahlbaum. For the second act mention should be made of Islom Baimuradov and Yulia Kasenkova as the Chinese couple, knowing how to pair virtuosity and humor with refinement, and, again, of Irina Zhelonkina and Elvira Tarassova in the charming Trio.

It won't come as a surprise to anyone that the fearful regime of touring is putting the Kirov Ballet under a lot of pressure. As was quite obvious by watching the first three evenings of this Amsterdam engagement it took the company some time to come to terms with the new environment. The grueling schedule of performing every day -- and indeed sometimes twice a day, with general rehearsals on the same days as the opening nights -- is exhausting the dancers and tired faces could be found everywhere. That, as on opening night, the bow isn't always bent as it should be, is an all too sad fact we will have to learn to live with.