Bolshoi Ballet – Spartacus – London
★★★★✰ The messages of Grigorovich’s Spartacus may have changed over the half-century since its creation but new generations revel in its theatricality – and the bolshoi power of its performers.
Bolshoi Ballet – Swan Lake – London
★★★✰✰ According to the programme notes for Yuri Grigorovich’s 2001 account of Swan Lake, his Prince Siegfried is a ‘ballet Lohengrin’ – a Knight of the White Swan. The production is all about him.
Mariinsky Ballet – Raymonda – Washington
The Mariinsky Ballet brought Raymonda to Washington where Oksana Khadarina saw the opening night and gave it ★★★. A night later the performance got ★★★★ – different ballerinas, different result…
Mariinsky Ballet – Raymonda – Costa Mesa
The Mariinsky Ballet are currently touring California and Claudia Bauer took the opportunity to see the rarely spied Raymonda. Viktoria Tereshkina and Vladimir Shklyarov were the leads…
Bolshoi Ballet – Swan Lake – London
Grigorovich’s production is not concerned with dramatic plausibility or characterisation, which may account for Zakharova’s Odette remaining a remote vision and her Odile a cool doppelganger rather than a temptress.
