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Foot in Mouth

Apollinaire Scherr talks about dance

GO– to Long Island or New Jersey for the Perm Tchaikovsky Ballet’s “Romeo and Juliet”

February 28, 2008 by Apollinaire Scherr 2 Comments

This version of the ballet, by Russian choreographer Nikolai Boyarchikov to the Prokofiev score, inspired all sorts of thoughts that had no place in a short preview.
Was wondering whether the Russians have a greater comfort with symbolism, with showing us the inner workings of the mind or the outer workings of fate–larger or smaller than the social. It made me think, on the good side, of Balanchine’s dark angel in “Serenade” and seductive dancer Death in “La Valse” and, on the bad, of the psychologism of Boris Eifman.
The Russians think of ballet as a spirtuo-aesthetic realm, art and spirit always twined, so poetry necessarily means plumbing the depths or climbing to Heaven–or, in Boyarchikov’s case, both at once. Beautiful, striking choreography, I thought.
In this here featurette, I discuss the leads at Tilles, Robert Gabdullin and Yaroslava Araptanova. In the DVD I saw of a recent live show, they were very appealing. Not sure if they’ll be R and J in New Jersey.
The company, which had a long history as the Perm Ballet before it became the Tchaikovsky Ballet and Orchestra, is also touring California and Connecticut in the next several weeks, I think. Sorry, no link to help out with that.

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Comments

  1. phil s says

    March 1, 2008 at 11:38 pm

    Cal Berkeley at the end of March:
    http://www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents/season/2007/dance/tpb.php
    I very much enjoyed their performances the last time they were in Berkeley.
    Apollinaire responds: Thank you for this, Phil. A different ballet–but one that really wowed people here in 2006: Natalia Makarova’s staging of “Swan Lake.”

    Reply
  2. Milton Fox says

    March 3, 2008 at 3:10 pm

    I saw this performance in Newark yesterday and it was great! The Hall is beautiful, with fine acoustics. The dancers and a full orchestra were wonderful! They should have been scheduled for more than one performance!

    Reply

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Apollinaire Scherr

is the New York-based dance critic for the Financial Times. She has written regularly for The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Newsday, as well as SF Weekly and the East Bay Express, in the Bay Area. She has contributed to... Read More…

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