Kirov Dazzles With Exquisite Bodies, Tough Hearts

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on April 4, 2008.

April 4 (Bloomberg) -- The Kirov Ballet's three-week run at New York's City Center opened Tuesday with wall-to-wall choreography by Marius Petipa, the grandest master of 19th- century ballet. That makes sense. The company is widely revered in America as the font of such dancing, having given the world Pavlova, Nijinsky, Nureyev, Makarova and Baryshnikov.

Members of the Kirov Ballet perform at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, on March 30, 2005. Kirov Ballet will be performing at New York's City Center through April 20, 2008. Source: Mariinsky Theatre via Bloomberg News

It wasn't one of Petipa's multi-act works on view this week, though, but rather the showiest segments from several, as if the presenters feared losing the attention of their audience.

The bill consisted of the festive third act of ``Raymonda,'' (think medieval Hungary as conceived by a tsarist imagination); the Grand Pas from ``Paquita,'' (which offers a ballerina, her cavalier and a bevy of soloists every chance to display their technical audacity in both allegro and legato modes) and the sublime ``Kingdom of Shadows'' scene from ``La Bayadere,'' where the scrupulously schooled female corps de ballet becomes a star in its own right.

Members of the Kirov Ballet perform at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, in this undated handout photo. Kirov Ballet will be performing at New York's City Center through April 20, 2008. Source: Mariinsky Theatre via Bloomberg News

The season features Uliana Lopatkina, in whom nearly every human quality is subjugated to forge an icon of classical ballet. Lopatkina is eerily slender, with muscles so fine-honed they mask her steely control. Stretching her long limbs in arabesque, she etches a line from fingertips to toes that is impeccably graceful. The slow-streaming lyricism of her movement is echoed in the moods that flicker across her face, usually tender, somewhat melancholy and aloof. Whatever she does is a marvel of exquisitely calculated delicacy.

Down to Earth

Viewers who find this type too rarefied may prefer the other ranking ballerina, Diana Vishneva, more compactly built and more down to earth. Vishneva can do everything -- every step and every style -- with vibrant aplomb. When she whipped off the 32 fouette turns in ``Paquita,'' punctuating them neatly with doubles, she made this old challenge look like a game she was confident of winning. From the heady dramatic works she performs in annual stints with American Ballet Theatre to the jazzy off-kilter work of Balanchine's ``Rubies,'' she's on the mark.

The Kirov's men are conspicuously less distinguished, apart from the wunderkind Leonid Sarafanov. Small and slight like Peter Pan, he projects a ferocious desire to surpass even his present astonishing virtuosity.

His spectacular feats, flawlessly brought off, seem to be fueled by well-nigh manic energy. His leaps are high and wide, his whiz-bang turns have perfect control, his landings are as sure-footed as a mountain goat's. Andrian Fadeev, another of the young men the company is bringing forward, doesn't yet have the technical security to match his personal charm.

Meticulous Execution

In general, the company dances as if to the manner born, giving first allegiance to meticulous execution. Even the folk- tinged segments in ``Raymonda'' sacrifice their rightful lustiness to the aristocratic demeanor. It comes as no surprise, then, that the performances aren't emotionally persuasive. No doubt this will loosen up in the course of the season, allowing for some of the spontaneity that is an essential part of dancing.

Starting this weekend, the Kirov will offer programs dedicated to Michel Fokine, William Forsythe and George Balanchine.

Through April 20 at City Center, 131 W. 55th St. Information: +1-212-581-1212; http://www.nycitycenter.org.

More Dance

In addition to the balance of the Kirov season, the most noteworthy dance programs on the horizon are:

Ballet Tech's ManDance Project (Joyce Theater, April 9-20), for which Eliot Feld has choreographed a new solo for Fang-yi Sheu, the pre-eminent Graham dancer to appear in decades;

Edward Villella's Miami City Ballet (Long Island's Tilles Center, April 25 and 26; Princeton's McCarter Theater, April 27), which preserves the Balanchine heritage with verve;

and the New York City Ballet (New York State Theater, April 29 through June 29), which will mark the 10th anniversary of Jerome Robbins's death with a lavish selection of his dances.

© 2008 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.