Boston Ballet
Boston Ballet’s “Evening of Russian Ballet,” a matinee May 6 at the Wang Theatre, could have been called Two Weddings and a Gala, because five Russian tidbits were sandwiched between Raymonda’s nuptial celebration and Bronislava Nijinska’s monumental Les Noces.
Glazunov’s Raymonda includes some of the lushest ballet music ever written. Though it lacks the dramatic undercurrents of a Tchaikovsky ballet, the finale still makes a wonderful suite. Boston Ballet Director Mikko Nissinen’s staging featured Romi Beppu and Mindaugas Bauzys as the lead couple, with Rie Ichikaya and the musical and controlled Misa Kuranaga as soloists. Beppu rippled through her solo, Petipa’s apotheosis of female beauty, but her folk-inspired hand-claps lost some of their paprika because of the current practice of just swiping the hands. In this production, the classical corps danced the folk steps, which were a bit frisky for tutus. But the production, blessed by live music, looked elegant and beautifully rehearsed.
The gala section seemed novel—no Black Swans or Don Qs—offering a snapshot of Soviet choreography (with the luminous exception of Karine Seneca’s Dying Swan). Asaf Messerer’s show piece Spring Waters, with Dalay Parrondo and Jaime Diaz, was properly heroic and fearless. His Moszkowski Waltz looked like ice dancing, all daring lifts, swooning dips and rapturous expressions, and Melissa Hough and Alfonso Martin made the most of it. Daniel Sarabia danced Rostislav Zakharov’s Gopak, a full-bodied folk dance with barrel turns. Sarabia could have used more of the old-fashioned Bolshoi thighs to give it weight, but it was glorious fun. The pas de deux from Le Corsaire is attributed to Petipa, but the famous male solo is probably by bravura dancer Vakhtang Chabukiani. Pavel Gurevich sported his harem pants with conviction, and Tai Jimenez, though her upper body was a bit tight, negotiated the tricky turns with aplomb.
Nijinska’s staggering Les Noces, to the jagged and percussive Stravinsky score, is too rarely performed. It is a living sculpture of peasant lives (which, if not nasty, were certainly brutish and short) carved from 1920s Constructivism and made timeless by the stark beauty of the massive ensembles. The bride and groom have deceptively small parts. They are just pawns of the community, but Seneca and Roman Rykine made an indelible impact. Seneca, with her large, expressive eyes, was all frozen apprehension, caught in the braids that bind, and Rykine was shyly diffident, as he, too, was pushed into marriage. The men’s corps could have used more rehearsal and could have had more force in their jumps; they seemed to emphasize shapes rather than weight. But it was an honorable and a memorable performance.
The program opened with a chorus from Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, greeting the audience with a rousing series of “Slavas!” (Hails!).
“Slava!” to Mikko Nissinen for an imaginative and innovative program.
Mary Cargill is a freelance dance critic based in New York City.
