Reassuring

“Chopiniana”/“Grand Pas from the Ballet Paquita”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre (Historic Stage)
Moscow, Russia
February 14, 2024

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

The musicians of the Bolshoi Orchestra are on their toes. After acknowledging the welcoming applause, conductor, Pavel Klinichev, raised his baton in the same instant that he turned around to face them. The vigorous bars that he prompted belonged to a Polonaise by Chopin. It opened Mikhail Fokine’s romantic Chopiniana (1908), which the Bolshoi Ballet revived in November 2022. It’s the first part of a double bill the second piece of which – the Grand Pas from Petipa’s Paquita – has been a landmark of classical dance since its creation in 1881.

There’s no need to discuss how Fokine’s choreography was performed. The Bolshoi is a guarantor of sublime performances. Indeed, the unity of the corps was nothing less than staggering; every step was measured yet effortless like an outpouring of natural decency. Perfect proportions soothed the eye. As the leading sylphs, Anastasia Stashkevich, Elizaveta Kruteleva, and Anastasia Denisova paid great attention to detail, adding the right tinge of buoyancy, melancholy, or playfulness to their solos. Vyacheslav Lopatin’s poet combined sensitivity and decisiveness. His clean and – at times mighty – jumps earned applause. Alyona Pikalova’s set design – an arch of gnarled treetops opening onto a sunny water meadow – invited the mind to dream.
I’ve watched several companies dance Chopiniana, but no performance was as complete as the Bolshoi’s. Perhaps due to experiencing messy times in my home country of Germany (and in the West in general), the refined order and serenity of Chopiniana felt especially comforting. It seemed like the epitome of civilization.

I don’t know Pierre Lacotte’s 2001 version of Paquita for the Paris Opera Ballet, but I saw Doug Fullington and Alexei Ratmansky’s reconstruction from the Stepanov notation, which premiered at the Bavarian State Ballet in 2014. The new choreographic version that Yuri Burlaka staged at the Bolshoi in 2022 includes the ballet’s third act, the so-called Grand Pas. The details of Burlaka’s divergences from Petipa’s original are beyond my knowledge, but it’s obvious that his version requires dancers of the highest technical skill. Such dancers performed the wedding celebration of Paquita and the French officer Lucien d’Hervilly.
It took place at a stately columned hall behind which a yard led to a castle (set design also by Alyona Pikalova) and was presided over by the governor, Don Lopez de Mendoza (Dmitry Dorokhov), and his daughter, Seraphina (Vera Borisenkova). As the master of ceremonies, Egor Khromushin ensured an orderly procedure. Elena Zaitseva’s elaborate costume designs included individual gowns (plus long-sleeved gloves and tiaras) for each woman of the aristocracy, tutus with a Spanish flair, and antique pink dresses for the women dancing the gavotte. It was an art in itself to graciously move in the tulip skirts without making them bob. The children who danced the opening polonaise and, later, the mazurka, wore a color combination of bright red, cream-white, and gold.

Of the array of excellent performances, Ivan Sorokin in the pas de trois was especially outstanding. Unimpressed by technical difficulties but rather cheerful, he delivered sparkling clean solos during which his legs seemed to hang in the air. The two ladies accompanying him (Sofia Maymula and Ekaterina Varlamova) had a spring in their steps as well. Of the thirteen female variations, Petipa borrowed from pre-existing ballets, traditionally five were chosen for each performance – a practice that Burlaka kept. Olga Marchenkova carved out the delicate structure of Riccardo Drigo’s variation for Le Roi Candaule; Margarita Shrayner made Drigo’s variation for La Source a statement of self-assurance, and the quicksilver Maria Mishina mastered Alexei Barmin’s intricate variation for Paquita, making it look like a cakewalk. Elizaveta Kokoreva showed off her prowess in Cesare Pugni’s variation for Ondine, and Alyona Kovalyova developed Drigo’s variation for La Sylphide with a calm that only mature dancers have.

Maria Koshkaryova’s Paquita was a confident, determined young woman who melted the moment Lucien (Klim Efimov) entered the party. As if flipping a switch, one small gesture from him initiated a script for romance that has been played out by lovers for an eternity. A bit hectic at first, Efimov later proved (and humbly downplayed) his talent in a crisp solo.
The rousing rendition of Ludwig Minkus’s score added to the celebration’s grandeza.

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