Bolshoi London Tour 2016 Review

[Birdsall]

Here's a great review of the Bolshoi's London tour:

http://beckmessersquill.com/2016/08/15/bolshoi-ballet-reflections-stepanova-rodkin-zakharova-smirnova-london-august-2016/

 

Mark Pullinger  "is Classical Music and Opera Editor at Bachtrack. A keen operagoer, with a particular passion for Verdi, he can often be found propping up the Stalls Circle at the ROH. He also reviews concerts, with a particular love for Russian music. Mark reviews for Gramophone, Opera and Sinfini, blogs at Beckmesser's Quill, and is a member of The Critics' Circle."

If you don't want to read the whole article, here is an excerpt:

 

In Swan Lake, she was making her Bolshoi debut, having performed it here with the Mariinsky two years ago. Her Odette was emotionally involved, vulnerable and feather-light, with exquisite arabesques, while her Odile was seductive, with tidy fouettés and precise attack. In Corsaire, Stepanova exhibited great musicality and, although not flawless, her Medora played to her strength of meringue-light delicacy and charm – which seems, to me, unusual for the company’s style. The Vaganova Academy trained dancer moved to the Bolshoi in 2015 as a Soloist, but promotion surely beckons, especially after Makhar Vaziev has entrusted her with such high profile London performances.
Stepanova was strongly partnered by Rodkin in both Corsaire and Swan Lake. He’s strong and athletic, but seemed constrained by the limited size of the Covent Garden stage, reining in his grands jetés en tournant, and his acting – especially as Siegfried – was a bit of a blank canvas, consisting of only one puzzled expression, as if he was trying to remember if he’d left the gas on.

Both performances of Swan Lake I caught were very strongly danced by the principals. Up close from Row B of the Stalls, it was impossible not to marvel at Svetlana Zakharova – a regal swan, with sinewy arms and the most graceful fingers, and an icily dark Odile. Artemy Belyakov was also a terrific ‘Evil Genius’ (a very Austin Powers title!) with less mime and more dancing than the Royal Ballet’s von Rothbart.