In the recent biography of Frederick Ashton, “ Secret Muses”, the author speculates on the possible outcome for Soviet ballet had Ashton (as a serving member of the armed forces) been posted to Moscow during WW2. As a Russian speaker Ashton had been considered for a posting as some sort of liaison officer in Russia, but the idea was dropped. What sort of balletic hybrids would have emerged at the Bolshoi had the plan gone ahead, we can only fantasize about !
The Royal Ballet got to dance in Moscow in 1961 and the then Bolshoi director, Leonid Lavrovsky, was reportedly very taken with Ashton’s “Two Pigeons” and is rumoured to have wanted to acquire it for the company. Sadly political considerations made that impossible but I actually think the Russians would have made of very good job of that particular ballet because when it comes to dancing gipsies the Bolshoi reigns supreme – and there are an awful lot of gipsies in Two Pigeons.
The current ballet director, Boris Akimov now works regularly with the Royal Ballet as a teacher and is said to be a great admirer of Ashton’s work. I think the company will make a success of Fille. When Nina Ananiashvili danced the role at Covent Garden, the older critics noted that no one had jumped like that since the original Lise, Nadia Nerina, (who actually guested with the Bolshoi at one time). I would love to see Anastasia Goriacheva and Dmitri Goudanov in the leading roles and look forward to seeing the Bolshoi’s Fille in London.
The only Grigorovitch ballet performed by a non Russian company was Ivan the Terrible which I believe was danced at one time by the Paris Opera Ballet, though I never saw them dance it.
The comments about the Bolshoi and Kirov Opera companies are spot on. For some time now the Bolshoi has been used as a kind of political football by a number of interested parties in Russia, I would like to think that the appointment of a new director will put a stop to the intrigues, but perhaps I'm being optimistic.