Hull New Theatre – until 22 January 2022
Reviewed by Catherine McWilliams
4****
The Russian State Ballet of Siberia are currently on a UK tour with a variety of ballets at each venue, and last night at the Hull New Theatre we were privileged to watch The Snow Maiden which was a visual and auditory delight.
The Snow Maiden is one of the lesser performed ballets and the Snow Maiden of the title is based around a character in Russian folklore.
The Snow Maiden (Natalia Bobrova) lives in the frozen forest with her father, Father Frost (Grigorii Botenkov), however, she is not happy and dreams of living in a village. Despite his misgivings Father Frost lets her go to the village of Berendeyevka where she meets a young Shepherd Lel (Yury Kudryavtsev) and falls in love with Mizgir (Georgy Bolsunovskii). Unfortunately, their love is doomed but the ending of this ballet is very upbeat with the villagers celebrating the summer solstice, thus ensuring we left the theatre with a spring in our steps!
The Snow Maiden is a very traditional ballet full of stunning dancing and beautiful music. The synopsis of this ballet by Mark Peretokin is after the play by Alexander Ostrovskiy, with music by Tchaikovsky and choreography by Sergei Bobrov and Mark Peretokin.
The choreography is superb and the dancers take us through a full range of emotions from joy to despair, the dancing is not performed mechanically but with real emotion on show. The dancing of the villagers is a real treat as it is based around traditional Russian dance and in the last act was fast and furious. The costumes, by Sergei Bobrov, are beautiful and are based loosely around traditional Russian costume. Father Frost’s costume was particularly spectacular with the blue shimmering in the lights.
Natalia Bobrova was a beautiful Snow Maiden, her dancing was exquisite full of naughtiness when she was teasing Father Frost, a tenderness as she fell in love with Mizgir and heart-breaking as she faded in the sunlight.
Georgy Bolsunovskii brought an initial arrogance to Mizgir as he searched for a bride but his emotions were clear to see once he saw the Snow Maiden and his dancing displayed raw and utter despair when the Snow Maiden faded away. I was left utterly breathless at times as he soared and turned and his partnering of the Snow Maiden and Kupava (Anna Fedosova) was faultless.
Anna Fedosova was an excellent Kupava, initially delighted to be chosen as the bride, and then jealous as Mizgir began to dance with the Snow Maiden. It was a joy to see her blossom again at the end of the ballet as she fell in love.
The Russian State Ballet Orchestra conducted by Anatoliy Chepurnoy were fabulous, it is always such a treat to have a live orchestra performing for the ballet, it really adds to the experience.
The Snow Maiden is a breathtakingly beautiful ballet, full of joy and despair but leaving you with the clear message that life goes on – perhaps just the message we need at the moment.