Royal Concert Hall Nottingham – until Saturday 11 January 2020
Reviewed by Louise Ford
4***
An enchanting evening full of lightness and grace.
The post Christmas ballet offering from the Moscow City Ballet was either Swan Lake or the more Christmasy Nut Cracker in Nottingham this week. The auditorium was full on a decidedly wet and dark January evening.
The ballet opens in the court of of Prince Siegfried with a gloriously muted autumnal pallet of costumes. These scenes and dances are stolen by Sanzhar Omurbeav performing the role of the Jester with both mischief and comedy. His agility and expressive dancing gives a lift to the performance.
The role of Odette /Odile is danced by Lilya Orekhova, who moves easily between the two roles. She handles the role of Odette with shy grace and poise and a sense of sadness. Contrasted with the darker,scheming role of Odile.
Swan Lake is a tragic love story, Prince Siegfried (Mikhailo Tkachuk) has to chose a bride from a range of candidates who are all show cased in the ballroom waltzes, for his 21st birthday celebration, which draw on Spanish, Neapolitan and Hungarian influences. Unimpressed by this bevy of lovelies, Siegfried falls for the shy and innocent Odette, ( Liliya Orekhova) Queen of the Swans.
Odette has been cursed by the evil Von Rothbart, performed by (Alimkhan Turebekov) in a menacing but low key way. Odette is doomed to live life as a swan except for a few fleeting hours at night when she reverts back into human form. Only a vow of true love and fidelity will break the spell but when Von Rothbart tricks Siegfried into breaking his vow by disguising his own daughter Odile (the Black Swan) as Odette, the enchanting love story takes a tragic turn. Swan Lake is one of the most famous and popular classical ballets of all time, with Moscow City Ballet billing it as one of its signature pieces. The score from the 1877 Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is the real star of piece with its familiar refrains which allowed you to drift off on a sea of love and despair. The Moscow City Ballet Orchestra, conducted by Igor Shavruk, were a credit and totally in synch with the dancers. The ensemble pieces, especially the Dance of the Little Swans, are performed with a busy precision and lightness, a whirl of grace and beauty. Overall an enchanting evening full of lightness and grace. The audience showing their appreciation of the solo performances. Sadly there were no bouquets of flowers or any of the male ensemble at the final curtain call, which seemed a little odd.