So soon after the splendid San Francisco Ballet it was bound to be hard for a small touring company to fill the large Waterfront Hall, but it was a sadly thin audience for Moscow Ballet's La Classique on Tuesday night. It does not, of course, compare with the Bolshoi, Kirov or Perm companies, but presented some delightful performances nonetheless.
Principals Igor Stetsuir and Albina Dimitrieva quickly recovered from a shaky opening with The Sleeping Beauty pas de deux to lead the company with verve in the first-half finale. This was the pas de deux from Carnival in Venice, the attractive and colourful backdrop for which was used as setting throughout. By Act 2 of Nutcracker both were dancing splendidly.
Outstanding, however, was Denis Pivovarov in the ever-popular Gopak from Taras Bulba and in what to me was the highlight of the first half, the Balanchine/Drigo Harlequinade. His split jumps were sensational.
A spirited Gypsy Dance from Don Quixote, a lyrical waltz from Les Sylphides and Oceans and Pearls, an attractive pas de trois from the Petipa/Pugni Hump-backed Horse completed the divertissements.
Attempting to tell the whole story, Nutcracker Act 2 squeezed in episodes from Act 1, including Drosselmayer's transformation of Clara's nutcracker into the Prince and the latter's defeat of the rat army. The Oriental, Chinese and Russian Dances were most attractive, the Mirlitons became a duet and the Prince and Clara's Adagio omitted the usual Russian addition of four cavaliers.
