Saratoga Performing Arts Center pulled out all the stops on Tuesday night for the opening performance of the Bolshoi Ballet’s Don Quixote. With only three cities on their U.S. tour, the company was welcomed with a champagne toast and a rousing display of fireworks. But it was the unstoppable energy of the company’s dancers in this Spanish-style ballet that truly stole the show.
Apparent from the first scene is the hilarity of ballet’s line-up of characters. The wayward knight, Don Quixote, and his pot-bellied sidekick stumble across the stage like two clowns at a village carnival. A pathetically vain nobleman, slated to marry the flirtatious Kitri, trips over his own feet, lost in the reflection of his hand-held mirror. Kitri’s love interest, Basilio, picks the pocket of Kitri’s own father only to offer it back to him in an attempt to win his daughter’s hand in marriage.
The plot moves quickly from a village square to a steamy tavern, then to a dark wilderness and dream sequence and finally to the Spanish high court. At each turn ‘Don Q’ strives to promote the union of Kitri and Basilio, in an attempt to bring excitement and intrigue to his life as retired knight.
Alexandrova and company in Don Quixote
The plot itself seems to mock the overly serious content of most full-length classical ballets. This is most apparent when Basilio fakes his own suicide during a bustling tavern scene in act 2. Don Q convinces Kitri’s stubborn father to let her marry her supposedly dead lover, after which Basilio jumps to his feet in full agreement.
It seems the original choreographer, Marius Petipa, needed a departure from the ominous woodland death scene and unrequited love he brought to Swan Lake. While Petipa’s 1869 choreography of Don Quixote has been replaced by Alexander Gorsky’s 1900 imagining, what remains is a welcome alternative to the medieval darkness that pervades most 19th-century ballets.
While the story arch is filled with unexpected bloopers, this three-act masterpiece features the Bolshoi Ballet’s virtuosic principal dancers, as well as a vibrant corps de ballet. Maria Alexandrova excelled at her portrayal of Kitri, with her famous split leaps and fouettés down a long diagonal, flanked by the waving capes of matadors. Vladislav Lantratov offered a charming and youthful Basilio, with his elegant tours en l’air and quick footwork. A more somber scene featured Anna Antropova’s haunting Gypsy dance, both desperate and sensual.
There is a strong presence of Spanish flamenco dancing throughout the ballet, with dancers trading traditional point shoes for thick-healed black-character shoes. With lace fans and castanets in hand, several dancers offer impressive solos with excruciating back bends, lifting the layered fabric of their lavish dresses over their heads as they return upright. The dancers’ expressions were equally captivating, with sly smiles and dramatic eyes shifting focus from stage to audience.
Under the artistic direction of Sergei Filin, the Bolshoi Ballet continues to inspire audiences worldwide. But there was a time when the Moscow-based company was the topic of intense political debate. During the Soviet era, traditional 19th-century operas and ballets were viewed by some as bourgeois and backward. More moderate advocates of the arts garnered support and were able to preserve classics such as Don Quixote, while at the same time promoting more contemporary pieces.
The company made its U.S. debut in 1957 in New York City, during a time when Balanchine was experimenting with innovative works for the New York City Ballet. This past month both companies performed at SPAC, complementing each other as equally impressive though stylistically different classical ballet companies.
As the principal dancers took their final bows on this opening night, it was clear that their deep reverence for the art of ballet and devotion to their craft reaches centuries back. However, while the Bolshoi Ballet is an artistic institution dating back into Russian royal history, it is clear that the company is still a force to be reckoned with.
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What…? Absolutely no mention of the Ukrainian protest against the ( lets face it ) Russian invasion of their country? Boy you guys really are hard hitting news..!
Are you just simply anti-Ukrainian?
m.
This is a performance review, not a news story. The critic was not tasked with or expected to cover anything outside of the performance.
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