Fresh faces of the Russian ballet swan into town

By BERNADETTE RAE

The St Petersburg Ballet Theatre, which brings Swan Lake to the Aotea Centre this week is a fresh and vibrant enterprise that reflects the entrepreneurial energy of post-perestroika Russia.

The company, though steeped in the classical dance tradition of its home city, is only six years old and the

man that owns it, Konstantin Tatchkine, does not feature in any ballet who's who.

Tatchkine was formerly an Army parachutist who entered the tourism industry in the late 1980s.

Though private ballet companies remain a rarity, even in Russia, a variety of other performing groups which previously received government support are now under private control and Tatchkine saw the need for a ballet company to satisfy the worldwide demand for pure classical dance, Russian style.

He launched the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre in 1994 with Giselle, resplendent in its original choreographic form and set to the original music.

Most of his dancers are hand-picked graduates of the famous Ballet Academy of Vaganova and his company's balletmasters include former soloists of the Kirov Ballet. Two, Yury Gumba and Svetlana Efremova, have the title of honoured artists of Russia.

The company - which has in its repertoire the traditional "white" ballets Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake - spends seven months of the year touring Europe, Britain and now New Zealand and Australia.

In St Petersburg, home is a 19th-century mansion built by Tsar Nicholas II.

The sets and costumes are made in the scenic studio of the Mariinsky Theatre, home of the Kirov Ballet.

The Kirov also lends Tatchkine some of its stars. Four dancers from the Kirov are guest artists of the New Zealand and Australia tour.

Each year about 3000 10-year-olds apply for a place at the Vaganova Academy, formerly the Imperial Ballet School and cradle of Russian classical dance. Sixty are accepted and half of those make the final grade. Only a handful will become dancers for the highly rated Kirov.

For this tour the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre is bringing 48 dancers, supported by eight technicians.

, They have charmed Australian audiences over the past six weeks, says Andrew Guild of Edgley International. "It is a completely traditional and very beautiful Swan Lake, danced by an extremely elegant company with some very nice soloists.

"The St Petersburg company was recommended to us after their English tour of Swan Lake in 1998. And they are a very tourable company of a high standard.

"Some of the other troupes coming out of Russia these days are really only concert parties who perform a series of pas-de-deux. But audiences around Australia and New Zealand have outgrown that and really want to see a full-length work."

Heavy bookings in New Zealand have proved that Swan Lake - with its sombre forest setting, fairytale castle, dashing hunting party led by a handsome prince, and the most romantically tragic of heroines - is what we love to see. Extra shows scheduled to cope with the demand, including six sold-out performances in Tauranga.

Swan Lake plays at the Aotea Centre from August 2 to 10, then tours Tauranga, Hamilton, Wellington, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Christchurch, Invercargill and Dunedin.