Feast of Russian ballet for Whanganui audience

The Imperial Russian Ballet gives its performance of <i>Carmen</i> a modern twist. Photo / supplied

Review:
The Imperial Russian Ballet Company dished up a feast of three contrasting ballets to an appreciative Whanganui audience on Tuesday.

The three couldn't have been more different. There was the happy palace wedding scene from Sleeping Beauty, the dark love triangle of Carmen and finally the gauzy mysticism of Les Sylphides.

It was a marathon evening, with two intervals, two 45-minute performances and one 35-minute performance.

The 12 children from Whanganui's Shirley McDouall School of Dance were flawless flower girls and pages in the wedding scene, and had their adult admirers cheering from the audience.

The Sleeping Beauty scene had many characters, including fairy tale figures like an amorous Puss in Boots engaging with a slinky white cat, and a wolf trying to catch Little Red Riding Hood. It was set in a great palace hall, full of light.

Carmen came next, in a darkened prison cell presided over by masked jailers. A 1967 ballet, it had modern elements and not a tutu in sight. In it flirtatious gypsy Carmen is loved by both a prison guard and a toreador.

As well as the Bizet score, we heard music from Shchedrin, and one dance was done solely to stamping and clapping by the prison attendants.

Finally Fate, dressed in black, arrives to predicts Carmen's untimely end. Fatally shot, she collapses into the arms of one of her lovers.

The classic one-act ballet Les Sylphides came next, and had a poet wandering in a moonlit garden, enchanted by the dance of magical women in white. The music is from Chopin and there's no story as such - but lots of dancing en pointe, gauzy white dresses and an ethereal atmosphere.

Across the three performances scenery, costumes and acting were excellent, and the dancers were as light as thistledown.

It was an altogether satisfying feast. The opera house was full almost to capacity and people went home happy.