Bolshoi ballet at Royal Opera House

by Gwen Herat at Covent Garden, London

Two glorious weeks studded with eight ballets by the Bolshoi Ballet from July to August at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden kept me glued to my seat day after day with the scents of the Summer season freshening the air all around. Classical ballet with experienced but young dancers eagerly crossed the boards to delight thousands and thousands of dance lovers.

Earlier, I had seen CARMEN, the Spanish ballet that was outside the Bolshoi Season. Most of the ballets were limited to 2 Acts or less, lest it bored some of the holiday makers who were seen these as a part of their entertainment on visit to the UK. There were French, Americans, Japanese, Italians, Mexicans and Spaniards etc. You name them; all were there.

The name Bolshoi never fails to conjure up visions of spectacular ballets in the hearts of all dance lovers around the world. During a period of over 225 years the Bolshoi Ballet's vast and continually expanding repertoire has been linked to a roster of celebrated choreographers and dazzling dancers who from generation to generation have remained custodians of their great heritage.

Most ballets have their own Pas de deu as did these ones.

Paquita that I watched really dazzled me with every merging scene and music and I could feel the response from the people around me. At times, there is dead silence which means sombre parts are danced and there is euphoria, cheering and clapping of hands, later.

And Paquita is stealing hearts at random.

In this Russian Season, the Bolshoi brings Ratmansky's adored and spirited celebration of Russian folk dance as well. Yuri Burlaka's revval of the famous Grand Pas from Petipa's masterpiece, Paquita engages Bolshoi's greatest ballerinas in a glittering display of spectacular virtuosity.

Perfect dancing to sparkling musical scores especially selected for the summer season, makes this creation a genius. It lifts the ballet up to perfect height. Extraordinary and crisp leaps, timed to perfect harmony makes Andrei Uvarov the ideal Luciene to Parquita, danced by the charismatic Svetlana Zakharova. Along with the rest of the dancers, there is exuberant energy that is spectacular and exotic all the way.

BOLSHOI BALLET is (Ballet of the Great) Academic Theatre for Opera and Ballet, dates back to 1776 considered beginning of the Company. However, the first ballet class opened at the Moscow orphanage in 1773 to provide dancers for the Petrovsky Theatre. Since then the Bolshoi has travelled a long and arduous journey to establish itself as one of the leading ballet companies in the world, producing mega dancers, choreographers of virtuosity and their own opera and music. They have the best of ballets in their repertories.

The exponents of the new Bolshoi style are Bessmerthova, Maximova, Pavlova, Sorokina, Vasiliev, M. Lavrosky, Vladimirov and Gordeyev.

Paquita ballet comprises 2 Acts and three scenes. The first production was at the Paris Opera in April, 1846 with Grassi and L Petipa. The ballet is set in Spain under the Napoleonic occupation. PAQUITA is a Spansh gypsy who saves the life of a French officer, Luciene. He falls in live with her but they have numerous obstacles in their way until it is finally revealed PAQUITA is really of noble birth and good enough to marry Luciene. In the Petipa production of this ballet in 1847, he requested Minkus to score new music for the Pas de Trois and Grand Pas.

It is these our romantic scores that have survived in the repertory. However, the Kirov and Balanchine had two different versions of the Pas de Trois for Cuevas Company in 1948 and the New York City Ballet in 1951. Then, Danilova staged a 1-Act ballet version for the Russe de Monte Carlo in 1949.

Paquita's biggest boost came when Rudolf Nureyev mounted the Grand Pas for the 1964 RAD Gala at Drury Lane. Nureyev also danced in it with Margot Fonteyn along with some young soloists and students. This productions was so spectacular that M Besobrasova reproduced it for La Scala, Milan in 1970 for the dancers of the Vienna State Opera Ballet in 1970. He also did the same version for the American Ballet Theatre in 1971.

Paquita did not stop her journey there when Casenave mounted it for the London Festival Ballet in 1967 and Scottish Ballet in 1975. He was followed by Samsova in another version for the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet in 1980. Then came the icon ballerina, Makarova who mounted it for her own company in New York in 1980.