DANCE REVIEW: Kirov Ballet, The Lowry

May 19 2008 by Malcolm Handley, Liverpool Daily Post

KIROV is to ballet what Rolls- Royce is to automobiles and Michelin is to restaurants – the standard by which much is measured – yet all that fame is as nothing if excellence is not maintained and developed.

There is no such worry with The Kirov which, on a short tour of the UK, has brought its classical excellence to ballets drawn from across a century of dance.

Don Quixote had its Mariinsky Theatre premiere in 1902, while George Ballanchine’s Jewels was premiered at the Kirov in 1999 and in this latest production are both as fresh as paint and danced with Kirov’s unerring certainty.

Jewels is a superb example of how Kirov not only excels in the traditional classics. Three very different pieces, Emeralds, Rubies and Diamonds are fine individually – together, they have an irresistible sparkle with both dance and costumes perfectly matched.

Emeralds is a subtle piece of striking strength and fluency, with Olesya Novikova and Maxim Zuzin demonstrating an understanding rarely excelled. Rubies has a far more modern feel, almost flighty, with Ms Novokova and Ekatarina Kondaurova vying for attention with a feisty, near vampish quality, yet at all times retaining a compelling charm and elegance. Diamonds does what diamonds do, it sparkles and fills the stage with a dance of striking brightness and light with 10 soloists showing just why the Kirov is famed for its strength in classic dance and dancers of individual brilliance.

As a trio, Jewels is an impressive collection of dances which all sparkle, yet arguably Rubies stays in the mind longest. It showed that, not only is the Kirov company a trusted curator and exponent of classical ballets, but that its choreographers can embrace more modern dances and invest them with a sureness and elegance.

The Kirov is a byword for great dance and while some great classical companies may have found themselves slaves of tradition, albeit willingly, the St Petersburg company has an eye – and sure feet – on the ballet’s development.

MALCOLM HANDLEY