Saturday, Mar 29, 2008
Gulf News
Abu Dhabi: The Bolshoi Ballet performed Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake at the Emirates Palace Hotel on Wednesday night as part of the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival.
It was a full house, according to the organisers.
The Bolshoi Ballet and Orchestra required changes be made to the Emirates Palace Auditorium, where the first rows of seats had to be removed to create an orchestra pit.
Pavel Sorokin's orchestra put the audience into the mood of Swan Lake instantly and as the curtain opened slowly, it revealed a magnificent stage design and lighting that propelled the audience into the world of Prince Siegfried: a royal court set in an ill-omened castle.
The first act was a powerful testimony to one of many Bolshoi trademarks: Alexander Volshkov's ethereal dancing as Siegfried expressed all the idealism and hopes of the young prince while Morihiro Iwata's Jester was a whirlwind of energetic virtuosity.
The audience would later discover yet another fascinating male performer at the end of this act, in Artem Shpilevski and his interpretation of the Evil Genius: his muscular performance was perfect in its expression of the power and unavoidability of fate and in offering a stark contrast to Volshkov's more graceful and fragile rendering of youth, sincerity and innocence.
The ballet was in four acts and the stage was set for tragedy to strike in the last act. In a perfect setting that cast darkness over the Swan Lake, fate snatched Siegfried's love from him.
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