Eamonn Kelly | August 03, 2009
Article from: The Australian
International Ballet Gala. The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet. Choreography by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, Mauro Bigonzetti, Marc Bogaerts, Agrippina Vaganova, Christine Walsh. Hamer Hall, Melbourne, July 31.
AUDIENCES never seem to tire of the ubiquitous ballet gala format and its offering of tutus, virtuosic technique, and an inevitable digest of thrilling choreographic snippets that only those with private health insurance should try at home.
This well-attended gala was distinguished by a uniquely international line-up of principals, drawn from leading companies including the Royal Ballet, Berlin Staatsballet, Bolshoi Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre.
Equally atypical was the event’s producer and the rationale. Instead of an impresario cashing in on a night of razzle-dazzle, here was a Melbourne ballet school on an admirable pedagogic mission: to expose its students and local audiences to diverse examples of international excellence.
Former Australian Ballet principal artist Christine Walsh directs the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet using the Vaganova teaching method, and the Russian classical influence was clear in this program. Peppered with the work of Marius Petipa, the evening’s succession of spectacular pas de deux were framed around ensemble pieces exposing the Conservatoire students to the incremental and precisely defined technical and expressive components outlined in the Vaganovan logic.
The principals all demonstrated excellent technical capabilities, but several performances were extraordinary. The less than ideal ballet surface appeared no impediment for Joseph Phillips, Steven McRae and Sergei Polunin; all three hurled themselves through a series of hyper-extended leaps and turns with fluent ease, accompanied by the gasps of audience members concerned for the dancers’ safety. The Bolshoi’s Natalia Vyskubenko brought spidery defiance and steely control to Swan Lake’s Black Swan pas de deux while Mara Galeazzi was an effervescent Medora to match Sergei Polunin’s flamboyantly dramatic Corsaire. Roberta Marquez exuded coquettish charm as Don Quixote’s Kitri.
The Conservatoire students showed solid technique, excellent discipline and refreshing enthusiasm. Geometric formations and ensemble were tight in an adaptation of the Paquita grand pas, while minor blemishes in a performance of Marc Bogaert’s energetic Riverdance-meets-ballet work, Ritualism, detracted little from an overall precision that many a professional company would envy.
The last word belongs to a haunting pas de deux from Caravaggio, a ballet by Italian choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti recently premiered by Staatsballet Berlin. This performance featured Beatrice Knop and Dmitry Semionov, stars from the premiere season who clearly knew the work inside out. Sensuous and imaginative, this pas de deux was a moving expression of intimacy, the dancers’ bodies for the greater part locked together in a range of expressive sculptural formations. Requiring both strength and precise technique, it demonstrated that the best galas offer more than flying leaps and endless fouettes.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au
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