THE SAMENESS OF CHANGE.

THE SAMENESS OF CHANGE MOSCOW FESTIVAL BALLET LEHMAN CENTER CONCERT HALL BRONX, NEW YORK JANUARY 7, 2001

Remember when we had Soviet Russia? In those days, Russian ballet from Russia meant either Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet or Leningrad's Kirov Ballet--but there is not even any Leningrad anymore. Nowadays many Russian companies tour from sea to shining sea for dollar to shining dollar. They have virtually taken the place that Serge Denham's old Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo had in the 1950s and '60s, with its bus-and-truck tours going here, there and everywhere. These touring groups are real Russians with snow on their toe shoes. However, despite their fancy, unfamiliar names, they have very varying capabilities. None are up to the Bolshoi/Kirov standards, nor could one reasonably expect them to be.

At the beginning of the year, one of the better-known newcomers, the Moscow Festival Ballet, opened its second cross-country U.S. tour at Lehman Concert Hall with Artistic Director Sergei Radchenko's staging of Marius Petipa's popular warhorse, Don Quixote. This comparatively small company--about thirty dancers--had its proficiency at quick costume changes tested almost as stringently as its dance abilities, and the production--although modest to a fault--didn't look exactly shabby.

The program enthusiastically listed twenty-one principals and twenty-seven corps de ballet. Twenty of them must have gotten lost, and are possibly even now wandering around the Bronx. Olga Pavlova as Kitri and Zhanat Atynataev as Basilio led the dancers who did appear--interestingly, she was not listed among the company's personnel, while he was placed among the corps de ballet. Like the rest of the troupe, they were about adequate. I doubt whether many, if any, of the dancers would get into the corps of a major American company.

The staging, with some bright backcloths designed by Lev Solodovnikov, had more than its fair share of innovative oddities, placing more emphasis than usual on Quixote, Sancho Panza, Gamache and Lorenzo, even giving the latter three a cheerful little Russian character trio to dance. Yet to the main, Radchenko generally followed tradition rather than innovation, while managing to keep a few paces behind each.

It seems a pity that today such European-based companies (for they are not only Russian; some are French) appear to be the only ones that are willing to take on these bus-and-truck, one-night-stand tours that provide parts of the country with their only glimpse of classic ballet. I suppose we must be grateful for them enduring these rigors--but I wonder whether they are really an adequate substitute for the Denham warriors, led by the formidable likes of Danilova and Franklin. Oh well, ... times change.