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Review of Swan Lake at the Congress Theatre
THE VISIT of the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre to Eastbourne coincided, perhaps appropriately, with a heavy seasonal snowfall.
With many in the audience dressed in overcoats, boots and fur hats, this well-respected Russian ballet company, with the orchestra conducted by Vadim Nikitin, must have felt very much at home.
Swan Lake, one of ballet's most famous and widely performed works, includes some of Tchaikovsky's s best known music.
The story of a young prince, given an ultimatum by his mother to get married but who falls in love with a princess who has been transformed into swan by a sorcerer, epitomizes both the romantic and macabre sides of Russian theatre.
The production's sumptuous sets, depicting pine forests, onion-spired towers overlooking a moonlit lake, a royal palace awash with glittering chandeliers and gold-encrusted arches provided exquisite settings for the ballet which was danced with lan by a youthful all-Russian cast.
In spite of the company's prima ballerina (Irina Kolesnikova) not taking part in this performance, the role of Odette/Odile, the beautiful girl/swan who is bewitched by the evil Rothbart (Sergei Tarasenko), was danced by Astghik Ogannesyan, whose interpretation was as carefully choreographed as it was sensitive.
Although her pas-de-deux with the infatuated prince, Siegfried (Dmitry Rudachenko), in Act II, when he mistakenly believes Odile to be Odette, was somewhat disrupted by two embarrassingly long exits before he reappeared.
Nevertheless, the Pas-de-Trois by three outstanding principal soloists, and the Spanish, Neapolitan and Hungarian dances performed at the prince's coming-of-age ball, brought deserved applause, as did the Jester (Aleksandr Abaturov) with his acrobatics and powerful pirouettes in Act I.
In this Lev Ivanov version of the ballet, the forces of darkness are vanquished and Rothbart dies.
Siegfried and Odette embrace and, we assume, live happily ever after. A magical start to the festive season.
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Weather for Eastbourne
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 14 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
