Serenade/Sleeping Beauty Act III/La Bayadère Act III
Perm Ballet
Maison de la Danse, Lyon
February 8, 2012
Dance has its brands, and “Russian ballet” may be the most ubiquitous of them all. Pick-up troupes performing dumbed-down versions of the classics under that banner have become a familiar sight in medium-sized European cities, with dubious effects on the reputation of the genre. The Perm Ballet, which was at Lyon’s Maison de la Danse last week, is nothing of the sort: this top-tier Russian company has its own illustrious history and school, and yet for a few years now it has been touring France in much the same way as its less renowned counterparts, cringe-inducing sets and taped music included. Suspend disbelief, however, and the dancing can redeem everything.
Serenade opened the troupe’s Tchaikovsky/Minkus triple bill on the wrong foot. This 1934 ballet is the first glimpse Balanchine gave New York of the journey he was about to take American ballet on, and while he himself was trained in the St Petersburg tradition, his works stretched technique in directions Russian training still doesn’t prepare dancers for. With the Perm Ballet, it makes for a stiff rendition: the emphasis is so firmly on leg and arm positions that the bigger picture, the boldness and kinetic flow Balanchine favoured, simply fades away. (…)
» Read the full review in the Financial Times
Perm Ballet dancers in La Bayadère © Anton Zavyalov
