Bolshoi Ballet

Royal Opera house

The Bolshoi Ballet are in town and I was determined to take advantage of this opportunity to see some world-class ballet since I never managed to do so while living in Moscow. I used to live 15 minutes away from the Bolshoi theatre which has been closed for renovation since 2005. A new Bolshoi theatre was quickly built opposite the original one but according to many ballet lovers, the new Bolshoi theatre is much smaller, hence losing the overall 'grand' ambience. 'Bolshoi' means 'big' in Russian, so of course it is wrong to put the 'big' ballet group in a newer and smaller setting!

I am not a ballet connoisseur, I have only seen a few performances before and most recently 'Swan lake' performed by the Cuban National Ballet at London Coliseum. I thought the dancers were skilled, but the production looked outdated (esp. the stage design and costumes) and the ending was just silly. With the Bolshoi, I had high hopes, and so I booked to see two performances, Coppelia and Don Quoxite. I saw Coppelia with their new rising star, Anastasia Stashkevich, who was fine as the lead but lacked a bit of flair... The show was well executed overall with colourful costumes and sets, but sadly, it was not particularly memorable.


Coppelia

Then came Don Quoxite on the last day of their tour and it was simply electrifying, thanks mainly to Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev, the on and off stage young couple. Both were not only technically brilliant but they were charismatic and mesmerising on stage. Their youth, energy and radiance was felt by the audiences and you could tell by the applause every time they came on stage. Besides the golden couple, the entire cast danced beautifully in a very colourful and energetic production.
I have never been to a ballet or opera where audiences simply refused to leave! You would expect this kind of behaviour only at rock concerts, but ballet?! Not only did the couple received standing ovation for about 15 minutes but they had to come out of the curtains about 5 times due to the roaring applause and enchanted crowds!

This was the best ballet performance I have ever seen and it has set a benchmark that would probably overshadow many forthcoming shows by other ballet groups. Hence I will take a break from ballet and wait patiently for their return next year!