Swan Lake, Royal Opera House, London
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Your support makes all the difference.The Mariinsky Ballet's Swan Lake is sleek, but short on dramatic bite. The Swan Queen is frosty, the courtiers distant. Though the production is handsome, this performance feels leisurely until the corps de ballet of swans come on. At last, excitement rises: they move with taut energy, sweeping into their patterns.
This St Petersburg company still uses the Soviet-era production by Konstantin Sergeyev. This gives the hero and heroine a happy ending, but also saddles the court with a hyperactive jester.
Uliana Lopatkina, who danced the Swan Queen on opening night, is the Mariinsky's reigning ballerina. Tall, long-limbed and imperious, she can also be extremely mannered. Here, she's dancing with a welcome new simplicity. Poses are less exaggerated, less twisty at wrist and shoulder. Her legs unfold cleanly, with clear momentum. She takes her dances at a slow pace, but the orchestra is in no danger of grinding to a halt.
Lopatkina remains a chilly enchanted princess, not much interested in Daniil Korsuntsev's Prince. When she returns as the heroine's wicked double, she's brisker, with sharper accents, but still remote. Korsuntsev partners smoothly, but he's most ardent when describing his beloved in her absence.
The court acts are full of spectacle, of national dances and big corps numbers. This evening was polished, efficient rather than thrilling. Boris Gruzin conducts a brisk, tidy performance from the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre. Tchaikovsky's score can sound so much more powerful than this.
Everything looks up with the first entrance of the swans. The corps move with a scale that makes the stage look bigger. They fly into their lines and groupings, quick and bold. Legs and feet are beautifully stretched, darting through the steps. Upper bodies are grandly expansive. They're particularly fine in the second act, with its massed lines and blocks of swans. Though the last-act storm scene could be wilder, the swans keep their rigour.
Soloist dancing is confident. The big swans move with bold assurance, though the cygnets look tense. The first-act pas de trois is smoothly danced. Yana Selina, the first soloist, has strong feet and lively phrasing. Maxim Zuzin is buoyant, though Valeria Martynyuk's phrasing is choppy. As the far-too-prominent Jester, Andrei Ivanov milks every jump and spin.
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