Of languages, music and move

I’ve been ages away from this blog neither having time nor interest to update it. I’ve been so busy and occupied by my language studies. As you perhaps remember, Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s miraculous voice cracked my head open about 2 years ago revealing new ways to use those little grey cells that slumber within it. I then began to study Russian, and Russian in its turn guided me to study Kazakh. Both of them demand lots of hard work, believe me! Luckily I’ve native speakers in my acquaintance helping me to navigate through rocky fields of these two languages.

Someone asked recently, why I don’t write about Hvorostovsky anymore. I will, I promise that much, but now I’m in the mood to tell you about a ballet I happened to see lately: Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake at Bolshoi Theatre, recorded on 1989. It was a great and happy moment when I found this pearl of ballets, because – well, reasons are many! First, if you don’t love Swan Lake, I wonder if you love anything… and secondly, on this performance I can see one of the dearest dancers to me, Aleksandr Vetrov (who works nowadays as an artistic director of the Metropolitan Classical Ballet together with Paul Mejia).

Aleksandr Vetrov flies as Rothbart

On this recording Yuri Vasyuchenko makes very fine and precise Prince Siegfried. Mikhalchenko’s Odette is good; her highly praised sinewy arms make her appearance almost ethereal, but unfortunately she is too bony to create a plausible portrait of Odile, who should be a vivacious girl oozing dark, passionate temptation. (Ah, Maya Plisetskaya, Maya Plisetskaya!) Sometimes too many bare bones sticking out of ballerina’s breast can ruin impression she’s trying to create. Aleksandr Vetrov’s Rothbart is awesome! Full of power, electricity, might! He is thousand times more alive as Vasyuchenko, who is not bad either, no, no! They make an excellent pair, and when they are together on a stage, there are such energy and emotions in the air that it gives the creeps all over my body! Breathtaking moments are not rare on this performance.

Choreography of this Swan Lake is based on the one made by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, but is is revised by Yuri Grigorovichy. I, however, lack tools to describe all nuances of it because I don’t understand too much about concept of choreography. I only can tell what I feel watching the performance… and my feelings are many and run deep!

This performance is an excellent example of a piece of art where music and movement together are more than the sum of their parts. Music and movement that is precisely designed for it can make you feel yourself more alive, more human. And Tchaikovsky’s music has merits of its own. At this moment so light, so playfull, and on the next moment its dramatic tones make your heart almost burst open.

I can deeply recommend this Swan Lake. It is more than worth of seeing. It is strange, how deeply dance can touch human being's soul. At least that of mine!

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