From now until St Valentine's Day 2008, St Petersburg Ballet Theatre (SPBT) will rarely be in the same place for more than two days running. They'll haul their repertoire - three full-length classics and a programme of divertissements - round a score of UK venues, showcasing their trump card, Irina Kolesnikova, whose Odette/ Odile continues to gain in artistry and expressiveness.
Kolesnikova would stand out in any company but in SPTB's Swan Lake on Sunday she was often the only reason for keeping faith with the production.
On a bigger stage, where scenery can fly in and out, this Swan Lake is a decent if basic affair, designs are at the utility, rather than stunning end of the spectrum, but the corps de ballet are up to the mark as swans and in Slava Sunegin they have a jester whose footwork makes up for the character being pester-power incarnate.
Oleg Kharyutkin looks a likely Prince. He partners attentively, emotes as necessary and probably has strong, athletic jumps at his disposal, but there's no room on the GRCH stage for him to hit any kind of stride, especially when the space is jammed with dancing courtiers. Lighting that went awry in Act II almost compromised Odile's seduction of the Prince. Kolesnikova smouldered with manipulative allure regardless, but she - and audiences - deserve better. The score, played live, sounded well-intentioned but thin.
Monday night was Nutcracker, a drab production with no persuasive enchantments to offer. Worse still, it tinkers: Clara (Irina Kolesnikova, gamely girlish) doesn't dance the Sugar Plum role in the famous pas-de-deux, which has become a sorry take on the Rose Adagio from Sleeping Beauty with the Sugar Plum passed, like a parcel, from one pink-clad cavalier to another. It's an arrangement that jars with Tchaikovsky's score, as does the interpolation to the Snowflakes scene that allows Kolesnikova her pas-de-deux moment with Dmitry Akulinin.
It's a musical and choreographic connivance that smacks of cynical expediency - not even Kolesnikova's technique can compensate. This Nut has no kernel of magic, it's an empty shell with dire designs and lacklustre dancing.
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