Glissade, pas de bourree, coupe, jete . . .
The lingua franca of ballet echoes across the empty rows of the State Kremlin Palace's cavernous auditorium. Tiny figures, enveloped in mufflers and leg-warmers, dart and spin in response to their coach's sharp commands, springing forward as if tugged by elastic cord, creating sudden ripples across the vast stage of the former Palace of Congresses.
Later in the evening, the same dancers have grown several inches and acquired an otherworldly sheen: transformed by layers of tulle and make-up and the presence of an eager audience, the 45 members of the Russian State Ballet could impose themselves on any space - even this 6,000-seat concrete and glass box, which was built in the late 1950s to hold Communist Party congresses and tucked among the gilded onion domes of medieval palaces inside the north wall of the Kremlin. For the opening performance of the company's first production of The Sleeping Beauty, it is crammed. Six thousand balletomanes make an impressive sight: at the interval they spill into the austere foyers, drinking Russian champagne with steady determination beneath the crests of the former Soviet republics; for the rapturous, prolonged, curtain-calls they abandon their seats and crowd around the foot of the stage, cheering and clapping their approval to a slow, rhythmic beat.
A celebration of symmetry, imperial order and hierarchy, The Sleeping Beauty was choreographed in the late 1880s by the (French) Ballet Master, Marius Petipa, who was the driving force behind the Imperial ballet of St Petersburg for 50 years. The combination of the much-loved Perrault fairy tale, the nostalgic 17th-century court setting, Petipa's intricate choreography and Tchaikovsky's score has ensured its place in the repertoire since its first performance at the Maryinski Theatre in 1890. With its elaborate stage pictures, intricate corps de ballet patterning and succession of divertissements, it is a showcase for dancers and a test of virtuosity, especially for Princess Aurora. As we stream out through the heavily guarded Trinity Gate of the Kremlin, our faces set against the glacial wind, people around us are still discussing the technical minutiae of the performances, as our interpreter, Olga Ostrovskaya, explains. The provision of theatre, ballet and opera at affordable prices for Russian audiences is a legacy of the Soviet system: foreign visitors to the Bolshoi Theatre, for example, pay at least double.
Watching The Sleeping Beauty with such an appreciative audience undermines any simplistic view of Russian ballet as a mummified art form. It is a glittering artifice, a test of physical capability, athleticism and stylistic understanding, which is both preserved and made new by each generation through different readings of the same roles. Formed in 1979 by the former prima ballerina of the Bolshoi, Irina Vikrovna, The Russian State Ballet is a flexible, touring company, which has attracted dancers from the three leading ballet companies, the Bolshoi, Kirov and Stanislavski ensembles. It prides itself on keeping the art form alive and introducing it to audiences around the world, through its annual international tours. For its second visit to Dublin, the company will perform Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, which was enthusiastically received at The Point three years ago. With its technical excellence - the precision of the dancers' line, turn-out and elevation, the vivid upper-body expression, the illusion of utter weightlessness and ease - this company embodies the studied perfection of the form.
"The Moscow audience knows its ballet," says the company's artistic director, Vyatchelslav (Slava) Gordeyev over borshch and vodka on the day of the performance. He should know. For three decades he was one of the most acclaimed Russian ballet artists, in Europe as well as the former Soviet Union, and when he stands among the dancers in his evening suit to take curtain calls at the end of Sleeping Beauty, it is he who receives the most bouquets. Formerly the principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, and then its artistic director, he is also an innovative choreographer of works such as The Last Tango. He left the Bolshoi and joined the Russian State Ballet as Artistic Director in 1981, because he wanted to stage new ballets as well as those of the 19th-century Imperial Russian repertoire. "My dream was to create a really good company, able to dance both Russian classics, modern choreography and my stagings," he says.
"The Russian State Ballet is a young, very flexible and strong company, in which 50 dancers have to do what's done by more than 100 in the Bolshoi. Everyone has to be able to dance every role - including the members of the corps - and dancers will change roles three or four times in a performance. "We make enormous efforts, because, if we let these things disappear now, they will never come back. It will be impossible to show it to the generation to come."
How much scope has a director to introduce innovations or new interpretations to the classical repertoire? "Ballet is music plus choreography: my personal view is that if the composer has written his work to a particular libretto, I must preserve the choreography as it is. Otherwise I have no right to use the name of the ballet. It becomes something different. "So, Sleeping Beauty should be Petipa's, in my view, but in principle you could call it `The Sleeping Beauty' but make your own staging. This production, on the whole, uses Petipa's original choreography. It is based on the Maryinski Theatre's version, which is the oldest recording of this ballet. I have restored it, step by step, to its original. But there are also some pieces choreographed by me, preserving Petipa's style and manner. I hope that you won't be able to tell the difference!"
Classical ballet depends upon the subordination of the individual to the harmony of the whole, while, paradoxically, revering its stars. The common aim of the dancers is the stylisation of the body and creation of an apparently effortless machine, through almost monastic discipline and conformity. Yet, in order to be outstanding, something extra is required.
`A dancer has to be ready to give his life," Gordeyev says. "It is your second life, a kind of malady. To excel, you must listen to your teachers, must understand what the coach wants and try to fulfill it. You must have individuality, the physical abilities, of course, and a very good school - a rare combination."
"The only way to preserve the rich, strong, traditions of Russian ballet is to transfer them from teacher to pupil." He is very conscious of the pressures on this expensive art form in a financially unstable economy. "Russia is famous for its big performances, and this is what the rest of the world wants to see, but it is difficult to stage such ballets," says Gordeyev. "Ten years after perestroika, smaller companies can't afford to work on this gigantic scale and prefer more modest stagings. It's getting difficult to preserve what we have."
Difficult, but obviously worthwhile. All of the dancers I spoke to are committed to staying in Russia, despite their fatalism about the country's political future. Even Gordeyev, who danced in opera houses throughout Europe and could have chosen to join any ballet company in the world, has no regrets about staying in Russia. For him it was quite simple: "I loved the Boshoi stage and for many years I occupied the place I wanted on it. That's a good thing to be able to say."
"Russian traditions are so rich. No matter how difficult life is in Russia nowadays, people want to preserve those traditions," says Nadejda Pavlova, the tiny star ballerina from the Bolshoi who partnered Gordeyev for years (and was married to him) and is coming to Dublin this week as a guest dancer. "Perhaps it is because other aspects of life are so uncertain here now, that people need to know that the ballet will endure," she says. "It is eternal."
Sleeping Beauty will be performed at The Point on Thursday, December 16th, and on Sunday, December 19th (matinee and evening). The Nutcracker is on Friday, December 17th, and Saturday, December 18th. Both will be accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra. Tickets from The Point (01-8363633) or TicketShop (01-4569569).