FROM Russia, with love — what a delight it is to see a full-length production by a Russian ballet company after the uneven divertissements staged by various touring companies in SA during the past decade.
Konstantin Tachkin’s St Petersburg Ballet Theatre present well-packaged entertainment with this sumptuous Swan Lake.


It is not the most subtle or nuanced production and they choose a happy rather than a tragic ending.
But they bring in a great sense of the history and tradition of this seminal work with lovely Russian costumes and sets, and a large corps of 18 swans in the lake scenes.
Tchaikovsky’s music is taken at a gallop, and though Russian conductor Alexander Kantorov brings verve and unity to the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra, this tempo, together with the Highveld altitude, took its toll on the dancers.


As Odette/Odile, Irina Kolesnikova is a truly tragic heroine and a ballerina of formidable technique. She whipped off 32 pirouettes with a double turn in the middle, but it cost her an extra few minutes off-stage to recover.


She is partnered by a slightly puzzled-looking Dmitry Akulinin as Prince Siegfried, and what their relationship lacked in romantic magnetism was compensated for with virtuosity as he, and the other male dancers, prove that white men can indeed jump. What elevation in their tours.


Though, if anything, Akulinin was upstaged by the young Andrey Yakhnuk in the pas de trois; he will be alternating in the lead role, partnering his real-life partner Sabina Yapparova.


The strengths of this company show in the secondary performances — Dmitry Shevtsov’s brilliant, compact, athletic Jester and Dymchik Saykeev’s powerful Von Rothbart, an evil genius masked as a predatory owl.


The dance of the cygnets is one of my personal keys to Swan Lake — during the days of our own evil regime they looked as if they had come from boot camp.
These Russians are featherweight, musical, in unison, but not mechanistic. Almost sold out, except for performances in Bloemfontein, the success of this tour guarantees a return visit.