The weeks ahead

Please excuse me while I neglect (more completely than usual) theater and classical music on this blog for the next two weeks. There's just too much exciting ballet in town.

The weeks will mostly be about the two Russian prima ballerinas, Diana Vishneva and Nina Ananiashvili. Both come in on their reputations as classicists but will be showing us where ballet might be headed with programs of very new work by hot choreographers. Wedged in between is Los Angeles Ballet, a flegdling ballet troupe that will be performing some great, classic Balanchine as well as a new ballet of its own. Here's what there is to look forward to:

First, there is Diana Visheva: Beauty in Motion, Feb 13-17 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Vishneva has captured the attention of ballet fans with her stunning dramatic presence and her gorgeous Russian-trained dancing - dancing that has all the pliancy and beautiful curves of Russian ballet, but with an extra attack and verve more usually associated with Western dancers. She's wonderful in the classics: around here we've seen her as Nikiya in La Bayadere, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty and Odette/Odile in Swan Lake (Nikiya and Odette/Odile were wonderful, Aurora was great too, if only a shade too glamorous - but is that really even a complaint?). She has surprised Western critics with her brilliance in Balanchine roles like Rubies and Ballet Imperial, dancing that has quickness and pulsing musicality - traits somewhat atypical for usually more lyrical, statuesque Russian dancers. In this week's program in Orange County, which travels to New York's City Center afterwards, Vishneva explores a distinctly contemporary side to her work. One imagines that she's been itching to have new ballets choreographed on her since her international guest star schedule usually involves classic after classic. And she's put together a fascinating program of present-day ballet, with new works created especially for her by hot-on-the-scene Bolshoi choreographer Alexei Ratmansky (who is strongly rumored to take over the choreographer in residence position at New York City Ballet after his directorship of the Bolshoi Ballet ends in 2009), Moses Pendleton and Dwight Rhoden. Such is her appeal that she was also able to convince dancers from different corners of the dance world to join in the act: she'll have guests from the Mariinsky/Kirov, her home theater, plus contemporary dancer Desmond Richardson with her. So even though we probably won't be seeing her in a grand tutu this week, there will be plenty to be fascinated by. Preview articles on the show have begun appearing in the LA Times, the Orange County Register, New York Magazine and the New York Sun.

Next week, at UCLA's Royce Hall, Nina Ananiashvili and the State Ballet of Georgia presents two programs, Giselle and a mixed bill of contemporary ballets. Ananiashvili has been around for considerably longer than Vishneva. Her fame came from athleticism and strong dancing, plus big dramatic sensitivity - I've seen her dance very appealingly in everything from Le Corsaire to Balanchine's Mozartiana. A prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet, she helped save the company's reputation in America by headlining the first night of the company's mid-90s tour after many years in which touring rag-tag ensembles lifted the Bolshoi name and delivered anything but Bolshoi talent. She was then invited by American Ballet Theatre to perform regularly during its annual Metropolitan Opera House season and guested with companies around the world. As she has approached retirement, the government of Georgia (in Russia) invited her back to her home country to helm the state ballet company. This tour is the first glimpse that America will have of this new venture. Ananiashvili herself performs in Giselle on Saturday night, Feb 23, one of her signature roles. (Personally, I'm not sure how this will come off - even though she's well known for Giselle, she's now past 40 and I have a hard time believing her as a young girl. Plus, my gold standard for Giselle is now the Royal's Alina Cojocaru. With that performance burned into my memory, virtually no Giselle has since come close, no matter how masterful in reputation.) Arguably the more interesting program is the Mixed Rep on Thursday, Feb 21, with Balanchine's Chaconne and two new ballets choreographed for the company by Alexei Ratmansky (see above) and Yuri Possokhov, a former principal dancer and frequent choreographer for San Francisco Ballet. Chaconne, which Ananiashvili will appear in, is a wonderful ballet set to music from Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice, and the two new ballets are by very interesting contemporary ballet choreographers.

In many ways, these weeks are also Alexei Ratmansky weeks. We're getting two brand new ballets by him when we usually don't get to see much of his work locally. The last thing we saw was Bright Stream when the Bolshoi toured Orange County in 2005. Otherwise most of his new stuff is with Euorpean companies or New York City Ballet. Ratmansky is now becoming more and more "in demand" in ballet world, especially with his strongly rumored appointment as choreographer in residence at New York City Ballet, so it will be very interesting to see what these two new ballets say about him as a choreographer.

Last but not least, Los Angeles Ballet performs its winter repertory program on Feb 22 and 23 at UCLA's Freud Playhouse, with three Balanchine works and a premiere by company member Mellissa Barak (she was also a member of New York City Ballet's corps before joining LA Ballet). The Balanchine component includes The Four Temperaments, a short virtuoso pas de deux Tarantella and Who Cares?. The first piece, Four Temperaments, is one of my favorite ballets. Balanchine's choreograpy deconstructs classicism, paring it down to its essential parts, then puts it all back together in a manner that is simple yet effortlessly complex. It was created in the 1940s but still looks like it could have been made yesterday. Who Cares? is set to Gershwin and it's extremely fluffy, but if performed right, could be fun. The new Melissa Barak ballet will be her first major work for a ballet company; there were glimpses of her choreography at the New Choreographer's Initiatie over the summer (which I didn't see), but they evidently feel confident enough to program one of her pieces on the regular rep season. So it could be interesting or it could be miserable, but thats the fun of new work, right? In any case, it's The Four Temperaments that is getting me in the door for this one. The company repeats this program on March 1 in Glendale and March 15 in Redondo Beach.