“Le Corsaire,” playing this week at the Kennedy Center, is a hoot of a ballet, with a wildly improbable who-cares plot, cascades of gorgeous dancing and vivid theatrical scenery.
In its second visit this year, the Kirov Ballet has brought to this luscious 19th century chestnut its large-scale, grand-style manner and brilliant dancing. It is one of the season’s highlights.
All this makes the nonsense plot worthwhile, and since it’s played tongue in cheek and delivered with crisp, easy-to-follow mime the stage is cleared for the dancing that is its own excuse for being. After all, why wouldn’t a damsel on the lam show up in a pirate’s cave wearing a glittering tutu and diamond tiara?
The evening’s showstopper at Tuesday’s opening night was Leonid Sarafanov’s performance as Ali, the Slave, in a pas de trois that includes the putative lovers (the beauteous Medora and Conrad, the corsaire or pirate) who dons a disguise and rescues her from slavery then loses her — twice.
In this original version, Medora dances with both Conrad and his Slave but it is the latter who provides the pyrotechnic thrills. This sets up an interesting contrast between the big and brawny Conrad, played with sharp dispatch by Ilya Kuznetsov, and the feral, gravity-defying Slave.
The choreography here is so virtuosic that it’s been turned into a stand-alone pas de deux for the Slave and Medora and turns up frequently on gala programs. This version of the “Corsaire Pas de Deux” was introduced to the West by that ultimate Tartar, Rudolf Nureyev, and has challenged male technicians ever since.
The young Mr. Sarafanov was not as animalistic as some but he gave an astounding performance, landing from high leaps into deep plies, finishing fast turns by spiraling lower, and adding what looked like a back flip to barrel turns. He not only prompted applause; the audience roared.
But this was only one moment in an evening filled with dancing. Medora Viktoria Tereshkina performed with admirably strong, clear movements but little nuance or dramatic impact. Ekaterina Osmolkina as her friend brought greater delicacy to her secondary role.
Andrian Fadeyev was commanding and amusing as the slave trader and the three Odalisques — Daria Sukhorukova, Tatyana Tkachenko and especially Irina Golub — were beautifully harmonious in their difficult variations. The corps de ballet, one of the Kirov’s greatest treasures, appears en masse wearing large flowered tutus in the decorative Jardin Anime.
These performers will appear at various times over the weekend and other dancers will also be seen in the roles. The Kirov has such strength in depth that it can fill these demanding parts many times over.
A constant will be the sumptuous scenery featuring a tumultuous shipwreck, a dramatic grotto, an interior vibrant with huge peacock feathers and the Jardin Anime scene with fountains sparkling in the background.
The Kirov is in the middle of a 10-year run here, arranged when philanthropist Alberto Villar had promised long-range support. His financial empire and support of the arts has recently collapsed but the good news is the Kirov project is still being honored by the Kennedy Center.
That gives the stellar Russian company a special place here on the artistic scene: It is becoming happily more like a visiting relative than an exotic stranger.
We are learning the range of its repertoire, under the imaginative direction of Makhar Vaziev — from the impressive, well-researched revival of “The Sleeping Beauty” to its lively staging of George Balanchine’s “Jewels” to the modern ventures of its idiosyncratic “Nutcracker” and “Cinderella” to this current “Corsaire.”
Another pleasure of repeated visits is getting to know its dancers in greater depth. As Walt Whitman might put it: The Kirov is vast, it contains multitudes.
***1/2
WHAT: Kirov Ballet in “Le Corsaire”
WHERE: Kennedy Center Opera House
WHEN: performances are at 7:30 tonight and tomorrow. Matinees are at 1:30 p.m. tomorrowand SundayJuly 10.
TICKETS: $47 to $112
PHONE: 202/467-4600
MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS
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