RUSSIAN BALLET

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 159, 2 April 1937, Page 2

RUSSIAN BALLET

Second Programme ot Wellington Season THE MOVING PAGEANT OF “LES PRESAGES” Lovers of the ballet were given a series of fresh thrills at the Grand Opera House, Wellington, last evening, when Colonel W. de Basil's Monte Carlo Russian Ballet presented its second programme of the season to a crowded bouse. In character aud choreographic scheme these ballets are very different from those performed in the first programme. As one finds as the season progresses, these ballets have a distinct individuality and forms ot beauty of their own, aud one must not be taken as any kind of relative guide to another. For example, last evening the audience had the privilege of seeing the first modern symphonic ballet in Massine’s “Les Presages” (destiny), performed to the profoundly’ moving music of Tchaikovsky's fifth symphony, a migl’ty work that in all'gravity is a transcription of life itself, with its fleeting joys and abiding sorrows. Here is illustrated the trend of the modern ballet in its symphonic form, in the almost total elimination of the corps de ballet as a united entity and its replacement by figurative groups and symbolic figures, all moving differently, and posing variously, yet seemingly all conforming to a general design, which somehow or other blends into the pattern of the rather garish, or perhaps one should say futuristic, background, splashes of primary colour in swirling whorls which represent nothing in particular rather effectively.

In brief, this ballet is abstract rather than positive in theme. It merely represents the eternal struggle of man with his destiny, and seeks to prove that with sufficient will-power and physical strength, he can shape his own destiny. There are such characters as Action (Tamara Tchinarova), who is nervous vigour personified; Temptation (Lillia Roussova, Helen Polpouchina, and Savva Audrieff); Passion, gorgeously symbolised by .lovely Valentina Blinova and Valentin Frouian; Fate, a grim, murky, veiled figure, dramatically represented by Leon Woizikowsky ; Frivolity (Vanda Grossen) and the Hero (Froman) with other symbolic groups, who, with a loveliness born of perfect pose and rhythm of action, weave a living mosaic pattern in strange colour contrasts that set the eye a task to get used to, and yet are part and parcel of an harmonious whole. To Passion, all forgetting, appears Destiny, who orders disorder; and out of the blue comes war, with regiments faintly inferrerl, and conflict vaguely depicted; but the lover' pass through their travail, aud evidently reach the haven of their desires, for the end sees a glowing tableau, with the Hero enthroned, and his lover in attendance.

Of course, the great urge to imagination in this ballet is the music of Tschalkowsky, and here the orchestra, under Jascha Horeustein, achieved a triumph as great as those upon the stage: with the ballet, the blend of action, colour, the changing lights, and the superb, music, make a pageant that bites deep? Necessarily in relation to “Les Presages” the other two ballets presented were of a light and airy nature, destined more to entertain pleasantly than to thrill. “Carnaval” is set to the suite for pianoforte of the same name by Schumann, that suite of delicious little bits and pieces which represent scenes at a carnival. Schumann, like other geniuses, was subjected to severe criticism, but, unlike most of them, he hit back smartly, and assuming various false names, he instituted the imaginative Davldsbundler Club which was supposed to represent the art nouveau of his day. So we And in this suite and ballet the characters that occur in the various movements of this piece, a§ well as the familiar Harlequin, Columbine. Papillon, Pantaloon, and the lovelorn Pierrot, the whole with their prancings, chasings, vapourings and merry-making constituting a jolly continuity that vastly entertained.

Helene Kirsova danced divinely as Columbine, who flirts so deliciously on tiptoe with the most graceful and nimble of Harlequins, deftly danced by Roland Guerard. Sonia Woizikowsky as Papillon danced prettily, and the Pierrot of Jean Hoyer was a notable bit of pure pantomime. The ballet ends with a rousing gallop by all concerned to the exhilarating music of the well-known Davidsbundler march. The final ballet of the evening was more in the nature of a dance comedy. This was “La Boutique Fantasque” (the fantastic toy shop), a merry conceit to Rossini’s lively music (orchestrated by Respighi) with choreography by Michael Fokine. The scene is a shop wherein are displayed and sold mechanical tops, specialising, of course, in dancing dolls of every description. To the shop come crowds of iwople eager to see the creations of this master toymaker in action. These are brought in on stands, and at a touch of the spring they each “do their stuff,” according to the mechanism provided. This gave opportunity for many of the principals to display their art in gay and clever dances, while still preserving a mechanical stariness of the eye and an occasional stiffness in action.

Almost the whole company joined in the fun. Helene Kirsova and Leon Woizikowsky joined in the liveliest of can-can dances, from which they extracted the whole of its original vulgarity, while the dances of the poodles, and the five Cossacks, ami the Playing Card Royalties, was hugely enjoyed. Outstanding was the mummery of Roland Guerard as The Snob, while the Cossack Chief of Froman was another spirited bit of work. Mr. Ivaif Clayton conducted the orchestra in its playing of the overture to "The Merry Wives of Windsor” (Nicolai), and the “Carnaval” ballet, and Mr. Jascha Horeustein exercised his strong command in "Les Presages” and “La Boutique Fantasque.” This programme will be played this evening and to-morrow afternoon and evening.