SOLOS FROM BALLETS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 1, 1 July 1939, Page 15

SOLOS FROM BALLETS

DELIGHTFUL PERFORMANCE

Some of the principal dancers from the Covent Garden Russian Ballet, singly and together, gave a delightful - pevformance at the Concert Chamber , last evening. The warmth and sincerity of the applause were unmistakable, . proving beyond doubt the popular and ! artistic success of the performance, j Friday night is not always a happy ' I choice with which to open a season's | entertainment of any kind, but it was so on this occasion, for a large audience was present, and it was delighted with the dancing from first to last and so expressed itself. The ballet "Calls for [appropriate music and stage settings a» ■ well as dancing, all three in harmony, if it is to make the indelible im- , pression desired. In /the case of the , Russian dancers at the Concert Cham* ber last evening the - dance was the I thing. There was no scenery, realistic ' or bizarre, just black hangings, nothing • more by way of decor. Music was furj nished by the pianoforte, *an indifI ferent substitute for the full. orchestra. {But the music, within the limitations .of the instrument, was admirably and I helpfully played by M. Feodor Pellac, I of the Odessia Conservatorium. "Les Sylphides' to Chopin's music was the opening^ number, in ' which ißaissa Kousnetzova' and Valeri I Shaevsky took the premier or ' sol© parts. It was, an auspicious opening to what proved to be an evening remarkable for the grace of the Russian dancers as a body and their superb . interpretative ability. They made the dance, especially in "Les Sylphides," and, later in "The Spectre of the Rose," a language rich in its expressiveness and irresistible in its appeal. The same pair of artistes also achieved a brilliant success in "Blue Bird." The music to "The Spectre of the Rose**, was Weber's "Invitation to the Waltz" and- for the -'Blue Bird" recourse-was had to Tschaikowsky. The same couple greatly pleased in "Hussar" and "Waltz," for which the music was bor- , rowed from Johann Strauss, with <. snatches from "The Blue Danube." •'■-■ In Eduard Sobichevsky the audience recognised an exceedingly clever and agile dancer blessed with a sense of fun. His dancing of a sailor's.horn-. pipe, 4 or whatever it might be called (attributed to Massine), was rapturously applauded. So, too, was his football dance, introduced as a ballet presentation. Whether it represented" play such as authorities would pass' is beside the point, but it was an exceedingly clever item in the pro* gramme, and the audience thought so, gping by the way it expressed itself. M. Sobichevsky was also seen with his^ partner, Mdlle. Petruche Orlova. in "Carnival," a bright and happy inter* pretation of passages from Schumann's suite of that name. But humour, will out, and in this he was in his element v with Mdlle. Kousnetzova in "The Cat's Dance" (music by Tschaikowsky), a whimsical but discreet exposition of ; feline amours. An alluring Spanish 1 solo dance by Petruche Orlova was a ' brilliant success. So, too, was Raissa i Kousnetzova in Russian peasant dances.- ---! All four Russian dancers were seen in ensemble items, as in a wild dance I "Charach" and Russian folk dances. No encores were given, nor, considering ■ the strenuous nature of the work- in. hand, could they have been expected, but they were clamoured for, with the result that individual performers were recalled again, and again. Room was made in a full programme . for the appearance of John Turner, a clever young dancer, in Valse Atlete, arranged by Miss Estelle Beere* and later Jie appeared with Miss Lois Hum' phreys in a mazurka. He was dis- - 'covered as a clever young artist for whom {when he has learned1 the valu© of make-up) it is easy to predict a successful career. T/ie music was Slipplied \>y' HI. PeTXac, pianist, vrt>o -w*a. also a popular-success as a soloist ■ •, 1 The Russian Dancers appear to toe assured of a successful season after last night's opening. , They will ttr appear this evening. Mr.. Maurice Ralph presents the company.