RUSSIAN BALLET

Evening Star, Issue 22628, 21 April 1937, Page 9

RUSSIAN BALLET

SEASONS OPENS SATURDAY The Christchurch season of the famous Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, which is to begin a season of seven nights in Dunedin on Saturday afternoon, ’is proving Jhe most successful ever enjoyed by a J. C. Williamson attraction in that city. It terminates with two performances this afternoon and evening, and already practically the whole of the theatre has been 'entirely booked out for both occasions. _ Endeavours were made for an extension of the company’s New Zealand tour, but arrangements made ahead prevented this happening. Yesterday the augmented staff at the D.I.C. box office were kept going at high speed to cope with the continuous stream of people desiring seats for the approaching season, and the booking indicates that interest in the visit of the Russian ballet is just as keen in Dunedin as it has been in the other large’ centres of the Dominion. The artistry _of Colonel d© Basil’s renowned organisation will prove a relevation to local theatre-goers, as nothing so wonderful, so beautiful, or so magnificent has ever previously been seen in New Zealand. Elaborate and carefully-designed ballets, such as the Monte Carlo Russian dancers stage, will be a startling novelty to all except a few who may have witnessed them'at Covent Garden, London, or on the Continent, and the effect cannot fail to be overwhelming. Sir Rupert Parry long ago pointed out that Italian opera fans to reconcile intelligible drama, and even Wagner has not quite succeeded. But just as conventional designs are generally preferable to representations of natural objects, so_ ballet is satisfying in itself and_ music and gesture synchronised without discrepancy. Colonel de Basil’s company is in the direct line of descent from the worldfamous ballet of Serge Diaghileff. When Diaghileff died in 1929. his company went in a body and asked Ben© Blum, of the Monte Carlo Theatre, to take them over. This was done, and in time Rene Blum was compelled to give up his other work of producing comedies and operettas at Monte Carlo and to devote himself entirely to the dancers. By retaining the patronage of the Princess of Monaco he was able to keep the name of “Monte Carlo l. n title, which ww paa of consider*

able value, because of Diaghileff’s long association with Monte Carlo. Russia was the first country in which great composers like Tchaikovsky, Glazounoff, Tcherpnine, Stravinsky, and others began _to supply their talent composing special music for the ballet, and it is also in Russia that artists of the calibre of Leo Bakst, Benois, Korovine, Anisfield, and others used their brush to design for the theatrical scenery and costumes. This union between choreography in its best form and the music of great composers, with the colouring, scenery, and costumes of great masters, resulted in the performances of the opera and ballet at St. Petersburgh and Moscow being quite a revelation to those who visited those cities. Foreigners were astonished, and confessed they had never before seen anything approaching the amazing brilliancy and pure Jbeauty of these performances. Leon Woizikowsky, master of the ballet and principal male dancer, Helene Kirsova, Valentina Blinova, Nina Raievska, and Nina Golovina are among the most brilliant dancers in the organisation, which numbers 110 artists. A feature of each of the ballets is the music of many of the great masters, performed hy an imported orchestra of 25 players under the direction of the famous conductors, Jascha Horenstein and Ivan Clayton. It is said that it is almost impossible to describe the magnificence of tho various' ballets, which, with the elaborate scenery and gorgeous costumes, make a glorious spectacle.