Moscow Ballet gives double dose of entertainment

Marilyn LaRocque

Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2004 | 8:51 a.m.

What: Moscow Festival Ballet performing "Carmen Suite" & "Paquita."

When: Wednesday.

Where: Artemus Ham Hall at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Tickets: $35, $45, $60.

Information: (702) 895-2787 or UNLVTickets.com

On Wednesday the Moscow Festival Ballet will dance two vibrantly exciting works centered on alluring Gypsy women.

The program is set for 8 p.m. at Artemus Ham Hall at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Opening the program is the "Carmen Suite," with music by George Bizet/Rodion Schedrin and choreography by Alberto Alonso. The virtuoso wedding scene suite of dances from "Paquita" concludes the program.

Commenting on his approach to the "Carmen Suite," Alonso is reputed to have said, "(The) idea (of telling) a story of a Gypsy woman, Carmen, in terms of dance attracted me. It is not replacing Bizet's opera or Merime's novel with dance but mounting a ballet to this passionate music through Carmen, who is one of the greatest embodiments (in) music and classical literature of the world. Her fate is always on the borderline between life and death."

In the Moscow Festival Ballet production, Olga Grigoriava will dance Carmen, Valeri Shumilov will be Jose and Timur Kinzikeev is the Toreador.

"Paquita," the second gypsy femme fatale, is not at all self-destructive. In fact, she turns out to be a princess and ideally suited to her dashing French military officer suitor, Lucien.

Originally a full-length ballet with music by Edouard Marie-Ernest Deidevez and choreography by Joseph Mazilier, "Paquita" debuted in Paris in 1846. It was subsequently revised in 1881 to incorporate additional music by Leon Minkus and new choreography by Marius Petipa, creator of "Swan Lake," "Sleeping Beauty" and "Nutcracker."

It has undergone several reincarnations since. In Las Vegas, Paquita will be danced by Marina Rzanikova; Mikhail Dessmertnov will portray Lucien.

Sergei Radchenko, founder and artistic director of the Moscow Festival Ballet, one of the premier companies devoted to classical Russian Ballet, joined the famed Bolshoi Ballet in 1964 immediately after graduating from the Moscow School of Dance, and became a legendary principal dancer. He remained with the company for 25 years.

Radchenko has a special relationship to the "Carmen Suite." Choreographer Alonso created the role of the Toreador specifically for him, and he and prima ballerina Maya Plisetskaya premiered "Carmen Suite" on Sept. 14, 1972, as guest artists with the Tokyo Ballet at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan.

Radchenko founded the Moscow Festival Ballet in 1989, and the success of the company and demand for its performances resulted in the establishment of two troupes. It's the company's fourth visit to Las Vegas, the last being in 2001.

"In the late 1980s," Radchenko said, "there was the right possibility to organize an independent ballet company, and I was the first to do it. Many cities and countries invited us to perform at the same time, so we soon needed two full companies. Each one has its own dancers, sets, costumes, everything.

"It is very easy to get people now in Moscow," he continued. "They want to get a good job in the city because there is nothing available in the countryside. So we draw our dancers mainly from the Moscow area or other big cities."

Comparing the Moscow Festival Ballet with the Kirov or Bolshoi, Radchenko acknowledged the shared commitment of all three companies to the Russian classical ballet tradition, but then cited the artistic freedom and travel opportunities he enjoys.

"The company and I can go anyplace, do whatever we want to do," he stated. "There is no Minister of Culture in control, no bureaucratic red tape. I can set the program myself, present what the person hiring us wants."

He also commented on the flexibility of his company.

"The other (government controlled) companies have 200 dancers, their own orchestra, elaborate sets. It is very expensive for them. We have two buses and one truck, and we go from coast to coast and town to town performing mostly at universities. We educate people about classical Russian ballet and technique.

"However," he said, "we add modern ballet technique to make a work more dramatic and cut out weak sections because audiences today, in both Europe and America, will not sit for hours watching ballet. The main plot is untouchable, but eliminating the boring parts makes a work more palatable."

Although the company does not perform "modern" dance, they have commissioned new works in the classical style from within Russia and from abroad. Radchenko has staged new productions of "Don Quixote" and "Paquita" and recreated Jules Perrot's and Jean Coralli's "Giselle."

The Moscow Festival Ballet has toured extensively in Europe on the continent -- Italy, France, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands -- and drawn capacity audiences at London's Coliseum, followed by five years of return engagements. Their current U.S. tour began in Philadelphia in January and ends in New York in April.