Customer Reviews

Anyuta: A Ballet

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Vladimir Vasiliev is not only one the all-time greatest Russian dancers, the former Bolshoi star has also proven a choreographer of real distinction. VAI re-releases his two-act ballet "Anyuta" as it was initially created in 1982 as a dance film with his wife Ekaterina Maximova in the title role. Adapted for the stage four years later, it remains one of his most complete and convincing works. Based upon Anton Chekhov's short story "Anna on the neck", satirizing life in a small provincial town, Anyuta concerns a woman who after marrying upon the social ladder discovers the power of beauty and sexual attraction, yet at the expense of all those dear to her. Set to an irresistible melodious score by Valery Gavrilin, Vasiliev's choreography, even if firmly rooted in the classical idiom and reviving the tradition of Russian literary ballets, is contemporary and adroitely portrays the characters, blending sentiment with the element of grotesque.

Ekaterina Maximova is magnificent as Anyuta, conveying a breathtaking range of emotions while Vladimir Vasiliev himself, cast against type as her hapless drinking father, gives one of his most subtle and moving portrayals. Supporting roles include Gali Abaidulov as Anyuta's wealthy and powerful, but stingy and boring bureaucrat-husband, John Markovsky as the rich and spoiled Don Juan Artynov, and Marat Daukaev as the student (a character introduced by Vasiliev) whom Anyuta is genuinely in love with.

VAI provides a fair DVD transfer from this 1982 film, with only a few blemishes in the print.

Highly recommended.

Vladimir Vasiliev found Valery Gavrilin's music score for Anyuta (based in Chekhov's short story "Anna on the neck")quite an inspiration for his choreograpy of this ballet as "it acted as a spur to my imagination",he said,for he considered that Gravilin understood the very essence of Chekhov's work.Somehow ,Anyuta brings a reminiscense of Faubert's heroine,Mme Bovary,when she understands the power of physical beauty and becomes an adict to luxury,leaving everything and everyone behind,eating her life away.
As Anyutas's father,Vasiliev - considered the world's best dancer by Paris Dance Academy - plays a suffering,alcoholic man in a rather moving portrayal.
Ekaterina Maximova,in her early forties,dances the title role effortlessly,bringing out Anyuta's inner thoughts and feelings with such an expressiveness that she becomes the role she plays through dancing,supported by her superb technique.
Gorkovenko conducts Gavrilin's exciting music brilliantly.Filmed in 1982,the quality of the picture is modest but nevertheless it is a most beautifully choreographed modern classic ballet.A must.

I bought this and was just blown away with her in this. A story of a girls rise from poverty to riches based on Chekhov's story Anna on the Neck. Choreographed by Vasiliev who also dances in it. Bonus is The Stone Flower with Maximova and Vasiliev. 67 minutes. Mono. Color. All region. Absolutely worth it.

I discovered this on a VHS tape and was blown away by the creativity of story and dance on this little known work. Also, a show piece for Ekaterina Maximova. I found the music very creative and modern in a good way. Because I liked the tape so well I ordered on DVD. What a disappointment! One of the rare instances where the picture on a DVD is inferior to the picture on a tape! I give the ballet, dancing and music 5*, the image quality 2*. I have to downgrade my rating to 3*. A pity!

For post-bailout America, this Bolshoi production of "Anyuta" raises the question, "who really won the Cold War?" The official story says that the defeat of the Soviet Union was a victory for freedom and democracy. Why is it, then, that the Soviet evils depicted in this 1982 Soviet ballet so precisely coincide with the evils of contemporary America?

In Anyuta, choreographer Vasiliev and composer Gavrilin turn the concept of the Soviet "classless society" on its head, exposing the total spiritual corruption created by Soviet-style social polarization. (And if the idea of "spiritual corruption" is a little fuzzy to anyone, I would suggest that you watch this ballet.)

Meanwhile, in America, the middle class society that once put the Soviet Union to shame is no more. In its place is a division of social classes every bit as cruel and corrupting as the Soviet hierarchy attacked by Vasiliev and Gavrilin.

Falling within the scant tradition of socially-relevant ballets, Anyuta must be counted a masterpiece, the kind of adult ballet that Jean-Georges Noverre envisioned in his classic, Letters On Dancing And Ballets, if not quite on a par with "La Muette de Portici," the opera-ballet that triggered the Belgian Revolution in 1830.

We can only hope that choreographers, filmmakers, composers and artists of every description will take inspiration from this amazing ballet, which suggests so many possibilities for escaping from the political and cultural Jerry Springer-ization (is there any other word for it?) that has laid waste to the very soul of America.

Medicare for all!

Anyuta, for some reason, reminded me of the sad story of Anna Karenina without the tragic ending, even though this one has a quite sad ending. I have not read the story of Anyuta, which is entitled, "Anna on the Neck"......The Party, Anna on the Neck, Polinka, The Princess.......I do intend to read it, when my library can get it for me. The ballet version of the story seems to say that Anyuta is in love with a poor student, like "Manon" for instance, but marries for money and position. She abandons her love as well as her hapless father and two young brothers to poverty, while she revels in the social life. Her husband is more interested in advancement in his job, than her being admired by all the men in town, including his own boss. I bought the ballet after seeing Maximova and Vasiliev do a pas de deux from it in "Essential Ballet" by the Kirov Ballet, another DVD I highly recommend....Essential Ballet....Disregard the fact that it states it is by the ABT. It is definitely danced by the Kirov Ballet, where you can find Maya Plisetskaya dancing the Dying Swan when she was 68 years old. Remarkable!!

P.S. I have now read the story (written in 1895) by the Russian writer, Chekhov, entitled "Anna Round the Neck". In some translations it is entitled "Anna On the Neck". The title is derived from a statement made by "His Excellency" to Anna's husband, Modest Alexeich, "So now I see you have three Annas. One in your buttonhole and two round your neck". He was referring to a service medal known as The Order of St. Anna, and does not refer to our beautiful Heroine. The name Anyuta is used only once in the story. Through-out the story she is referred to as "Anna". The story "Anyuta" is a completely different story, and in no way represents the ballet "Anyuta". The poor student that Anna runs out and dances the famous pas de deux with is an invention of the choreographer Vladimir Vasiliev. There is no "student" in the Chekhov story. Vasiliev is Ekaterina Maximova's husband and plays Anyuta's father in the ballet.

The music from this has a very different flavor that I like. It is very listenable, if you will. The resolution on the DVD is nothing to brag about, however it's acceptable, but a bit out of focus. Costuming, sets, lighting, and color are all good. The sound is mono. It is done in the 4:3 TV format, filmed in 1982. One of Anyuta's admirers, Artynov, is played by John Markovsky, who was prince Siegfried in the 1968 film version of Swan Lake with Yelena Yevteyeva (still available on DVD). He was so handsome in that film that I could hardly believe it was the same man. Swan Lake..... Check the price of this one. It is the same ballet as the one below, just a different keep case picture.Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (1968).....Others have reviewed this copy. (of Swan Lake)

I bought this DVD ONLY because Katya was dancing. She did not disappoint and neither did the others - the video was great in spite of its age and that of Katya when she danced this.

What is absolutely disappointing is the Music. Except for some pleasant passages in the beginning and here and there, much of it just boils down to sheer cacophony. I could have shot Gavrilin at the Ball scene. Having a declared distaste for the obtuse and the 12 tone, Gavrilin invents an absolutely new way of jarring one's ears all in the name of 'modernity' of then, which kills the work in places that affects the whole ballet.
However brilliant the dancers are, they are dancing to music. And when music degenerates into noise that means nothing, the whole exercise becomes a drivel. Just remember, that what is danced as showpieces out of this ballet are the ones where music is actually quite pleasant. None of the great ballets would have achieved their greatness from Delibes to Stravinsky if not for the consistent beautiful score however brilliant the dancing may be.
The ballet as such will be forgotten thanks to the instability of the musical score, but a few pieces like the pas de deux and the opening theme may be danced as show-pieces all by themselves.
My three stars have been arrived at as thus : 5 to the dancers 1 to the music - average of, which is 3