Customer Reviews

The Glory of the Kirov [VHS]

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The glory of the Kirov Ballet has long been documented on video, from
full-length productions of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle,
Nutcracker to collections of excerpts such as "Classic Kirov
Performances," "The Magic of the Kirov" and
"Russian Ballet: The Glorious Tradition" (with artists of
both the Kirov and Bolshoi Ballets).

The Glory of the Kirov" is distinguished by a 1920
clip of Tamara Karsavina doing exercises at the barre
and very early performances by the three most famous
of the Russian dancers who defected to the West --
Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia
Makarova. Especially rare is a performance of the
famous "Le Corsaire" pas de deux by Nureyev and Alla
Sizova at a Moscow ballet competition, which they won.
At that time, they were in their graduation year at
the Kirov school, and are still rather green, but
already show signs of greatness to come. (Sizova's
eventual greatness can be seen at length in the 1964
Kirov "Sleeping Beauty.")

Among the other Kirov stars to appear are Natalya
Dudinskaya, Konstantin Sergeyev, Irina Kolpakova,
Vladilen Semenov, Gabriella Komleva and Ninel
Kurgapkina. I was especially impressed by Komleva and
Kurgapkina, both of whom are shown in excerpts from
the '60s, when they were young. Komleva had a lovely,
soft style and approached technical perfection. She
portrays Carlotta Grisi in "Pas de Quatre," a ballet I
normally prefer to skip over. But in this case I was
fascinated by Komleva's precision and subtlety.
Kurgapkina was a very different type of dancer --
vivacious, with an effervescent personality. My
favorite piece on this video is Leonid Jacobsen's
"Vienna Waltz," set to the beautiful waltzes from "Der
Rosenkavalier" by Richard Strauss. Kurgapkina and
Boris Bregvadze play a coquette and her beau in
mid-19th century Vienna. Kurgapkina manages to be
exceedingly flirtatious without ever becoming coy or
silly. The ballet is both charming and exhilarating.

It is interesting to compare this video with the
similarly named "Glory of the Bolshoi." While the Bolshoi
was famed for its dramatic, flamboyant and somewhat athletic style,
the Kirov was considered the ultimate in pure classical ballet, a
contrast that is evident from the earliest film clips.