Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A superb Corsaire, June 1, 2005
I have seen no less than three Corsaire's now in different productions and this is easily the best. The dancing is absolutely superb, the costuming and sets are beautiful and the whole production is a joy.
Although Pankova is my favourite of the Kirov dancers and she is beautiful as Gulnara, I loved Asylmuratova in this performance and the whole company's performance sparkled throughout. The production is exciting and never flags for a second, and you're on the edge of your seat the whole time waiting for the next piece of fantastic dancing, to the point that you want to watch it all over again when it's finished. The section entitled Le Jardin Anime is particularly lovely and the Pas de Trois which was made famous as a Pas de Deux by Fonteyne and Nureyev is also wonderful.
Buy this. I can't recommend it too highly.
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38 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unbelievably silly ballet; great dancing, March 31, 2005
Not all ballet music is created equal. Le Corsaire's "score" is one of the "less equal" of classical ballet. Because it's a pastiche of six (count 'em) composers, there's no cohesiveness or continuity whatsoever in the ballet. Things feel and sound like either: 1. pas de deux music, which always has a lot of harps and strings; or 2. filler junk. The plot of Le Corsaire is also unbelievably silly and convoluted. In short: A pirate's crew is shipwrecked, said pirate falls in love with a harem girl, buys her, but then his servant betrays his master, kidnaps girl ... And oh, really, who cares.
The reason Le Corsaire has any hold over the ballet repertoire at al is because it requires a large cast, and everyone has his/her "moment" in the spotlight. It's really a dance extravaganza with only a bare-bones plot; even the corps don't really get much attention. But it's a great piece for showing off technique or charisma. Incidentally, the "slave pas de deux" (most famous moment of the ballet) was the calling card of Rudolf Nureyev. He danced it for his Vaganova academy graduation (a tape still exists) and in the West as a showpiece. The pdd remains a great favorite of ballet galas, although both the Kirov and the ABT present it as a pas de trois with Medora, Slave, and Conrad, as that is closer to Petipa's original choreography.
There are two video versions of Le Corsaire: this Kirov one, and a version from the American Ballet Theatre which was incidentally staged by the great Kirov ballerina Natalia Dudlinskaya. The two videos both feature incredible dancing, but the companies differ in their approach. The ABT seems to have realized that the story is a joke, so the dancers (especially the men) play up everything for camp. The Kirov doesn't take the story very seriously either, but their approach is to just let their lead dancers show off. For instance, Medora (Altynai Asylmuratova) makes her stage entrance and immediately executes a series of high kicks and leaps that would make the Rockettes jealous.
I'll just spend the rest of the review comparing the videos:
PRODUCTION - ABT wins hands down. The Kirov's Corsaire looks slightly old and ragged, like many company warhorses. The video quality is not as clear. Moreover, the Kirov performance is one of those 'fake live' ones where the dancers dance but applause is tracked in later.
DANSEURS - A close call, but I'd give the nod to the ABT. Both Conrads (Yevgeny Neff for Kirov and Ethan Stiefel for ABT) are the male weak links. They don't dance badly, but they aren't particularly memorable either. Farukh Ruzimatov is the slave for Kirov, Angel Corella for ABT. This one's a draw -- Ruzimatov has a natural Tartar exoticism that kind of works for this role, but Corella's dancing is more exuberant, and Corella seems to be having more fun. For Lankedam the evil slave trader is, ABT wins. Vladamir Malakhov is wickedly funny and over-the-top, in his bright red outfit. Konstantin Zaklinsky also tries for some comic relief but he isn't quite as funny or talented as Malakhov.
BALLERINAS: Here, the Kirov wins, no question. As Medora the slave-girl of vaguely Mid-Asian descent, Altynai Asylmuratova is just perfect. She looks extremely Asian and exotic, and really has the kind of belly-dance-goes-ballet thing down pat. Her Medora is also personally adorable. In the famous "slave" pas de deux Altynai has trouble finishing her 32 fouettes but she does them anyway. Julie Kent, OTOH, has a kind of homogenized, bland dancing style that isn't quite as compelling to watch. Her Medora is just a smiley girl-next-door. In one bizarre scene, Julie Kent has a mile-wide grin as she's being bound and kidnapped.
The smaller part of Gulnare is taken by Elena Pankova for the Kirov and Paloma Herrera for the ABT. Herrera is very strong technically, with an extremely solid, unadorned style. Pankova is light and feathery, sort of a "floater." Both are good, but I think Pankova is more believable as a barely pubescent slave girl. But one plus in the ABT video is that a then-unknown Gillian Murphy has a brief solo as one of the odalisques, and she shows her older colleagues how it's done. Triple pirouettes, plus a majestic presence that shouts, "I AM HERE, WATCH ME DANCE."
I think both ABT and Kirov videos are worth getting for balletomanes. In the end, I'd have to give the "dancing" nod to the Kirov, and the "concept/production" nod to the ABT.
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29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Finest Film Available of This Ballet!, March 8, 2005
This ballet was staged for the first time in Paris in 1856 to choreography by Joseph Mazalier. It was great success, mostly due to the exotic setting of the plot being, I believe, somewhere in the Middle East, and its beautiful score by Adolphe Adam. The ballet was staged for the Russian Czar's Imperial Ballet in St Petersburg in 1858 by Jules Perrot, cheif choreographer at the Paris Opera.
The ballet was revised several times afterward by the great choreographer Marius Petipa (Creator of "La Bayadere, "The Sleeping Beauty", "Swan Lake", "Nutcracker") who by the time the ballet had come to Russia, was chief ballet master and choreographer of the Imperial Ballet. He consistantly reworked the choreography adding music by many composers other than Adam: Cesare Pugni, Prince Oldenbourg, Leo Delibes, Leon Minkus, and Ricardo Drigo.
The ballet was unkown out side of Russia untill the famous dancer Rudolf Nureyev defected from the Kirov Ballet ( formerly the Imperial Ballet)of the Soviet Union in 1962. For himself and his partner Margot Fonteyn, he staged the "Le Corsaire" pas de deux. This number has become the ultimate virtuoso peice to show off technique and flash. But the full length work was not staged in the west for many years. In the mid 90's, it was staged for the Boston Ballet by the great Russian ballerina Natalia Dudinskaya and later, that version was staged for American Ballet Theatre. It has been mounted by ballet companies the world over since.
Here, we have the Kirov performing in 1990 in a spetacular update of the great spectacle. The dancers are the finest of Russian schooling and dance with the utmost virtuosity. Altinai Assylmorotva is divine in her interpretation of Medora, displaying the exoticism of the setting. Yelena Pankova's Gulnare is charming, and she displays much grandeur in the Pas D'sclave. The men are exceptional as well, Farukh Ruzimatov is the perfect slave Ali with his flamboyant self. Konstantin Zaklinsky is cocky and mean as Lankendem. It is quite a treat to see these late 20th century dancers of the Kirov, who have been coached by the direct descendants of ballet's greatest artists, display how amazingly ballet dancing has evolved in Russia.
This spectacular prodution has supreme dancing, lavish sets and costumes, and makes American Ballet Theatre's version look lame! Five stars!
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