Dancing the classics

Claudia Figueroa

After nearly a decade’s absence, audiences will catch a glimpse of

history when the Bolshoi Ballet makes its debut next week at the Orange

County Performing Arts Center.

Even though the Bolshoi is no stranger to Southern California, this tour

marks the 10-year anniversary of its last national tour of the United

States.

The company’s performance at the center is the last stop on a five-city

tour, which began as a sold-out run at the John F. Kennedy Center for the

Performing Arts, then to Chicago, Seattle and the Dorothy Chandler

Pavillion in Los Angeles.

The Bolshoi’s 224-year-old theater in Moscow is undergoing restoration.

Throughout the last two centuries, the theater has survived the czars,

two world wars, the Stolypin era, Stalin, and the rise and fall of

communism and Stolichnaya Vodka.

In this century alone, a lot has changed for the company. Formerly guided

by regimented government standards, the Bolshoi is now running itself but

producing equally as challenging works.

Their latest tour will not only help support the newly independent

company but will give audiences a closer look at the direction in which

the company’s development is going, said David Eden, the Bolshoi’s tour

producer, who coordinated the tour with the Kennedy Center.

Under the direction of theater director Vladimir Vasiliev and company

director Alexei Fadeyechev, the company has taken a more modern turn but

still performs classic ballets.

For the tour, the company chose two extravagant pieces: Leonid Lavrosky’s

“Romeo and Juliet” and Marius Petipa’s “Don Quixote,” the latter being in

the company’s repertoire for more than 100 years.

Choreographed by Fadeyechev, the ballets rely on many cultural

influences, Eden said.

Based on the Cervantes novel and written for ballet in 1869, “Don

Quixote” is a classic work that illustrates the company’s ability to

adopt a world dance style and make that style its own; it has become

known as the “bravura Soviet style.”

However grandiose, Lavrosky’s 1940 production of “Romeo and Juliet” is

considered a landmark production by many. With more than 100 dancers on

stage on point, Eden said the epic production can be compared to a D.W.

Griffith film set.

The ballets, which feature the company’s current prima ballerina, Nina

Ananiashivili, are synonymous with Bolshoi style, Eden said.

“The shows will reveal a different side of the company,” Eden added. “The

dancers will show their ability to pantomime as well as ability to

perform some technically demanding movements.”

In addition to this tour being a big treat for ballet fans, it’s an even

greater one for ballet companies in Southern California.

“One of the greatest contributions ever given to American theater is

full-length ballets,” said Ballet Pacifica Artistic Director Molly Lynch,

referring to the Russian ballet classics Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker,”

“Swan Lake” and “Sleeping Beauty.”

“With those pieces, Russian ballet influenced the choreographic

development of American ballet,” she said.

“When you see [the Bolshoi] perform you really get the feeling you’re

watching a piece of history,” said Judy Morr, the center’s vice president

of programming, who saw the company perform in Moscow a year ago before

inviting the company to perform in Costa Mesa.

“To bring over a company of that size is a huge undertaking,” she added.

“But well worth the effort.”

WHAT: The Bolshoi Ballet’s “Don Quixote” and “Romeo and Juliet”

WHERE: The Orange County Performing Art Center’s Segerstrom Hall, 600

Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

WHEN: “Don Quixote” -- 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; “Romeo and

Juliet” -- 7:30 p.m. Friday; 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. July 1, 2 p.m. July 2.

HOW MUCH: $20 to $85

PHONE: (714) 556-2787