Dance Review by Masashi Miura

ANANIASHVILI OPENS A NEW FIELD

Nina Ananiashvili & International Stars ’98 was truly successful.

Ananiashvili showed not only her miraculously perfect recovery from her very serious injury but also another hidden talent, which is to dance well contemporary works as though they were in her own territory.

As special - feature programmes the ballet concert presented two new works, Charms of Mannerism and Dreams about Japan, which were both made by Alexei Ratmanaky, a rising choreographer from Russia. Ratmansky was of course a well known dancer of the Kiev ballet, but it was his first time to appear as a choreographer in Japan.

The two works were well received. However, it was Dreams about Japan that received a storm of applause from the excited audience. As the subtitle "Suggested by Kabuki" showed, Dreams about Japan is a collage work of famous scenes from Kabuki. And above all, the scene based on "Musume-Dojoji", the Pas de deux performed by Ananiashvili and Alexei Fadeetchev, was the highlight of the ballet.

Ananiashvili fascinated the audience with her resilient supple body. She entered the stage wearing a Kimono, took it off, appeared in a red leotard, and danced very differently from classical ballet. The movements reminded the audience of Bejart or almost Forsythe. but they were not as inorganic as Forsythe’s movements. They were emotionally resonant but at the same time sharp, soft as well as strong. The work might be called contemporary dance, but it is impossible to find such a fascinating contemporary dancer. Even her make - up, which imitated Kabuki’s Kumadori, was very seductive.

It is natural that the character of the woman reminds us of the Siren in Balanchine’s Prodigal Son, because she is the incarnation of the seductive snake in "Musume - Dojoji", on which the pas de deux wag based.

Ananiashvili performed the woman wonderfully, especially when she became a snake. Her hands talked her love, her desire, and her destiny. At the end of the pas de deux, she lay down and held the palm of her hand up on her head and moved her hand as if it itself was alive. At this moment I shivered. It was so beautiful that I thought it might match the last scene of Fokine’s The Dying Swan.

It is our happiness to be able to see such a splendid performance by Ananiashvili, and it is our duty to applaud Ratmansky, who brought out the hidden talent in Ananiashvili for contemporary dance.