Mary Clarke

THE BOLSHOI SEASON

...Their greatest star, their prima ballerina assoluta in the true meaning of the words..., appeared for the first time, as Nikiya in La Bayadere, on July 16 (she had been dancing in New York with ABT and in Tokyo). She is Nina Ananiashvili, long since loved and admired here, a once treasured guest with the Royal Ballet, and now absolutely at the peak of her powers. As actress and ballerina she now has beautiful maturity, complete command of her prodigious technique, and with an amazing turn of speed.

These qualities were even more evident in Raymonda which she danced on July 19.

...Ananiashvili’s Kitri is surely peerless. It is a gigantic role, not only brimful of virtuoso dancing but also, as she plays it, a character of delicious, ever changing moods. Serious or merry, loving or teasing, she has us at her pretty feet throughout, gasping with sheer delight at the audacity of some of the technical feats thrown off without a trace of fear or exhibitionism. In my many years of balletgoing, I do not think I’ve seen any dancing which could surpass this. She’s not only a Russian, in fact a Georgian treasure, she is an international treasure as well.

But Kitri, even Ananiashvili, can’t "carry" Don Quixote unless there’s tremendous support from the entire company.

And what a company the Bolshoi, in this ballet, in this season, proves to be. I mention Andrei Uvarov’s Basil, the Juanita and Pikilia of Svetlana Uvarova and Anastasia Iatsenko, Mercedes of Yuliana Malkhasyants, the outrageous Espada of Mark Peretokin and his entourage of toreadors, the gypsy dance of Svetlana Tigleva, the lovely variation by Maria Alexandrova but really I salute the entire company. And salute as well The Orchestra of The Bolshoi Theatre, its conductors, and its soloists.