Dance Review by David Blewitt

RAYMONDA

Raymonda is a ballet choreographed by the great Marius Petipa in his 80th year and first presented at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg. The tenuous narrative tells how the crusading Jean de Brienne saves his true love Raymonda (of Chateau de Doris!) from abduction by the villainous Saracen Abderakhman.

Cue for lengthy Hungarian divertissement to celebrate nuptials.

The ballet has undergone various revisions since its first performance. The version which the Bolshoi brought to the Coliseum was a 1984 restaging by the erstwhile artistic director Yuri Grigorovich. It was delightful and more than a trifle camp. It boasts splendid pas de deux and a whole series of fine dances which allowed company members fully to display their talents.

Glazunov’s score glows with a wealth of succulent melody, some of it sounding remarkably modern (a three/four waltz which Samuel Barber might have written for Souvenirs), and pastiche numbers aplenty, which the Bolshoi orchestra, under Alexander Sotnikov, relished to the full...

Nina Ananiashvili was an assured and fearless Raymonda, poised on point, her sense of line impeccable, the leaps and turns executed with a security and grace which allowed for legion subtly - expressive rubatos which never undermined the rhythmic momentum.