Dance Review by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin

MAGIC SPUN FROM SNOW

HOUSTON. Why would international dance critics representing Europe’s most important media along with some dozen or so equally powerful American dance critics have descended on Houston’s Wortham Center last week?

Simple: the world premiere of The Snow Maiden, the Houston Ballet’s amazing - and latest - instant classic. A full-length three-act story ballet created for and starring one of the world’s foremost Russian ballerinas, The Snow Maiden embodies all the spectacle, drama, originality and star power necessary for an immediate international hit.

Choreographed by Houston Ballet artistic director Ben Stevenson, featuring the acclaimed Bolshoi Ballet prima ballerina Nina Ananiashvili and co-starring Houston Ballet’s budding superstar Carlos Acosta, The Snow Maiden is an exuberant and touching version of a classic Russian folk tale.

The ballet tells of the beautiful fairy of snow and ice, Snegurochka, daughter of Father Frost, who falls in love with the handsome and aristocratic - and human - Misgir. Ignoring her father’s warnings, the Snow Maiden leaves her frozen forest home in pursuit of Misgir and romantic love, despite the fact that he is engaged to the feisty Coupava. In the springtime world of the humans, the Snow Maiden lures Misgir away from his bride only to have the warming of her heart melt her away in her lover’s arms.

Widely regarded as one of the foremost practitioners of classic Bolshoi technique, Ananiashvili, in her role as the Snow Maiden, firings a softness and contemporary expression that belies the formality usually associated with Russian classical ballet. Indeed, in what will no doubt be recorded as one of her signature roles, Ananiashvili unleashes her astounding talents as a singularly expressive dancer with great physical strength and enormous pyrotechnic abilities, all, of which she imbues with gentleness and grace.

Dancing the role of Misgir, the Cuban-born 21 years old Acosta, who has dazzled audiences with his bravura dancing since joining the Houston Ballet four years ago, turned in nothing less than a stellar performance with his magnificent jumps and unusual elegance.

A co-production of Houston Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre, with the two companies splitting the estimated $1.2 million production costs, The Snow Maiden will be presented as part of the American Ballet Theatre's spring 1998 season in New York in June...

Stevenson, who has been hailed as one of the most successful choreographers of full-length story ballets working in the United States today, easily tackles the challenge of imbuing an essentially century-old dance form with a fresh and contemporary appeal. In fact, in his 22 years with Houston Ballet, the British-born Stevenson has done nothing less than turn the company into one of the best in the country. Last season his full-length $1 million original production of Dracula premiered to enormous international success.

Indeed, Stevenson's choreography is fresh and imaginative and perfectly tailored to convey the complexity of character necessary for an enchanting evening of theatrical drama...