Dance Review by Marieluise Jeitschko

DEATH FOR LOVE WITH SLAVIC BRILLIANCE

Houston, Texas. The crowning achievement in a brilliant career: Bolshoi ballerina Nina Ananiashvili danced in Texas in Ben Stevenson’s world premiere production of The Snow Maiden. The Houston Ballet director had choreographed the title role specifically for this ballerina from... Georgia.

This week, only a few short days after her 34th birthday, the world premiere was held before a sold-out audience at the Brown Theater (2,200 seats). When she first appeared on stage beneath and icicle-laden tree, the Texan audience enthusiastically applauded the lady they have affectionately nicknamed "Nina ballerina". And they showered her with applause and a standing ovation after her touching death scene.

The score for the ballet was created by British conductor John Lanchbery based on music by P. Tchaikovsky for A. Ostrovsky’s play of the same title, enriched here and there with other musical compositions... The ballet began as a co-production with the American Ballet Theatre in New York, where Nina Ananiashvili had been regularly appearing as a guest ballerina since 1993. The New York premiere of The Snow Maiden will be at the Met in June...

Stevenson could not have picked a better part to give her than the role of the Ice Princess, since the graceful dark-haired ballerina began her artistic career on the ice. At the age on nine, she was the Junior Champion skater in Georgia. For the championship, she learned the legendary part of the dying swan. By the age of 17, Ananiashvili was already a soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet. The very next year, she celebrated her greatest artistic triumph as Odette/Odile. The audience in Hamburg applauded her performance for nearly 30 minutes.