The ballet “Marco Spada” returned to the Bolshoi Theatre. Review

After an eight-year hiatus, the Historical Stage of the Bolshoi Theater resumed Daniel Aubert’s Marco Spada, a three-act ballet by the late Pierre Lacotte, which premiered almost ten years ago (see “Kommersant” dated November 11, 2013). The morality of the production about the noble robber was appreciated Tatyana Kuznetsova.

Marco Spada is the second ballet, after The Pharaoh’s Daughter, staged by Pierre Lacotte at the Bolshoi Theatre. The signature French style of the choreographer in these two ballets is so distinct and similar that the audience tried not to show both productions in one season. However, nowadays, when performances by foreigners are disappearing from the repertoire of the Bolshoi due to the end of rental licenses, there is no time for diversity. Moreover, unlike most of his colleagues, Pierre Lacotte agreed without hesitation to the resumption of Marco Spada: the 91-year-old patriarch was not afraid of condemning the Western ballet world. However, the French assistants, with whom he staged the Moscow version of the ballet ten years ago, did not go to Russia. As a result, the ballet was resumed on their own, since the Bolshoi’s tutors did not have time to forget it, and the soloists who danced under Lacotte are in excellent shape to this day. The choreographer, who at one time meticulously selected the compositions, especially insisted that those whom he personally drilled perform at the premiere-resumption. Before the revival of his ballet, the author of Marco Spada did not live two months, and the ballet artistic director of the Bolshoi Mahar Vaziev did not fulfill his testament: on the first evening, three of the five main roles were danced by debutants.

Nothing to blame them. Both Eleanor Sevenard (Angela, daughter of a bandit) and Eva Sergeenkova (Marquise Sampietri, daughter of the governor) worked to the maximum of their abilities, and Arsenty Lazarev (Count Pepinelli), who moved to the Bolshoi from Yekaterinburg this year, danced perfectly. However, everyone struggled. First of all, technical. After all, the insidious French choreography – fast, agile, rhythmically uneven, with an emphasis on small, seemingly intermediate, steps – is just as alien to the Russian school as the grazing “r” is to the Russian language. Both ballerinas were absorbed by the correct pronunciation, especially since neither of them has a natural inclination for French vocabulary. Eleanor Sevenard, a bright brunette beauty with a temperament that erupted by the third act, would seem to be perfect for the role of a bandit’s daughter. However, with a confident rotation, the ballerina cannot boast of either a tenacious foot, or the speed of batteries, or the springboard sharpness of the jump, which are so necessary in the role of Angela. Her antipode – the marquise – is not so frisky. The party is dominated by graceful adagios; and long-legged Eva Sergeenkova with her expressive lifts was so sweet in them that one does not want to reproach the young ballerina for the insufficient amplitude of petit battements. But the marquise came out of her unconvincing: the image of a secular coquette is clearly alien to this shy creature.

The impeccable Arsenty Lazarev made his dragoon captain into a kind of slayer with sharp, somewhat puppet gestures. The interpretation is justified, although it is not clear how such a martinet captivated the heart of a sophisticated marquise. However, his rival – Prince Federici, who went over to Angela – performed by Semyon Chudin did not look more charming. A participant in ten-year-old performances with a luxurious rise and soft, obedient legs performed the French choreography wonderfully (except that he slightly failed on pirouettes in the second act), but as an actor he became somewhat rustic: perhaps he decided that an inflexible body and a lack of facial expressions were true signs of aristocracy.

The sprawling ensemble cast was held back only by the title character. Igor Tsvirko, who performed Marco Spada under Lacotte, deftly balanced on the fine line between sincerity and hypocrisy, without losing his sense of humor and presence of mind. With liveliness and temperament, he famously disguised the technical errors that are inevitable in such an anathematically difficult part (Rudolf Nureyev, on whom Lacotte staged this ballet in 1981 at the Rome Opera, demanded more and more new dances, so the role of Marco Spada is hung with variations, like a Christmas tree with toys) . And even the death of his hero, unexpected in such a lightweight ballet, he managed to carry out without excessive pathos.

With outward lightness and prettiness (drawn scenery depicting either palace halls, or mountain ranges, or a city square, as well as elegant bright costumes in which robbers are not easy to distinguish from townspeople, and commoners from society ladies, were created by Lacotte himself) “Marco Spada “- ballet is not easy, requiring grueling rehearsals not only solo, but also mass: although the corps de ballet here is deprived of its own voice and mainly plays the role of accompaniment, the artists perform the same combinations as the protagonists. The fruits of rehearsal work are clearly visible – both in the harmony of the rows, and in the disciplined uniformity of gestures and postures, and in the somewhat excessive seriousness with which the artists do their work. And which so distinguishes the renewed “Marco Spada” from the playful frivolity of the Moscow premiere ten years ago.