DON QUIXOTE -- Moscow Festival Ballet

Saint Mary's University of Minnesota School of the Arts
Page Series
dir: Sergey Radchenko
principal dancers: Grigorieva, Olga Tchemalina, Marianna Usina, Goukhar, Daev, Alexander Kazatsky, Anatholiy
soloist dancers: Alexy Lisitsin, Viacheslav Aksenov, Galina Glovanova, Andrey Chudin, Maria Barkova, Maria Socolnikova, Victoria Krakhmaleva, Alexander Rupishev, Anna Nekhlyudova, Yan Samigullin, Ekaterina Egorova, Alexander Pinugin, Maria Klueva, Irina Ivanova, Elena Khorosheva, Almaz Kalel, Timur Kinzikeev, Andrey Tarchokov, Yulia Kormishkina, Alina Dokuchaeva, Evgeniya Matyushina, Yulia Gridina, Yulia Proshkina, Victoria Kershis, Denis Sdvizhkov, Ivan Kaoitorov, Juhko Tanaka, Evleniya Sukhareva, Sofia Tomilina, Vitaly Zabelin, Denis Morozov, Taliana Suetina, Oksana Bondareva, Dmitriy Dmitriev
music: Leon Minkus
choreography: Marius Petipa
choreographers: Yurly Vetrov & Maria Bilova
sets: Lev Solodovnikov
costumes: Lev Solodovnikov
light designer: Maria Borodina

The Classical Ballet, as performed by the touring Russian company.

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It was rather fortuitous that I got to see this ballet. I'd wanted to go but hadn't gotten around to getting tickets, and then it was sold out. The morning of the show, however, I received a call from an old friend who said that she had an extra ticket and would I like to see it. Turns out that my friend had the prime, center seats, usually reserved for the university's president.

I enjoyed the ballet quite a bit (though I'm not at all sure what the hell it has to do with the story of Don Quixote) -- unlike many ballets which have graceful, slow-moving sections in which women in tutu's dance lithely around, this show was filled with a fair amount of men dancing. And quite frankly I enjoy the strength of male ballet dancing much more than the female dancing in most ballets I've seen.

Again, I'm not sure how anyone could possibly see that this is based in any way on Cervantes' classic novel, other than by having Don Quixote wander through each scene (yes, the character was there, but he never actually danced at all).

The dancers all seemed to be strong, though so many of them looked incredibly young, and as my friend pointed out, they were probably students out on their first tour.

The scenery was stunning and very ambitious for a small traveling company.

Over all, a really great experience and well worth attending.