BALLET
WHEN the Moscow State Dance Company's season was first announced, one really did not know just what to expect. A troupe of folk dancers, all of whom were women, sounded a rather unpi omising affair. On the oth.r hand it seemed most unlikely that the Bcryozka Ensemble would be toured abroad unless it were up to the mewed standards, and that these standards &melded respect was something wh.ch we learnt last year when two groups of Soviet artists gave performances in London.
In the first few moments after the rise of the curtain, it was aln ady certain that an unusual and enchanabg • evening wi.s in store. Behind me a voce whispered, "This is wonderful, but can they keep it up?" as, circLng round the stage, wlnding, sepal ating and re-uniting, they travelled—seem ngly without movement--as One person; givaig themselves up, as it wc. e, freely and joyfully to some voice of instruction from a far distant planet. Without pause or hitch, against simple black curtains and to the accompaniment of three accordions, these thirty beautiful girls passed from one folk dance to another with such gaiety and charm as no audience could w.thstand: Beryozka, The Chain, The Swan and Northern Dance of the leisurely, rhythmic, patterned type, so freshly observed and so excellently contrived that the simplest effects appeared quite magical; Troika and The Merry-go-Round brilliantly attained suggestions; and Rustic Polka and The Lady Killer irresistible for their youthful hamour and fun. All these dances are quite unlike anything we have yet seen in this country. Their roots are in traditional folk dances but they have been arranged for stage presentation by Nadezhda Nadezhdina; a former ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow whose only lapse of taste was the Dance of Soviet Youth. Yes, these dancers certainly did 'keep it up' right though the evening, so that one left the theatre with a feeling of exhilaration and freshness and a great awareness of how impor- tant a part the quality of femininity had played this typical aspect of Russian art.
LILLIAN BROWSE
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