Russian Ballet at Covent Garden
STAGE AND SCREEN The Ballet
Tins week's space is devoted to the dancers themselves. First a word about the principals other than Danilova and Baronova, of whom I have written already this year.. Massine himself shows no falling-off whatsoever. Few living men, if any, spare themselves less. His power to conquer fatigue is yet another art of which he is the maestro. On the technical side Lichine has sought new fields to conquer, and no greater tribute could be paid to one who has already established himself as an artist. I look forward to the ballet he will produce in August. Each year Riabouchinska dances better. Her lightness seems miraculous. The old demarcation between the terre-a-terre ballerina and the ethereal ballerina still holds, a distinction with which Gautier made great play when he put Ellsler in opposition to Taglioni and won- dered which of them he. preferred. Those dancers who excel in elevation, in lightness, in leaps, do not equally excel in turns and beats upon the ground, and vice versa. The distinction is both physical and psychological. Toumanova is the most marked terre-a-terre dancer of the company, Riabouchinska the most ethereal. Both in personality and technique Toumanova is more specialised than the others. Consequently I regret the occasions on which she leaves the ground often. She shines especially in the two Balanchine ballets, Cotillon and Concurrence, which were written for her and which doubtless have had a great influence on her style. (Incidentally, Cotillon is far better performed this year than heretofore.) These ballets capitalise (or perhaps they formed) the irregular rectangle, irregular because of a slight lift in the top left-hand corner as viewed by the spectators, which is the geometric figure that sums up her style of move- ment best. To my eye her movement, particularly of the head, repeatedly eonstructs.this, figure, imposes it upon the line of every dance that she performs.
There remains Verchinina. Her art is one of evenness, of gradual extension. Her geometric figure is the circle. Her art corrects in us right-handedness, left-handedness, so strong is the equality of power suggested by the revolution of her arms. As for the gradualness of those arms in their extension, however fast, also of her body, as for their cylindrical, their cylinder-like projection, I can but compare them to the in- comparable manner in which Nemtchinova stretches her leg when performing a developpe. Verchinina's art is probably a new phenomenon in ballet. Her arms possess that cylindrical Perfection of power achieved hitherto only by the most classical ballerinas with their legs. It is perhaps no co- incidence that Verchinina, an original and intelligent dancer, worked for some time With Nemtchinova.
During the last week or so Guerard has returned to a big role after a prolonged knee injury. He has the strongest technique among the men and he alone can perform as it should be performed in the first Blue-bird variation, the difficult entrechat-quatre ending with one leg coming forward and up. Guerard is American. Another American boy of the greatest promise is Platoff, who performs the suicide dance in Jardin Publique. Platoff today understudies Massine in the chief part of the new Berlioz ballet. Another " find " is the Russian Zoritch, possessor of a beautiful line. He bids fair to become the best male classical dancer of the company and is already seen to advantage in the Aurora's Wedding pas de trois. Among the younger girls, the English vanguard, Serova and Nelidova, have continued to improve and to gain parts.. Nelidova's Polotsvian Girl (Prince Igor) is an exceed- ingly good performance in most respects. I discern the possi- bilities of a glamorous future for Adrianova, an American girl, who sometimes performs the part of the dancer in blue costume in Chorearlium, also the first variation of Aurora's Wedding. She dances lightly and with feeling. Owing to injury, Shabelevsky has not so far this year been able to dance often. In conclusion, several young dancers have begun to make reputations and those already established have continued to improve. This is the most pleasing aspect of the De Basil Company today, the best augury of its future.
ADRIAN STOKES.
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