US Newspaper Reviews
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Giselle touring with the Moscow Festival Ballet
In Charleston, SC 1997
Charleston Post and Courier Review

Page 1 - Swan Lake 1997 Cincinnati Ballet	Page 2 - Swan Lake 1997 Cinncinnati Ballet	Page 3 - Giselle Moscow Festival Ballet in New York, NY	Page 4 - Giselle Moscow Festival Ballet in Charleston, SC
Page 5 - Giselle Moscow Festival Ballet in Los Angeles, CA	Page 6 - Giselle Moscow Festival Ballet in Naples, FL	Page 7 - Giselle Moscow Festival Ballet in Phoenix, AZ

By Dottie Ashley
Charleston Post and Courier
1997

The dancers in the Moscow Festival Ballet spoke to the soul through the body, performing a magnificent "Giselle" as part of-the Charleston Concert Association's series on Saturday night.

In fact, it was a shame that all of Charleston could not have taken advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the dancers from the two great Russian ballets, the Bolshoi and the Kirov, exhibit the style that made Russia the genesis for great ballet artists such as Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova.

Certainly the crowd that filled about 90 percent of Gaillard Auditorium's 2,732 seats enthusiastically showed its appreciation for the dancers' expertise with spontaneous applause following the difficult extended toe-hops and enormous jetes and dramatic tours en l'air.

"Giselle," first performed by the Paris Opera in 1841, has music by Adolphe Adam and choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. In this version. Sergei Radchenko, 'former principal dancer for the Bolshoi Ballet and founder and artistic director of the Moscow Festival Ballet, has assembled dancers from every part of Russia, some of them Asian, to present a seamless corps de ballet.

Saturday's production starred the petite and darkly beautiful Anna Reznik in the title role, and Alexei Kremnev, handsome, blond and Nordic-looking, as Count Albrecht.

"Giselle" is a story of heartbreak and love that reaches beyond the grave. Set in a Rhineland village, it tells of a young peasant girl, Giselle, who falls in love with Albrecht, a count who deceives her by telling her he is a man named Loy from a neighboring village.

When the truth of Albrecht's identity is revealed and Giselle learns he is engaged to a high-born lady, she goes insane and kills herself on his sword. Dancing her madness, Reznik tears her hair and grieves for Albrecht. Beginning with dainty bourrees, Reznik builds to multiple pirouettes and leaps of desperation as she combines dance and drama.

The ballet's second act tells, of the Wilis, who are are ghosts of young girls who have been jilted and killed themselves. As revenge, they dance to death any man who crosses their paths between midnight and dawn. As the ghost of Giselle tries to save Albrecht from such a fate, the two were stunning as partners and were complemented by the talented corps de ballet.

Most interesting was Vyachesalv Aksenov in the role of Giselle's former suitor, Hilarion. Wearing silver tights and suede Cossack boots, Aksenov brought the kind of drama to the stage that reminded this reviewer of that the late Russian dancer Alexander Godunov, who performed "The Moor's Pavane" at the Spoleto Festival USA in the 1980s.

The production also featured gorgeous sets with embroidered scrims depicting a mountain scene, and beautiful costumes.

It is wonderful that director Radchenko is attempting to save the remarkable essence of Russian dance, despite the chaos that exists for artists today in that country. The Bolshoi Theatre building may be crumbling, but the dance lives on.