US Newspaper Reviews
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Touring with the Moscow Festival Ballet
In Naples, FL 1997
Naples Daily News 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	Page 8 - La Fille Mal Gardee Ballet Tech Ohio	Page 9 - La Fille Mal Gardee Ballet Tech Ohio

Corinne Dunne
Naples Daily News
1997

By leaps and bounds, the Moscow Festival Ballet, composed of 50 of Russia's finest young dancers, is crossing America on a cultural caravan that stopped at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts on Monday and Tuesday.

Monday night's program ' featured a fulllength version of "Giselle.

The work that every prima ballerina longs to dance is set to rather banal music by Adolphe Adam (1803-1856) and to melodramatic l9th-century mime and choreography by Jean Coralli (17791854) and Jules Perrot (1810-1882.)

"Giselle," like "La Sylphide" and "Swan Lake," is either considered a poetic masterpiece by those who love the tutu and toe shoe repertoire or an old chestnut by balletomanes who prefer to tune into the energy and freedom of contemporary dance.

The principal dancers of the Moscow Festival Ballet, chosen from the Kirov, Bolshoi or other prestigious companies in Russia, have technique to burn. They use the air the way mortals use the ground. They also are completely comfortable using the language of mime. Heartclutching and pointing dreamily to distant horizons can appear unbearably dated and hammy when not performed with the Russians' stylistic acumen.

The plot of Giselle revolves around a romantic yearning for the unattainable. Giselle, an innocent peasant girl, is driven to madness and death because of her love for Count Albrecht, a cad who woos her even though Giselle loves Albrecht beyond the grave and even saves him from the vengeful Wilis, the spirits of maidens who died on their wedding night. If you can ignore the creaky plot, the dancing is quite marvelous.

Alexei Kremnev, who dances Albrecht, not only has elegance and impressive bearing, he can change the shape of a leap in mid-air and can execute a stream of beats and cabrioles as if they were child's play. His partnering is fluid and effortless. He was convincing as he was transformed from playboy to penitent by love and grief.

Reznik's Giselle conveys the very ideal of innocence and sweetness with her airy and ephemeral dancing. She demurely runs and flies across the stage as she opens to life and love. She is the very ideal of 19th century purity. She is even convincing when she goes mad with grief, which can be hilarious and easily parodied if not acted with stylistic truth.

Vyacheslav Aksenov as Giselle's rejected admirer and Natalia Somonova as Bathilde do not have much to do but gesture dramatically, but the caliber of all the dancers and chorus made me eager to see what they can do with other choreography.

Tuesday's program included "Pas De Quatre," the Pas de Deux from "Esmeraida," "Paquita,".and the "Carmen Suite."