Worldwide Reviews
Irish Press, Dublin, Ireland, 1994
Page 3 of 4
Worldwide Reviews
Irish Press, Dublin, Ireland, 1994
Page 3 of 4
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They came... they conquered ... they returned. The Russians have heard of our love of ballet and not one but two of the world's
are now in the country.
At Dublin's National Concert Hall, the Moscow Festival Ballet last night started a two-night run. On the other side of the Liffey, the Bolshoi Ballet will be on stage at The Point from tonight until Saturday. For the young Moscow Festival Ballet, the Irish performances come at the end of a tiring five-week British tour. On the road since April 29, the 27 member troupe visited a total of 14 British cities before they arrived in Dublin yesterday for the final leg of their tour. Both performances in Ireland are sold out. The Moscow Festival Ballet is accompanied by one of the leading prima ballerinas of the Kirov Ballet, Lubov Kunakova. The dancers arrived in Ireland at noon yesterday but had only a few hours to settle into yet another city before they once again laced up their dancing slippers. By 5 pm, they were backstage at the NCH going through their paces before the curtain went up at 8 pm. |  Moscow dancers Anna Reznik and Alexei Kremnev go through their paces at the final dress rehearsal before last night's show. |
Their exercises seemed more punishing for the spectator than the dancers as they stretched their muscles and twisted their limbs Into bone-crunching contortions.
. The delicate women, with their hair pulled from their fine-boned faces manipulated their tiny frames like elastic.
The two-hour show involves a programme which differs on both nights. Last night, they performed Act 2 of Swan Lake and extracts from Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty and Carnival of Venice. .
Tonight's programme includes Act 2 of Giselle and extracts from The Nutcracker and Esmerelda.
The Moscow Festival Ballet was the first ballet company to be formed after Perestroika. Set up in 1989 by its artistic director Sergei Radchenko, this is its third visit to Ireland.
And while Irish audiences adore Russian ballet, we have won fans
onstage.
Speaking of Irish audiences, Mr. Radchenko remarked: 'They are always very gay and I like that very much. I like Ireland very much," he beamed.