Capitol Theatre, Sydney, August 15
Anna Karenina has all the ingredients for a perfect ballet - an elegant heroine torn between lovers, high society balls and inescapable tragedy. Combine these with Tchaikovsky’s stirring score and you would expect the Russian Eifman Ballet to present perfection.
Boris Eifman has been named amongst Russia’s most visionary choreographers. Anna Karenina was certainly something different, a two-act narrative utilising Eifman’s signature amalgamation of ballet and modern techniques. Such quirky choreography was brilliant in ensemble sections depicting wealthy gatherings or drunken military parties, but in solos or pas de deux it appeared ridiculously melodramatic and utterly failed to convey the struggle and grief of the main characters.
There were also problems with the execution. Fumbles were so frequent I began to question the flooring, and there were so many floppy feet I wondered if this was a strange stylistic choice. All the dancers were undoubtedly flexible and strong, but the unison was out of sync, the performance quality veered towards over-the-top and the transitional steps were careless.
However, there were some highlights. The end sections are the best of the work, beginning with Anna’s descent into madness. Her coiling, anguished body is replicated across the stage as identically dressed female dancers join her, creating mirror images that move in and out of the light and give a strong sense of schizophrenia. Then there’s the suicide scene, in which Anna’s lonely form hovers high above the stage. The pounding music and accompanying frenzied unison movement build in intensity as a blinding light grows behind Anna before she drops suddenly into darkness.
The ballet generally gets stronger as it progresses, with one of the best pas de deux performed at the end of Act 1 between Anna and her husband (Oleg Markov). Nina Zmievets was spectacularly limber as Anna, and the simple, pure choreography of this pas de deux as the couple danced around a bed, falling off it and being caught, was engrossing. It perfectlycommunicated the torture of a relationship breaking apart. A similarly fluid pas de deux between Anna and her lover (Oleg Gabyshev)in Act 2 was another highlight.
Despite a strong finish, sporadic highlights and clever stagecraft, there is no escaping that the work largely consisted of bizarrely choreographed solos and clunky pas de deux punctuated by the odd chorus section. It’s a shame, because Anna Karenina deserves its reputation as one of the great stories of our time.
- EMILINE FORSTER