Some dancers are so virtuosic, with such eye-popping moves and commanding charisma, that they dominate whole ballets. Lay waste might be a better description for Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev, at least when they dance Don Quixote which they obliterated on Friday night.
The pair were notionally dancing the lead roles in the Spanish themed story-ballet, she the spirited Kitri who loves the penniless Basil, only for her father to insist she marry the rich but improbable Gamache. The lovers escape, make merry, and are happily united by the wandering Knight Don Quixote who ensures that all ends well.
This admittedly slight story-line has long been a vehicle for bravura dancers to show off their skill but Osipova and Vasiliev redefine the rule.
Force of nature doesn’t begin to describe them or to convey their abilities. Both are compact dancers, small by ballet’s diminutive standards, and emphatically muscular, Vasiliev especially so. Osipova has lightning footwork and can spin like a top, with multiple pirouettes sandwiching endless fouettes.
Her jaw-dropping moves egg on Vasiliev, who nonchalantly knocks off pretzel-shaped jumps and scissoring leaps for which the ballet books have yet to find names. The audience let out stunned gasps and incredulous cheers as the duo out-did each other in speed and daring. Inevitably, every other dancer, along with the plot, music, and even the gorgeous costumes, paled in comparison. Few in the audience will remember Kitri’s father, or Gamache. Even Don Quixote faded. Indeed, you half suspect the rest of Bolshoi consciously decided to take the evening easy, dancing prettily while accepting their framing function to the other-league leads.
One or two conveyed a hint of froideur, with Maria Allash’s super-restrained Queen of the Dryads surely a balletic rolling of the eyes at the extravagantly showy Osipova and Vasiliev. Arguably, they could tone things down a little, and concentrate more on character and less on pyrotechnics, although that seems unlikely.
Special mention to Nina Kaptsova as a classically elegant Cupid, Anna Balukova as a compelling Mercedes, and Anastasia Yatsenko as an alluring Street Dancer.
The Bolshoi Ballet: Don Quixote
Royal Opera House
Floral Street, WC2E 9DD
