In a quiet whisper

Novosibirsk Ballet at the Golden Mask

The little play that is participating in this year's mask competition was composed by Edward Liang and was first staged in Santa Fe. Therefore, apparently, the author is not in the category “Best Work of a Choreographer” - the expert council traditionally does not put a director on the shortlist if this director did not come up with this piece for this particular theater. Liang is one of the “new choreographers” of the New York City Ballet (in Russia, of the half-dozen dancers who began composing performances there in the last decade, only Christopher Wheeldon appeared, who staged “The Merciful” at the Bolshoi). Premier of the Mariinsky Theater Igor Zelensky, who once danced at NYCB, and a season and a half ago headed the Novosibirsk ballet, began decisively adding Balanchine performances to the repertoire. But, adding the “great past,” I decided not to forget about today. And Liang acts as an ambassador of post-Balanchine choreography in Siberia.

It is easier for the Novosibirsk troupe than Balanchine’s choreography (that same evening, out of competition, they showed “Serenade” and “Apollo Musagete”). Mr. B, as the creator and ruler of NYCB was called in the States, was a wonderful draftsman and geometrician, the lines of the corps de ballet in his performances must be harmonious and correct, the slightest deviation seems like the obscene sound of a cell phone heard during a service in the temple. But the Novosibirsk people are not able to reproduce this absolutely rigoristic harmony, and the point here is not only that there is not enough equipment (Zelensky will drill them over time - there is no doubt), but that the troupe is simply small. It is impossible to recruit one and a half dozen girls of the same height - and “Serenade,” which should flow in a dense wave and sway in a flat field, most of all resembles a fence assembled from scrap materials. The girls standing nearby - from tiny ones to giantesses - at their very first appearance make the audience smile, and not fall into prayerful awe.

And “Whisper in the Dark” does not require precise angles and a guard-like corps de ballet. Three couples take turns emerging from the darkness and having sliding, bending, affectionate duet-conversations to the music of Philip Glass from the suite “Waters of the Amazon.” The choreographer assures in the program that these are variations on the theme of Orpheus's journey to the underworld for Eurydice, but the ballet could exist without his explanations. It is clear that the man is alive, of flesh and blood, in his movements there is uncertainty that arises from traveling in the dark (and the entire performance is in semi-darkness, a kind of kingdom of shadows in the full sense of the word). And it is clear that the woman is already beyond the bounds, she moves so freely in this darkness, so flexible and no longer plastic in an earthly way. The dialogue is of remarkable beauty - a play with the echo of movements, with their reflections, memories of them. Six artists - Natalya Ershova, Anna Odintsova, Olga Telyupa, Roman Polkovnikov, Ilya Golovchenko, Andrey Matvienko - reproduce “Whisper” in halftones, with an excellent sense of proportion. None of the performers, alas, were nominated in private categories, but the jury always has two “free” ones in reserve that do not belong to the “Masks” nominations? It would be good if this fragile “Whisper” was not forgotten behind the loud (and glorious and beautiful) statements of other theaters.

Anna GORDEEVA