Poorly preserved score

Korean festival closed with French ballet

“A Vain Precaution,” brought to Moscow by the National Ballet Company of Korea, has marvelous scenery. The artist Jerome Kaplan, remembering the history of the creation of the ballet (in 1789, Paris Opera dancer Jean Dauberval saw an engraving on the wall of a tavern that inspired him to stage it), placed all the characters in the “engraving” space. Fine rendering of details, clear graphics and a light greenish (in the first act) or pinkish (in the second act) background - as if the print was made on noble paper. And the costumes of the heroes - quite “landscape”, quite colorful - are still not loud and fit perfectly into the landscapes and interiors.

The heroes themselves, who were called upon to put not an end, but downright an exclamation mark, in the program of the Korean Arts Festival, organized by the Stas Namin Center, could also be looked at with pleasure. On the tall, handsome Kim Hyun Ung, a young man, clearly by nature and training adapted to the role of counts and princes, but with pleasure and diligence portraying a poor farm laborer who is seeking the right to marry his beloved girl, whose mother predicts for her a groom who is incomparably richer and, undoubtedly, , less attractive. The humble worker is wearing a flirtatious striped vest, and the peasant's chiseled legs trace out all his movements with casual, royal precision. You can’t take your eyes off the “mama” - the role that is traditionally played by men in “A Futile Precaution” went to Chung Hyun Ok - and the luxurious clown in women’s rags danced dashingly on pointe shoes, clasped his hands like a real old auntie, and inspiredly launched spinning wheel. The men somewhat pushed the girl playing the main role into the shadows - Kim Joo Won performed her part carefully, but without brilliance; however, perhaps it was simply “not her game.” The plot assumes that the heroine is a charming and naive simpleton, secretly dreaming of having a bunch of children with her lover and almost fainting from the thought that these dreams of hers, spoken (danced) out loud supposedly in solitude, are heard by this same lover - sees. The ballerina, of course, portrays both naivety and embarrassment; but the rigidity of her training and iron self-confidence work against the role: the heroine’s manner of movement suggests that no one is capable of embarrassing her.

The corps de ballet performs wonderfully - harmoniously, musically, precisely (the male part of the ensemble is especially worth noting). And the performance could be considered an excellent start to the new ballet season, if not for one “but”: the choreography.

It is clear that nothing remains of Dauberval in those performances that are now staged all over the world under the general title La Fille mal gardee (in our country the ballet was established under the name “Vain Precaution”, although its premiere in Russian antiquity took place under the name tracing paper "The ill-kept daughter") The Parisian composed his ballet in Bordeaux to the music of French folk songs, then over the course of history they were replaced by the music of Peter Hertel, and in the twentieth century Frederick Ashton used the music of Louis Herold. There are many versions of “Vain Precaution”, only in Moscow there are currently performances by Ashton (at the Bolshoi) and Oleg Vinogradov (at the Musical), and no one makes any claims about authenticity to the authors of the original versions. But the authors of the performance brought to us (Philip Alonso and Samantha Dunster) confidently wrote Dauberval’s name on the poster and thus took on increased obligations.

Of course, we did not see anything similar to the ballet of the late 18th century (which did not yet know pointe shoes). We saw a game of court ballet (the characters wore twisted wigs), but flavored with quite modern (and well-executed!) technique. The directors took fragments of various versions of the play (they were most influenced by the acting Ashton) and added stylized pieces. They also chopped the music into okroshka - here comes Hertel, and then suddenly the Herald begins. Actually, even this would not be a crime (although sometimes sharp transitions hurt the ear), if not for Dauberval’s name on the poster. You should not pass off your own stylized fantasies as a work of the 18th century. The value is still not the same.

Anna GORDEEVA