Illusory well-being

Benois de la danse was presented at the Bolshoi Theater

The prize, invented sixteen years ago, has lately inspired a strange sense of well-being in the ballet kingdom. It would seem that they ate the artistic director there, but there they only intend to; These went on tour unsuccessfully; their best work of the season managed to go completely unnoticed by the Golden Mask jury. And the Benois evenings come, and local problems shrink to their natural scale, a small scale in the global context. “Benoit”, which once proclaimed itself the “Oscar of Ballet” (and at the beginning this caused a grin), covering the entire globe with its gaze and handing out its awards to artists from different continents, gives a feeling of being included in the big world. In which - once again you can be convinced - everything is in order with the ballet.

There are also choreographers, and of the four nominees (David Bintley, who choreographed “Cyrano” at the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Kirk Peterson — “Othello” at the Canadian Atlanta Ballet, Ana Maria Stekelman — “Farewell, Cruel Brother” at the Argentine Ballet, Jean- Christophe Maillot - "Faust" at the Monte Carlo Ballet) the jury chose the latter. “Benoit” traditionally supports and includes full-scale and plot-based performances in its nominations, which looks like some kind of challenge to the global fashion for one-act, plotless works that has existed for several decades. This is a valiant, but dangerous policy: the “big” ballet can achieve tremendous success, but it also fails with a thunderous crash. At “Benoit” there were choreographic compositions that were obviously taken out for the sake of the format, but this year the jury’s choice did not raise any doubts in anyone’s mind. “Faust” was not seen in Russia (let’s hope they haven’t seen it yet), and it wasn’t shown at the “Benoit” concert either (the duet from Monte Carlo danced a fragment from Mayo’s previous premiere, “The Sleeping Beauty”) - such are the customs “ Benois” that the awarded performers often do not perform what they were awarded for, but the Monte Carlo Ballet not so long ago brought “Cinderella” on tour, and there are enough of their works on the video market. Jean-Christophe Maillot has a light hand and an iron design grip; his performances are smelted from a mixture of classics and modernity. Outwardly a grinning cynic, inside a subtle poet, Mayo knows how to listen to music and knows how to command it; and inspires hope that “big” classical dance has a future.

Benoit considers work for a year, not a season, and five ballerinas were nominated for roles made in 2007. Alas, there was not a single Russian among them, but the class of the competitors was such that even questions about this did not arise. Of course, Cecilia Figaredo from the Argentine Ballet, which is much more “tailored” to tango, stands out somewhat from the general series, but the rest of the four are high-class dancers. Eleonora Abbagnato was nominated for her role in Proust (Paris Opera), Gillian Murphy for Titania in The Dream (American Ballet Theatre), Silvia Azzoni for the title role in The Little Mermaid (Hamburg Ballet) and star of the English Royal ballet Tamara Rojo - for concert performances in Naples. As a result, the prize was divided into two - the laureates were Azzoni, demonstrating the absolute flexibility of all limbs and creating a real illusion of a mermaid's tail on stage, and Rojo, who once again confidently declared that lyrics are nothing, technique is everything. That is, everything is correct: the traditional “internal” division into white and black swans works, and both “white” and “black” ballerinas were awarded.

There were also five dancers: Denis Matvienko (for his role in “The Lady of the Camellias,” staged by Asami Maki at the New National Theater in Tokyo), Lucas Oliva (Argentine Ballet, “Farewell, Cruel Brother”), Yuri Smekalov (for the role of Trigorin) were nominated in Eifman's The Seagull), Marcelo Gomez (for two roles at the American Ballet Theater) and Carlos Acosta (for Spartacus, which he danced at the Bolshoi Theater). Gomez and Acosta were awarded, that is, the jury was inspired in both cases by the catchy “American” dance. On tour in Moscow (and then going with the Bolshoi Theater to Paris), Acosta raised the audience in applause with stunning stunts, excitement, and a plastic victorious “scream”; apparently, the chairman of the jury of “Benoit” Yuri Grigorovich really liked that forty years ago “Spartacus” " and composed it. To your reviewer, Acosta's Spartacus seems too one-dimensional, just a slave rushing at the oppressor, happily killing his enemies. Two dancers - Vladimir Vasiliev once, Dmitry Belogolovtsev now - made and are making this role subtler, smarter and more psychological. But since Grigorovich likes Acosta, does that mean he himself didn’t have anything more complicated in mind?

But the set designers were not awarded this year - according to the jury, there were no outstanding works. Well, in the end, ballet can exist without scenery. The main thing is that there is someone to stage and dance these ballets, which is what “Benoit” noted.

Anna GORDEEVA