The new production carefully preserves the style of the British classic Frederick Ashton / Stas Levshin

The Mikhailovsky Theatre fell victim to the Anglomania that has engulfed leading Russian ballet companies in recent seasons. Fortunately, the choice of the chief choreographer Mikhail Messerer fell on "Vain Precaution", so successfully conceived and tailored at its birth in 1789 that its numerous variations have not left the stage to this day. In the last 60 years, Ashton's version has been the most popular. The English classic, taking on the story of peasant love that overcomes the machinations of an enterprising mother, tried to preserve the French accent in his ballet. The dances around the Maypole, the wooden saboteurs, the scenes in which the young peasant Lisa dreams of her future family life, her appearance in the arms of her beloved Colin when the villagers have gathered to sign her wedding contract with the village idiot Alain, seem to have been copied from the first director of La Fille Mal Gardée, the courtly Jean Dauberval. The English contribution, however, is also easy to recognize: the solo of the Rooster, cutting the entrechat, the graceful arching of the Hen's instep in the dance, the dashing tap dance of Mother Simone and all her delicious pantomime migrated to the ballet from the English dramatic theater.

But the delightful lightness of this "Vain Precaution" contains anathema to professional difficulties. Therefore, an authentic bearer of the style, Michael O'Hare, was brought to St. Petersburg for the production, and a recording of the performance made during Ashton's lifetime was found in the archives of British television, allowing us to restore the original details of the production that were lost over time.

However, these changes, at least from the point of view of a non-bearer of the style, are cosmetic. Much more important is that Mikhailovsky's production preserves everything that has made this "Vain Precaution" already a place in the history of ballet. The corps de ballet is still having a hard time coping with the lace of its combinations, and the performers of the secondary pantomime roles that usually adorn Ashton's version lack brightness. But they all come out on stage with such enthusiasm and dedication that they allow us to hope for the continuation of the development of the unusual style. Moreover, the theater has provided this "Vain Precaution" with soloists who guarantee its long-term well-being. For the role of Simone, Messerer invited Nikolai Tsiskaridze, who had already distinguished himself with a gorgeous female role - the Fairy Carabosse in "Sleeping Beauty". Now, after long months of administrative work, he finally got to the stage and portrayed the French young woman so deliciously that he almost overshadowed the main couple - Liza and Colin. Especially since Ivan Zaitsev, who was quite credible in the role of the rebellious proletarian Philippe in "The Flames of Paris", does not convince in his peasant origins. True, he reliably performs all the risky supports with which Ashton stuffed the duets. This helps Angelina Vorontsova a lot. Dapperly standing a long outline in an attitude, when only taut ribbons help her maintain her balance, quickly shooting a scattering of small steps and desperately sincerely depicting the love joys and sorrows of a French peasant girl, she seems to have found the role of her life.

Saint Petersburg

The peasant woman knows how to love