St. Petersburg Theatre Russian Ballet – Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. January 13, 2018.

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre.  Upper Circle (Seat G16, HK$400).

Cast. Odette/Odille – Anna Voitina/Natalia Potekhina; Prince Siegfried – Aleksandr Voitin; Rothbart – Andrei Provotorov/Daniil Sanzonov; Jester – Robert Makhiyanov/Sviatoslav Gaevoi.

Choreography (1895 version) by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.

Anne and I were in Hong Kong for a few days, mostly because we couldn’t pass up this bargain airfare on United.  There were not that many concerts during our stay, so we decided a ballet would foot the bill.

Many years ago we were on a cruise which stopped at St. Petersburg, and one of the shore excursion activities we did was to see a ballet.  I vaguely recall “Kirov,” but not sure if it was the name of the theatre or the ballet corps.

To answer the questions in my mind as I try to write this, I went to Wikipedia. Kirov Ballet, formed in 1740, is now known as Mariinsky Ballet, and is the resident ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre.  Russian Ballet was formed in 1994, by an “entrepreneur” (per Wiki), thus quite young by comparison.

One of the reasons I thought this was a good event was it was Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, so at least I could enjoy the performance.  On that I was disappointed.  The music was fine, except it was taped, and the sound system was not the best.  So it was like listening to a CD being played in an auditorium.  At least they should provide some information about which orchestra did the taping.

This, and the simple set, probably caused my initial reaction that this was at best a tolerable event.

I had to say my attitude improved as I got over these disappointments.  I began to appreciate the athleticism, artistry, and precision that ballet dancers have.

While there weren’t any scenes that were particularly memorable, I do want to note a few of them.  The dance by the “baby swans” was quite hilarious, and the young dancers (I assume they were, we were too far back to really tell) did well.  I counted about 30 fouettes in the “famous” scene, which was quite impressive.  Finally, no one needed to die to break Rothbart’s spell, so very young people can come see this production, which was abridged to a bit less than 2 hours.

Curtain Call.  I was quite sure Odette and Odille were performed by two separate dancers, now I wonder if that was correct as only Odette was on stage.

Indeed, the age limit for this event was 3.  It is inhumane to ask a 3-year old to sit still for a 2 hour performance.  Indeed the young girl sitting in front of me couldn’t stay still.  I finally had to tap on her mother’s shoulder when her arm waving became too distracting.

We tried to eat at a café before going to this ballet.  What Anne ordered should have come quickly, but somehow it took so long that we had to skip it.  And we only made the show with about 10 minutes to spare.

Overall, the experience was unexpectedly enjoyable.