BALLET REVIEW : Semizorova, Vetrov in Shrine ‘Swan Lake’

Perhaps the only way to dance Yuri Grigorovich’s confused version of “Swan Lake” is to rise above it. Certainly, that’s what Bolshoi principal Nina Semizorova seemed to attempt on Wednesday in Shrine Auditorium.

Replacing Alla Mikhalchenko (out for the entire local Bolshoi engagement due to a reported ankle injury), Semizorova treated the ballet as a showpiece, subordinating its inconsistently defined dramatic content to displays of the purest classicism.

Exemplary for her refinement, she danced each of her scenes as one continuous statement, allowing no hint of effort, technical difficulty or expressive distortion to break the flow.

If her Odette looked a shade courtly, and her Odile a mite reckless, such distinctions mattered less than Semizorova’s ability to center her performance on dancing the steps rather than issues of interpretation. In speed and attack she may have appeared less the conventional Swan Queen a la Russe than a born neoclassical dancer, but her skill and authority remained superb.

Opposite Semizorova, the normally intense and flamboyant Alexander Vetrov looked decidedly uncomfortable with the princely posturings and partnering responsibilities of Siegfried. However, he compensated with solo dancing of exceptional power. In particular, Vetrov shaped and modulated his jumps so brilliantly that his smooth motion through the air created an illusion of impossible slowness, even suspension. In the past, Vetrov might have been burned at the stake for such a jump; on Wednesday, however, he merely brought down the house.

Otherwise, this second Bolshoi “Swan Lake” of the season relied on the same principals and soloists as the previous night. Algis Zhuraitis conducted.