DANCE REVIEW : Ivanova Offers a Cold ‘Nutcracker’ at Pavilion

There’s a moment in the Kirov Ballet “Nutcracker” when the unidentified corps member playing the Nutcracker soldier is replaced during a blackout with the principal cast as the Prince. That moment proved equally momentous in the performance by Veronica Ivanova, Sunday afternoon at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Before the blackout, Ivanova worked artfully to give the character of Masha spirit and variety. Afterward, however, she suddenly adopted a glazed prima ballerina hauteur and danced the rest of the ballet as if it excluded any possibility for human warmth, much less emotion.

Appearing with previously reviewed colleagues, Ivanova brought to the role perfect placement and refined technique, often producing ravishing effects--among them an airborne arch of back as she jumped into the arms of each of the five cavaliers in what should be the grand pas de deux.

However, her unyielding approach to the role reflected itself in the hard pointe shoes that clattered throughout her Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Can a dancer be considered musical when her pointes prove louder than the accompaniment?

Ivanova also had her share of misfortune: Her partner, Victor Baranov, dropped her during the shared lifts of that five-man adagio and, in the final scene, when she grabbed her little Nutcracker doll, its head came off. But fundamentally, this is a dancer who makes her own bad luck.