Bolshoi Gives a Rougher but More Expressive Second ‘Swan’

Small mistakes by the dancers, orchestra and technical crew added up to a rougher second performance of the Bolshoi Ballet’s “Swan Lake,” Thursday in Shrine Auditorium. However, the Swan Queen of Galina Stepanenko and the Siegfried of Sergei Filin gave the production an expressive power it had lacked with different principals on opening night.

Emphasizing lyric flow as Odette and an icy elegance as Odile, Stepanenko could command exquisitely soft, delicate bourrees in the lakeside acts and also risk a remarkably complex fouette combination in the ballroom scene. But perhaps her most memorable achievement was emotional: all those yearning reaches in the first lakeside scene and the depth of her despair in the last.

Filin proved a notably boyish Siegfried, technically strongest in turns but no virtuoso and not yet always easy at partnering. However, his growing rapport with Odette and his intensity from the betrayal in the ballroom scene to the end of the ballet established him as an artist of promise. As Rothbart, Sergei Bobrov also helped the weakly staged conclusion of the ballet seem as convincing as possible. Alexander Petuhov made an impish Jester and Alexander Kopylov was again the uncredited conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra.

* The Bolshoi Ballet dances “Don Quixote” tonight at 8 and Sunday at 2 p.m. The run closes with “La Sylphide,” Tuesday-Thursday. Shrine Auditorium, 649 W. Jefferson Blvd. Tickets: $30-$95. (213) 480-3232 or (888) BOLSHOI.