Moscow Ballet Showcases Its Discipline

Dancing to tape at the Probst Center in Thousand Oaks, the 8-year-old Moscow Festival Ballet displayed uniformly excellent training and coaching in a four-part program that kept emphasizing exactly what the company doesn’t have: world-class star power.

Unfortunately, you could argue that star power is the only justification for restaging Anton Dolin’s feeble “Le Pas de Quatre” (created for four of the greatest ballerinas of the 19th century) or Alberto Alonso’s inept “Carmen Suite” (a dance-drama formerly owned by both Alicia Alonso and Maya Plisetskaya).

Certainly the exemplary skill and care of casts led by the versatile Elena Radchenko (as Taglioni and Carmen) proved insufficient in these two problematic personality vehicles on Thursday. Only Alexei Kremnev as Don Jose delivered technical and emotional fireworks with enough magnetism to be wholly satisfying, and he looked even more impressive in the evening’s triumph: a large-scale suite from Marius Petipa’s “Paquita.”

With Anna Reznik exuding steely nobility in the title role and Maya Fedchenko looking far more authoritative in the final showpiece solo than when playing Destiny in “Carmen,” this sampling of Imperial Russian classicism made the company’s heritage and capabilities seem equally glorious. The lone male in this version, Kremnev soared with ardor and elegance, but ultimately the performance was a radiant collective achievement.

Executed with diligence but little flair by Tatiana Andreyeva and Vitaly Zabelin, Nicholas Benozoff’s “Esmeralda” completed the program. Besides Radchenko, the stylish “Pas de Quatre” cast included Natalia Kungurtseva, Maria Filipenko and Marina Alexandrova. In “Carmen,” Vladimir Gusev none too securely danced Escamillo.

* Moscow Festival Ballet repeats this program tonight at 8 in the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive. On Sunday at 2 p.m., the company dances the complete “Giselle” in Cerritos. Tickets: $10 (students) to $55. (800) 300-4345.