‘The Bolshoi Classical Collection’ Serves Up a Light Meal

Once McDonald’s restaurants had been established in Russia, it was perhaps just a matter of time before the Russians would reciprocate by sending us fast-food versions of ballet.

The latest not-very-nourishing fare comes from a subgroup of the Bolshoi Ballet (the main company is touring in Japan) called “The Bolshoi Classical Collection,” which came to Copley Symphony Hall in San Diego over the weekend.

Saturday night’s program was sold out at very high prices ($75 a ticket for a good seat) and offered the standard ballet smorgasbord fare: flashy pas de deux, a dying swan (unsentimentally effective as danced by Olga Suvorova) and bits of “Don Quixote”--a mishmash of a suite arranged by Bolshoi Theatre director Vladimir Vasiliev from the Alexander Gorsky version.

The dancing was sometimes uneven and uninspired, but there were a few bangs for the buck.

The Bolshoi has always been very big on bangs, so this group of 24 dancers kept up that particular tradition with one-handed overhead lifts in the “Spartacus” pas de deux; 32 fouette turns in “Don Quixote” and in the “Le Corsaire” pas de deux.

But there was little of substance in this diminished Bolshoi. As Kitri, Elena Andrienko tossed off high kicks while her partner, Yuri Klevtsov, aced a particularly impressive leap that verged on pole vaulting, but the two couldn’t kindle a spark. For each flash of drama in the piece (as Mercedes, Yulia Malkhasyants caught fire), there were dead spots or a spate of cape-whirling that could induce nausea.

As well as seeming undercoached, these dancers may also be underchallenged by the choreography, especially the stolid Soviet-style stagings--Vasiliev’s “Torelli Pas de Deux” made you long for the clarity of Balanchine, and Vasiliev’s finale was painfully piecemeal and vainglorious.

Two works were most satisfying dramatically. Michel Fokine’s “Spectre de la Rose” was brought to life by the enchanting Dmitry Goudanov. He sailed through the air or merely felt the breeze with fluid romantic finesse, evoking photos of Nijinsky, who first fascinated Parisian audiences with the role in 1911.

A more radical Russian experimentalist who followed Fokine (in the ‘20s) was Kasian Golezovsky, whose work is rarely seen here. Dancing in his “Narcissus,” Gennady Yanin was impressive as the puckish character who gets lost in his own reflection.

A tiny orchestra (with electric keyboards!) accompanied, seemingly augmented by tape and miked so that music was delivered through speakers in any event.

Ironically, the presenters, the La Jolla Chamber Music Society, evidently still privileged the music over the dancing--biographies for composers were provided in the program, while information about choreographers, dancers and works was missing.

Fast-food ballet--this is what the Bolshoi has come to.