IMHO, Gayaneh is one of the best ballet music of the last
century.
VAI has issued the 1980 performance of
Katchaturian's Gayne - that's how they spell it! - performed by the
Latvian Opera and Ballet Company at the Bolshoi Theatre. I am not any different then most classical music lovers, have heard the
Sabre Dance more than once but never seen it performed. There was my chance!
It's not a star-studded performance, nothing innovative about the choreography, simply your run-of-the-mill classical ballet. The conductor
Alexander Viljumanis takes it at a brisk pace, which I thought was too fast, but the dancers managed to keep up with him in that super lively dance without hurting each other swinging and twirling those famous sabres. Enthusiastic open stage applause rewarded the dancers. Costumes are the present day skin-tight and crotch-watch-inviting outfits and the ladies have the usual legs up-to-here. Unfortunately the lighting and camera work was unsatisfactory, but the camera team at least kept the all important feet in view. - I have seen ballet videos where cameras cut the dancers off at their knees!
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The bonus selections are almost worth the DVD because there is a large segment of Gayne conducted by
Aram Khachaturian in 1964, plus the Adagio of Act II
Spartacus with
Maya Plisetskaya in 1971. That one was a stunner in more than one way. Plisetskaya is of course super, but I was stunned seeing her partner
Maris Liepa. His upper thighs were those of a wrestler, not a ballet dancer, and even Maya's legs were chubby. There is no comparison of the bodies of those two with the lithe artists of the Latvian company who all looked like suffering from bulimia. In almost forty years the preferred shape of dancers has changed that dramatically.
And so has the choreography! In the 1964 Gayne section there are those typical Russian folk dance acrobatic movements almost from beginning to end. We have all seen them on NPR or National Geographic programs. No body suits either, all traditional folk costumes, ladies in full length skirts. So, even if the Latvian ballet is not a prize winner, the VAI edition is an interesting ballet documentary.
