Friday 30 July 2010

No.358 Of The Bolshoi Ballet Then and Now

I'm off to see the ballet Spartacus tomorrow night at the beautiful Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Can't wait. Better still it's the Bolshoi dance company led by Ivan Vasiliev who has set the ballet world buzzing. He is being likened to a modern day Nureyev with jumps so high that you can a better view of him in the balconies than you do the stalls. Better still the ballet is set to the music of Khachaturian. It was he who composed the music used in the Onedin Line all those years ago.

I first saw the Bolshoi ballet in Lenningrad when Breshnev was still trotting out onto the Moscow balcony to prove it wasn't true that he was dead and to wave at the passing tanks and missiles. I arrived at the theatre only to find someone in my seat. I explained best I could in English to the guy that he needed to move. He replied in English "Sorry I move" and true to his word he ended up two rows back.

When the ballet was over I met him outside the theatre. As we crossed the road to the taxi rank I asked him if he enjoyed the ballet and he replied "Yes but it's not safe for me to talk to you" and walked away never to be seen again.

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