Famed Bolshoi Ballet Coming To Paramount

In Russian the word "bolshoi" simply means big. In the case of the legendary Bolshoi Ballet, which will be coming to Seattle as part of the 1999-2000 Paramount Dance Series, the name is especially apt. It's a company known for its big casts, big passions, big movement and big stars.

The Bolshoi's weeklong engagement in June will feature ballerina Nina Ananiashvili, who has won praise around the world for what critic Gennady Smakov calls her "special amplitude of gesture and pose" and for the purity and authenticity of her dancing. Ananiashvili epitomizes the Russian school of ballet, most recently seen at the Bolshoi's London presentation of Leonid Lavrosky's "Romeo and Juliet" and Alexei Fadeechev's "Don Quixote." She will star in both these ballets during the Paramount run.

In a phone interview from New York, where Ananiashvili spends part of each year performing with American Ballet Theater, the ballerina spoke about what makes the Bolshoi distinctive, particularly its theatrical and emotion-based approach to ballet.

"In the school we have drama lessons. It's necessary when you are dancing on stage to understand what you are dancing, why you are dancing and who you are. Because if it's just steps and tricks this is not ballet art, this is just circus," Ananiashvili said.

"Even if you are dancing a contemporary piece, like Balanchine, you need to have some character inside. Even if it's not about stories you still need to know which character you need to show. Then it works. Then it's interesting."

Ananiashvili does not believe in the cold-blooded, movement-for-movement's sake approach, which has been in vogue in the United States.

"I think that is a big problem in the ballet world now. Especially with the young generation. That's why it's important to have people around who correct this, who see it and who are talking about this. Otherwise art is really boring, if you are just doing steps and steps and steps."

At the Bolshoi this kind of correction is built into career-long mentor relationships developed with retired dancers. Ananiashvili has been coached for many years by the great ballerina Raissa Struchkova. She's also worked with Natalia Zolotova and Marina Semyonova, both dance legends.

The Moscow Ballet school, which prepares dancers for the Bolshoi, covers all aspect of training. "The system of teaching is very good. Mathematics and physics, history, etc. - we learn all together, plus drama, character dance, modern dance and classical ballet. When people finish school they have good beginnings. Of course in the theater they improve because they are working with famous teachers and they are challenged."

The Bolshoi Company is known all over the world for its tight, precise corps work, grouped dancers moving as one.

"What I like about our company is that the whole company has the same system of schooling so everybody moves the same way. Everybody finished the Moscow ballet school, so you see just one style. This is what makes the Russian company look different. Its really hard when you have people coming from many schools and many teachers because each teacher has their own style and own ideas," Ananiashvili said.

The company is huge by any standards. They tour with 142 dancers, while at least that many stay on in Moscow. On tour they not only have to contend with smaller stages but, accustomed to the slanted stage of the Petrovski Theater where they normally perform, they have to adjust to the flat stages of the West.

"We have a raked stage at the Bolshoi, so we need a little time to change our body," Ananiashvili said. As for dealing with smaller stages, it's all in a day's work.

"Of course on a small stage we feel this, and are a little sad because we don't have the place to jump, and move much more freely, like we do in Russia. But what can we do? We fix ourselves to work with what we have at any time."

Moscow's grand old Petrovski Theater, built in 1780, is badly in need of repairs. Federico Mayor of UNESCO and Bolshoi director Vladimir Vasiliev are asking theaters around the world to give a percentage of their income on March 28, 2000, to help restore the ancient theater. Why that date? At the Bolshoi, history is still very much part of daily life: March 28, 1776, is the day that Catherine the Great signed the order to start a theater.

John Dunavent, executive director of the Seattle Landmark Association (SLA), which operates the Paramount, recently went to Moscow to see the Bolshoi in its home theater.

"The company is in such rare shape. They've just gotten rave reviews in London and at the Jacob's Pillow Festival," he said. Dunavent was formerly executive director of the Music Center in Los Angeles, which, along with the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the Kennedy Center, will share the Bolshoi tour.

Josh LaBelle, SLA artistic director, also went on the Moscow trip.

"It's a beautiful theater, full of boxes and plush seats. There, Ananiashvili is incredibly popular. They treat her like a rock star. They scream and cheer. It's a very active, responsive audience," he said."

Ananiashvili has spent part of each year since 1993 dancing with American Ballet Theater, and in the past has been a guest artist with New York City Ballet, The Royal Ballet and many other major ballet companies. She was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, and became a champion ice skater at age 10 before going on to becoming one of the great representatives of the Russian style of ballet. (She became the first ballerina to be awarded the National "Triumph" Prize of Russia for outstanding achievements in the arts.)

Ananiashvili says that although she cannot define the Russian style that she represents, she recognizes it instantly.

"It's difficult to explain in words. I could show you and you would understand. But if I see someone on stage I immediately understand if they have had Russian schooling or a Russian teacher or not."

But Ananiashvili is quick to add that she is not saying that Russian necessarily means better.

"For me it's not important; if a ballerina is good, if they are dancing well and looking wonderful, it doesn't matter what school they have. It just needs to be good. In our job this is very important."