Too Many Cooks
“Le Corsaire”
The Mariinsky Ballet
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
April 9, 2019
A minimum of five composers, four text smiths, plus ten choreographers and ballet masters was required to reconstruct the 19th Century ballet “Le Corsaire”, which the Mariinsky company has brought to Washington. It shows. The action is choppy, especially at the start of what is a three-act production with prologue and epilogue. Not even mentioned up front in the printed program’s list of credits is Lord Byron, whose poem “The Corsaire” triggered the first danced version in Paris in 1856. The version being shown here this week has extraordinary passages of choreography mired in a crude parody of pirate exploits and harem protocols. The dancers of the huge Mariinsky troupe do their acting director, Yuri Fateev, proud as dancers.Opening night’s four leading men showed themselves to be very strong technically, yet each gave his dancing a different emphasis. Timur Askerov was Conrad, the pirate or brigand or corsair. He is the story’s hero who is shipwrecked yet remains undaunted in rescuing the lovely maidens Medora, Gulnara and their friends from slavery to a Turkish pasha. Askerov’s leaps and turns had breadth, spaciousness. His chief opponent, the slave dealer Lankedem, didn’t slink about in Alexei Timofeye’s rendition of the villain’s role but but gave steps a sharp precision. In the part of Ali, who is Conrad’s friendly slave (don’t ask), Kimin Kim was super supple. As the traitorous friend to Conrad, Yuri Smekalov’s Birbanto endowed his dancing with a powerful rhythmic emphasis. In contrast to the men’s diversity, was the two leading women’s similarity in looks.
Maria Khoreva as Medora and Nadezhda Batoeva as Gulnara danced with notable agility: extensions that opened seemingly without effort and spins that could flow endlessly. Khoreva, the somewhat shorter of the pair, looked out at the world while moving with a sense of utter wonder. Batoeva appeared cooler, more commanding. The are other classical female roles in this ballet – from an Odalisques’ trio to the garland dances of a numerous corps. This viewer came away wishing that all the balletic dances from the early “Pas d’esclave” duo to Act 3’s beflowered “Le jardin anime” had been presented as a plotless suite, with moods just hinted at.
In the current production, Conrad disguises himself and his brigands as pilgrims. They are invited to participate in prayers at the Pasha’s harem and succeed in rescuing Medora and Gulnara. In contrast to the prologue with its shipwreck, the epilogue of “Le Corsaire” shows Conrad and Medora, Gulnara and Ali sailing into a happy sunset.
copyright 2019 by George Jackson
