FAIRY-TALE ELEGANCE
Newspaper GENERAL ANZEIGER, Bonn, 23 December 2021
The Ballet Ensemble from Stara Zagora enchanted Bonne’s audience with “Swan Lake” by Tchaikovsky
BY ELIZABETH EINIKE-KLOVEKORN
What Burchard Nemitz, curator of the guest-performing ballet companies in the Bonn Opera, managed to do for a very short time after the cancellation of the tour to Bonn of the State Opera of Kazan, Tatarstan, because of the corona virus, is a logistic masterpiece. More specifically, the large ballet troupe of the rich in cultural traditions Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora presented an absolute artistic equivalent of the Russian ensemble, which in 2019 impressed Bonn with “Swan Lake and “The Nutcracker”.
In the city of about 160,000 citizens in the center of Bulgaria is located the second state opera of the country (next to the one in Sofia), which is also the biggest opera building in the whole of the Balkan peninsula. By the way, artistic director of the Theater is the world-famous mezzosoprano Vesselina Kazarova, who was born in Stara Zagora.
The world high level of the Ballet from the Eastern part of the European Union was confirmed without any doubt after the very first presentation of “Swan Lake” on Tuesday in the sold-out Bonn’s Opera Hall.
The splendid music by Tchaikovsky with its unforgettable swan motif was a recording, but still it sounded fresh. The Director of the Ballet Silviya Tomova adapted dramaturgically and modernized carefully the choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov from 1895. The result is one touchingly told fairy tale, masterfully danced on toes with the whole elaboration of the classical ballet. Batmans, Grand Gette, pirouettes and swan hands: applied is the whole ballet lexicon for the achievement of a magic fairy tale with a multi-layer charm.
Corps de ballet and the soloists dance with an exceptional precision the divertimento and expansive ensemble scenes, especially enticing are the gradual movements of the white swan on the water of the imaginary lake of a mother’s tears. The magnificent costumes are a feast to the eyes.
In the prologue, in the background there is present the evil black-winged magician Rothbart (impressive Ivaylo Yanev), who suddenly turns the young princess into a swan. From time to time the swans fly in the air and on the water through video projections. In the ballroom of the castle with a romantic landscape perspective, in the background Prince Ziegfried celebrates the beginning of his coming of age. However, he shows only casual interest to the different brides chosen by his mother and his teacher. With his gift for his birthday, an crossbow, the melancholic young man convincingly embodied by Fiordi Locha, is drawn outside to the Swan Lake.
Trembling with fear, the Princess-Swan appears to him – she can have back her human essence only through his love. Touching is the lyrical white Pas de deux of the couple in love. The Prima Ballerina Aneliya Dimitrova dances in a girlish way the tender Odette of a virtuous soul and in the second act is the capricious “black” Odile who confuses Ziegfried’s heart.
Of course, the famous dance of the four small swans with their funny identical triple steps and entwined arms cannot be excluded. The hearts oft he audience, however, conquered Tomoki Ishigo, who was exceptionally masterful and artistic in his performance of he court jester.
