Bolshoi Ballet Comes to OC
By Stan Jenson
In the world of ballet, Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet Company is the name frequently identified with excellence. It has captivated the dance world for more than 200 years, and The Washington Times calls the troupe “the mightiest and grandest of world-class companies.”
This month, the dance company makes an exclusive Southern California visit to the Orange County Performing Arts Center (OCPAC), as the 100-percent Russian ballet presents a spectacular production of the Spanish story “Don Quixote,” with music by Ludwig Minkus.
The Bolshoi Ballet first presented “Don Quixote” in 1869 at its home theater in Moscow. All modern productions of the show are derived from the version staged by Alexander Gorsky for the Bolshoi Theater of Moscow in 1900.
“Don Quixote” showcases the company’s strengths, combining stunning technical feats, folk dancing and a stage awash with colorful characters and scenery. For the Orange County engagement, the company has assembled several of the greatest dancers in the world. Quixote and his trusty sidekick, Sancho Panza, naturally are the principals in the story, but the majority of the virtuoso dancing is done by Basil and Kitri, a romantic couple whose paths intertwine with Quixote’s. Pas de Deux teams Svetlana Zakharova and Alexander Volchkov, Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vassiliev. Maria Alexandrova and Mikhail Lobukhin alternate the six local performances.
The characters of Quixote and Panza have few dancing requirements, but they supply the dramatic thread that holds the story together. The show begins in Quixote’s study, where he and Panza determine they should set out on the road to seek adventures. This leads them to a marketplace in Barcelona, an inn and inevitably to the windmills, which Quixote mistakes for giants. He tilts at one with his spear, but is flung into the air by one of the windmill’s wings and finishes Act II unconscious at Panza’s feet.
The story eventually leads to the Duke’s Castle, where the principals are invited to sit back and watch a fiesta. This introduces the divertissements, a mainstay of the last act of full-length ballets, during which various company members are given solos or small group numbers that don’t have any relevance to the plot. They are merely dancers who have been brought in to entertain the Duke. The fiesta is broken up when the Knight of the Silver Moon challenges Quixote to a dual. Quixote loses the battle when confronted with reality, but as he sets out for home at the end of the ballet, we know he will have many more adventures in the future.
This is Bolshoi’s first visit to OCPAC since 2005, and this is its only Southern California appearance. Tourists have paid small fortunes to see this company in Moscow, but this is a unique and wonderful opportunity for Southern Californians to experience the Bolshoi’s magnificence in our own backyard.
The Bolshoi Ballet appears from Feb. 24 – 28 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s Segerstrom Hall, located at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. Free-preview lectures take place one hour before each performance. Tickets start at $21 and are available at the box office, by calling (714) 556-2787 or at www.OCPAC.org.