Pavel Sorokin – Landgraf on Dance

12. November 2026

Harmony Born From Love

“The Sleeping Beauty”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
November 3, 2026 (Historic Stage)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Only as I sat in the Bolshoi Theatre’s auditorium did I realize that this was my first time seeing Yuri Grigorovich’s The Sleeping Beauty live. A 2017 live stream was impressive, but Ezio Frigerio’s and Franca Squarciapino’s opulent set and costumes distracted from the piece’s essence: the awakening of an inner beauty. Of all the choreographies of The Sleeping Beauty I know, Grigorovich’s most successfully projects spirituality.
In 2024, the Bolshoi revived the far more restrained décor of Simon Virsaladze created for Grigorovich’s revised 1973 version of The Sleeping Beauty. It was streamed live at the season’s opening. But on screen, a ballet looks different.
For example, during the live stream, I didn’t notice the frame of green-gray legs turning the stage into a peep-box to a fairy realm. I also missed the effect of the backdrops’ loose brushstroke technique. The palace garden’s hazy vegetation offers nothing that sticks in the mind. One doesn’t think much about the staircase beyond that it leads somewhere pleasant. The mysterious lake in the forest hints at depths our consciousness does not plumb.

Taken together, the set, the Historic Stage’s enormous breadth, and the decorum and grace at court induce an inner calm that allows true beauty to reach the soul. It happens subtly with Princess Aurora’s awakening. Tchaikovsky’s brisk prologue heightens anticipations for a fabulous dance piece.

Maria Koshkaryova’s Princess Aurora was a graceful, delicate young woman with innate modesty. Glamour wasn’t part of her character. As she played with the spindle presented to her by the wicked Carabosse (Gennady Yanin), the entire court watched her as though she carried a defused bomb. High flying grand jetés carried Prince Désiré (Dmitry Vyskubenko) on stage (Prince Siegfried in Grigorovich’s Swan Lake enters in the same sweeping way). Vyskubenko has elegant lines, excellent jumps, and a likable nature. His performance was polished to perfection. In the hunting scene, each step of his solo spoke to the superb coaching he went through.
Alyona Kovalyova’s mature Lilac Fairy stood above all evil. Her calm and unwavering kindness reduced Carabosse to an incorrigible (but manageable) troublemaker. Except for Angelina Vlashinet’s Fairy of Audacity, the good fairies who bestowed their well-wishes on the newborn Aurora exaggerated their characters. Yuri Ostrovsky, whom I often saw in the role of a churchman, played Catalabutte, the Master of Ceremonies who hardly ever got it right.
Of the fairy tale characters, I especially liked Makar Mikhalkin’s powerfully soaring Blue Bird. Anastasia Smirnova was his lightweight Princess Florine.
The star of the evening was the corps whose perfect lines enraptured me. Regardless of the pace, their unity in the vision scene was impeccable and surpassed everything I’ve seen elsewhere.
The Bolshoi Orchestra played under the baton of Pavel Sorokin and was, as always, outstanding.

Link:		Website of the Bolshoi Theatre
Photos:	1.	Dmitry Vyskubenko (Prince Désiré) and Maria Koshkaryova (Princess Aurora), “The Sleeping Beauty” by Yuri Grigorovich, Bolshoi Ballet 2026
	2.	Dmitry Vyskubenko (Prince Désiré) and Maria Koshkaryova (Princess Aurora), “The Sleeping Beauty” by Yuri Grigorovich, Bolshoi Ballet 2026
		all photos © Bolshoi Theatre/Damir Yusupov
Editing:		Kayla Kauffman

14. September 20266. October 2026

Legendary

“Swan Lake”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
September 7 and 8, 2026 (Historic Stage)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

The Bolshoi Ballet is legendary for its Swan Lake. The first performance took place in 1877, almost one hundred and fifty years ago. This September, the swans danced for the 1,868th time, which translates to roughly thirteen Swan Lakes per year. Since 2001, the company has performed Yuri Grigorovich’s version, which includes scenes by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, and Alexander Gorsky.

Grigorovich’s Swan Lake is grand. Its concepts and ideals represent the highest achievements of humanity and culture—dignity, decorum, grace, love, and unmatched beauty—and it shows how easily human nature can be led awry. Compared to Vladimir Bourmeister’s Swan Lake at the Stanislavsky Theatre, a ballet that reveals the protagonists’ inner life like none I’ve seen so far, Grigorovich portrays them as emblematic figures in an allegory, the sad ending of which Tchaikovsky’s prologue forebodes. Continue reading “Legendary”

16. March 202520. March 2025

Brimful

“Cipollino”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre (New Stage)
Moscow, Russia
March 08, 2025 (matinee and evening performance)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

The boy Cippolino (Little Onion), the hero of Gianni Rodari’s 1957 children’s book Adventures of Cipollino, enjoyed an international career. He was especially popular in eastern countries and a famous cartoon and film figure in the Soviet Union. A ballet adaption by Genrikh Mayorov (1936-2022) entered the Bolshoi Ballet’s repertory three years after its Kiev premiere. Cipollino was revived at the Bolshoi earlier this season and still attracts crowds. Though a children’s fairy tale, adults can appreciate the production, especially when danced at top quality. I saw a matinee attended primarily by children and their parents as well as a sold-out evening performance.

The young Cipollino and his family are members of jovial townsfolk who are anthropomorphic fruits and vegetables—Cobbler Grape, Professor Pear, Godfather Pumpkin, and the Radish family, whose daughter, Little Radish, becomes Cipollino’s best buddy. They’re ruled by the high-handed, eccentric Prince Lemon whose court includes an acerbic guard, ludicrous knights, and the two overexcited Countesses Cherry. Continue reading “Brimful”

10. June 202311. June 2023

Invincible

“The Flames of Paris”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre (New Stage)
Moscow, Russia
June 04, 2023 (matinee)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2023 by Ilona Landgraf

“A highly unlikely work” – commented the late Clement Crisp in his Financial Times review about “The Flames of Paris”, which the Bolshoi Ballet performed at the Royal Opera House as part of their 2016 London tour. He argued that the dramatic scheme was papery and the chief roles were predictable.
I checked myself, watching the 85^th performance of the latest production at the Bolshoi Ballet’s home base in Moscow.

“The Flames of Paris”, first staged in 1932 at the Kirov Theater in Leningrad (today’s Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg) is about how French revolutionaries turned politics and society upside down. Its rousing score by Boris Asafiev draws on music by Lully and Rameau, including the Marseillaise, and climaxes in the powerful revolutionary song “Ça ira”. In 2008, the Bolshoi Ballet’s then artistic director Alexey Ratmansky restored and revised Vasily Vainonen’s original choreography. Nikolai Volkov’s and Vladimir Dmitriev’s libretto, initially spanning four acts, was condensed to two acts. It tells the story of the revolutionaries’ march to Paris and their storming of the Bastille in July 1789. Oblivious to the people’s fury, the monarchy and its representatives continue to debauch in festivities (including a court ballet) at Versailles, but eventually apprehend the looming danger. Puppets of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette are already mangled by the crowd, soon to seize the palace. Continue reading “Invincible”

13. April 202324. August 2026

Well kept

“Raymonda”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
April 6, 2023

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2023 by Ilona Landgraf

“Raymonda” is a foundation of Russian ballet repertoire, but is rarely performed in Europe. After his flight to the west, Nureyev staged several versions of the work for western companies, staying faithful to Petipa’s 1898 original. The few European choreographers who’ve tackled the piece – among them Pontus Lidberg for the Royal Swedish Ballet in 2014 and Rachel Beaujean for the Dutch National Ballet in 2022 – adjusted Lydia Pashkova’s libretto to match western tastes. The only Petipa/Pashkova-based Russian production I saw was Konstantin Sergeyev’s from 1948, presented by the Maryinsky Ballet on their 2014 tour to Baden-Baden. That production felt alien in Baden-Baden’s modern Festspielhaus, reinforcing the reputation of “Raymonda” as dusty and outdated. In last year’s review of Tamara Rojo’s “Raymonda” for the English National Ballet, London critic Jenny Gilbert went so far as to call Raymonda an “ineffectual heroine” (implying that the numerous renowned ballerinas who’ve taken on that leading role in the last 125 years were foolish in doing so) and the plot “offensively silly.” She also claimed that Russian “ballet culture has a higher tolerance of such [silly] things.” After watching the Bolshoi Ballet’s “Raymonda”, I’m inclined to think that the western perspective misses what “Raymonda” is actually about. Continue reading “Well kept”

16. February 201821. September 2026

From “Ballet Falsity” to Long-Runner

“The Bright Stream”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
February 10 and 11, 2018

“The Bright Stream” was Shostakovich’s third score for ballet. After his previous ballets, “The Golden Age” (1930) and “Bolt” (1931), were banned from the stage, Shostakovich attempted to create a new composition that would please everyone. Fyodor Lopukhov (1886–1973) was in charge of the choreography, the libretto was by Adrian Pyotrovsky and Lopukhov, and indeed, “The Bright Stream” was enthusiastically received at its premiere in Leningrad—today’s St. Petersburg – in 1935. Continue reading “From “Ballet Falsity” to Long-Runner”

18. March 201721. April 2020

Room for Improvement

“Onegin”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
March 11, 2017

Conditions were the same overall on the second of the three evening performances of “Onegin” at the Bolshoi. The sky above the garden of the Larina family’s country house was bright blue, domestic bliss was as yet unclouded, the village folk were in an expansively jolly mood. The Bolshoi Orchestra under Pavel Sorokin, reliable as always, ensured a fine rendition of Tchaikovsky’s music. Yet unlike the evening before the story didn’t gain momentum.

“Onegin” needs four dancers of equal or complementary strength in the leading roles. The role of Olga is smaller than the other three, but her part is pivotal for the dramatic turn the story takes. Saturday’s cast had only one consistently strong dancer, Evgenia Obraztsova as Tatiana. Continue reading “Room for Improvement”

15. March 201721. April 2020

Bringing “Onegin” Home

“Onegin”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
March 10, 2017

“John is here” is a well-known saying within the walls of Stuttgart Ballet. People know what they are talking about. Ever since his untimely death more than forty years ago John Cranko’s spirit has energized his Stuttgart company.
Yet last weekend his presence was strongly palpable elsewhere. The Bolshoi performed his “Onegin” on three consecutive evenings at home in Moscow. On first night not only Cranko seemed close but also Reid Anderson, who had supervised the production at the Bolshoi in 2013, and Jürgen Rose, whose costumes and set design are unvaryingly matchless. The Bolshoi Theatre and Stuttgart State Opera merged into one house on this Friday evening uniting their powers in a performance of overwhelming intensity. Continue reading “Bringing “Onegin” Home”