Traditional Russian dance comes to Beijing

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, December 27, 2003

Traditional Russian dance comes to Beijing

The "Gzhel" Moscow State Academic Theatre of Dance will perform at the Poly Theatre from January 4 to 11 and then move to the Beijing Exhibition Hall Theatre on January 24 and 25.

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The "Gzhel" Moscow State Academic Theatre of Dance will perform at the Poly Theatre from January 4 to 11 and then move to the Beijing Exhibition Hall Theatre on January 24 and 25.

The Moscow dance theatre has demonstrated perfect coherence and excellent technique in its international performances, which transport the audience into the dreamland of Russian folklore.

This perfect coherence is no doubt a consequence of the superb job of the theatre's leader and its artistic director, the outstanding Russian choreographer Vladimir Zakharov, who founded the "Gzhel" Dance Theatre in 1988, aiming to express the fantastic beauty of Russian folk art through dance.

The 57-year-old choreographer has devoted 30 years to Russian folk dance.

In his choreography, Zakharov does not try to reproduce the genuine folk styles.

The performance looks like the triathlon of Russian folk dancing: a marathon of Hopaks, astonishing barrel turns and frenzied squat plies turned into a night teeming with technical brilliance.

The Beijing tour programme will include "Geese-Swans" featuring 16 women in gaudy gold and white costumes, floating around as if in a beauty pageant, while "Kostromskaya Skan" offers 18 women clad in lilac and silver moving robotically around nine leaping men.

"Dance of Russian Gypsies" is notable for the women's back bending shimmies, while Igor Smolnyakov brought "Vyatskaya's Picture" to life, his jumps are heavenly, his landings are smooth. Circles within circles characterize the "Khokhloma Merry-Go-Round" as the tempo accelerated and no mishaps occurred.

Body-slapping punctuated "Our Katya," while "A Loving Couple" features soloists Aleksandr Kovtun and Korkina in a "Fred and Ginger" mode.

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