Saturday 19 February 2011

Anna Karenina, Boris Eifman



At the Megaron Mousikes again last night






At the foyer before the start of the performance





I find the chandelliers that reach down two floors quite spectacular and never tire of them






The Alexandra Triante hall where the performance took place





Boris Eifman's Anna Karenina is highly spectacular, totally engrossing and great entertainment. The narrative  is focused on  Anna, Karenin and Vronsky and is expressed  in a marriage of innovative choreography and  terrific dancing.  It is set to the music of Tchaikovsky.





A ballet with high emotional impact, a mix of classical ballet and modern dance.






Anna's breakdown at the end, danced in flesh coloured body tights, with flashing strobes, set to modern electronic music was so powerful it took my breath away. It was a mass of writhing bodies alternated with Anastasia Sitnikova writhing on the floor in a modern dance sequence -  totally overwhelming. In the last scene she throws herself onto the stage in the midst of dancing railway workers who have transformed themselves into the train in front of which Anna finds her end  -  it is a staggering finale.

The staging and  the lighting were equal to the terrific dancing. A production by the Eifman Ballet Theatre of St Petersburg not to be missed.









1 comment:

  1. The joys of living in a capital city...though two days in London were enough for me and I was keen to get away from the noise and the bustle!

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