Mariinsky Ballet & Orchestra Swan Lake

Janice Berman on October 9, 2012
The Mariinsky Ballet <em>Swan Lake</em>
The Mariinsky Ballet Swan Lake

The Kirov Ballet, based in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), has reverted to calling itself the Mariinsky Ballet, but its Swan Lake, choreographed in 1950 by Konstantin Sergeyev and based, of course, on the 1895 Petipa/Ivanov version, prevails, uninterrupted by the vagaries of history. Cal Performances hosts the exquisite birds Oct. 10–14 and — with the Mariinsky Orchestra conducted by the peripatetic maestro Mikhail Agrest — the Tchaikovsky masterpiece for six performances at Zellerbach Hall. The flock of Odettes/Odiles flying west, listed on Cal Performances’ website, may be glimpsed, tantalizingly, on YouTube. Casting will be announced later. There will also be plenty of marvelous Prince Siegfrieds, but you’re not coming to see them — or are you?

Janice Berman, SFCV’s senior dance critic, has been a dance writer and reviewer since 1978, beginning at Newsday and New York Newsday. She has written on dance for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Ballet Review, and Dance Magazine, where she was editor-in-chief.