It is, no doubt, for the first time in the Bolshoi theatre’s history that three one-act productions by three young balletmasters were mounted on its stage, though not on the main one. The works shown to us are of experimental character, disputable, of unequal artistic value, but unquestionably interesting and they surely demonstrate an amazing potential of today's Bolshoi Ballet Company.

"Chamber ¹ 6", Radu Poclitaru’s production to the music composed by Àrvo Pyart, based on the motives of A. P. Chekhov’s story under the same title, seems most controversial to me. Least of all this performance can be attributed to a ballet because there is practically no dancing there.

It takes the form of a drama with some movement added, with practically no text, but for a few verbal remarks, and which, for some reason, is performed by ballet actors. The word “actor” here is to be printed in italics as all the participants of this ballet displayed a rare dramatic gift, which showed itself in the subtlety of interpretation and phenomenal expressiveness of their acting and dancing. First of all, Denis Savin as Patient with his disarming internal openness, almost childish confidence, naivety and utter defencelessness. The rare naturalness of his stage existence in this extra difficult role makes the audience follow his every gesture and pax. Yuri Klevtsov is no less organic and nice as Doctor, though, his dancing is not convincingly tragic to the extent the narrative requires at the ending. The character roles of Postmaster, brilliantly performed by Denis Medvedev, Young Doctor - a successful debut of young Pavel Dmitrichenko, Nurse-Cook (Anastasia Messkova) are painted in comic, grotesque colours (though, both the choreography of the ballet and the role itself don’t give Anastasia Messkova very much to do in the performance). This is, undoubtedly, to be added to the list of indisputable advantages of this performance that the magnificent music used in the performance was created by Arvo Pyart, (Igor Dronov - musical director of the whole program, all three ballets), the original stage design - by Andrew Zlobin and the costumes – by Anna Ipatieva (Damir Ismagilov did the light design for this extravagantly interpreted Chekhov’s story).

It goes without saying, that such a number of fiery artistic successes are to be put equally to the performers’ credit and to the producer’s credit as well. However, after a much more interesting approach shown in his other production for the Bolshoi (by the way, in the co-authorship with the famous director Declan Donnellan), the premiered not long ago " Romeo and Juliet ", "Chamber ¹ 6 " fades in comparison with his previous work. The frightening monotony of his choreographic vocabulary is set off by his undoubtedly inspired theatrical directing and overmastering inclination for the peculiarity of drama theatre. Probably, his next work will be in drama and will be more successful?..

After Poclitaru’s excessively artificial, ponderous and very gloomy production, the abstract ballet recipe cooked by Yuri Posokhov, his "Magrittomania" where Yuri Krasavin’s music is mixed up with some fragments of well-known pieces by Beethoven, instantly conquers the audience with the abundance of air and light to flavour the abundance of dancing. As producer, Posokhov does not aspire to surprise by novelty of his choreographic language, neither does he pretend to be original, but his enviable inside liberation gives his ballet a charming " easy breath " zest. The choreographic " fantasy on the theme " (in this case on the theme of surrealistic paintings by Rene Magritte) represented by him seems to be a free interpretation, filled with impression sketching, fleeting choreographic " drafts " done with a few strokes and easily " erasable " without any serious harm to the whole performance and replaceable with something different. The motives of Ìàgritte’s canvasses are also introduced into the scenery by Tyhra Hartshorne, into the elements of the costumes (black bowlers for the male soloists, high-necked brown dresses with " naked " front for the girls, the translucent scarves veiling the heads of the performers – as it is painted in the picture " The two in love "), into each of non-too-numerous subjects appearing on stage in the form of green apple-like balloons of various sizes.

The deceivingly simple inside world of Magritte’s paintings is much more various, much more profound and rich than one can imagine: what Posokhov has scooped up and displayed in his ballet is just a small (and, to my mind, a little bit superficial) part of it, but his attempt to create a ballet on the motives of such a turbid and outstanding artist, seems extremely interesting.

The female soloist, Ekaterina Shipulina - (appearing in a striking red dress) is magnificent - young, subtle, charming and mysterious. Her dancing impresses by its cleanliness and slightly acute lines, and a rare freedom of movement. Dmitry Belogolovtsev (the leading soloist), whose leading solos in all the contemporary Bolshoi ballets are always successful, diligently gives a bit too much unnecessary significance to his Anonymous Character. Belogolovtsev obviously tends to do a large-scale and monumental dancing, which at times makes him look graceless, while what this role requires is internal subtlety. The choreographic phrases and fragments, which were to remain unfinished according to the producer’s concept, looked oddly climatic in their endings… The choreographer’s style is precisely and impeccably conveyed by three soloists : magnificent Denis Medvedev, Yan Godovsky and Ruslan Pronin. Stylish, expressive, faultlessly elegant, they please with unusual filigree technique and artistically put choreographic accents. All the three soloists evidently enjoy their parts and relish every minute onstage, they seem to dissolve in the dance, virtually "bathe" in it. Each of them looks very attractive, charming and stylish, each possesses refinement and courage, and a delightful "negligence" of behaviour (the feature which Belogolovtsev regretfully lacks at times)!

The producer of "Leah" Àlexei Ratmansky is the most talented and most mature of the three authors: apart from a good number of productions he is known for his choreographic way of thinking, flair for the ballet vocabulary and high level of professionalism. Ratmansky reworked the performance first created in 2001 and made it more logically composed, more integral dramatically, capacious and well thought over up to a minute detail. "Leah", a one-act ballet to the music of Leonard Bernstein in the new scenery and costumes made by a Danish stage-designer Marianna Nilsson has become a more spectacular and larger scale show. He introduced some new characters, increased the corps de ballet, and made some scenes look more impressive than earlier.

The libretto is based on the play by Semyon Ansky titled "Dibbuk". But Ratmansky’s concept doesn’t consist in the precise following of the narrative. On the contrary, in every possible way he tries to avoid depicting minor details of the plot aspiring to show the essence of the story, with no details. The narrative is practically lost behind the dancing. The best choreography and drama is in the “Caballa” scene which becomes the choreographic climax of the performance. This male dancing scene, based on some intricate, graphically inventive lines, is superbly done by six tall, well-built soloists wearing long light attires and white eye-slotted masks-helmets. On the whole Ratmansky’s choreography makes this trivial story about two young lovers, separated by their parents, dynamic and breathtaking, without a single pause or lengthiness. The producer’s rare skill to make the characters look unique by means of body language, his infinite imagination, his exclusive musicality and intellect, they are hard to find their equal.
Originally, the story of Leah was choreographed for the Theatre of Dance under Àlexei Fadeyechev’s management with Nina Ananishvily particularly starring (by the way, she was most successful in this part). She was wonderful with her outstanding dancing and dramatic skills, utmost expressiveness, strong emotions, subtle and varied. For example, in the scene of wedding, when the heroine of Ananiashvily experienced a fantastic transformation (the spirit of her beloved - Dibbuk - descended on her), the movements of the ballerina suddenly gained scale, force, breadth, swiftness. The “intonation" of choreographic phrases, the expression of her eyes, the whole impulse of her movements – everything changed dramatically. The part of Leah, undoubtedly, has become one of the brightest things in the repertoire of the ballerina. Nadezhda Grachova’s diligent and technically precise performing of Ratmansky’s choreographic steps in the same part in the Bolshoi’s version of the ballet is unfortunately dwarfed by subdued emotion. Sergey Filin, too, looks an oddly unengaged Khanan. They both don’t seem to be passionately in love. Looking back, the part of Leah’s beloved was originally (that is almost three years ago) modelled specially for him, but due to his trauma Sergey Filin was unable to do the role until now. He is habitually charming and artistic and also strongly professional, but doesn’t try to transfer all the nuances of the "marginal" internal condition of the hero, who is balancing between life and death, and who finally comes to his beloved from the other world...

The other cast in this version - Vladimir Moiseev, (Tsender, Leah’s father), Alexei Loparevich (Rabi Izrael, tsadic), Irina Zibrova (Khanan’s mother), Victor Alekhin (Ìåår, synagogue attendant), Petr Kazmirruk and Vasily Zhidkov (Àsher and Enakh, friends to Khanan), Anna Atropova and Irina Semirechenskaya (Basya and Guitel, Leah’s friends) - are also memorable for their expressive and highly technical acting and dancing.

Ratmansky’s production, naturally, became the culmination of the program, the best of the three one-act ballets shown that evening. Otherwise "Leah" wouldn’t have aroused spectators’ immediate greatest interest and most emotional response. It is no mere coincidence that at the opening night of the program, the theatre which was far from being full at the performance of " Chamber ¹ 6 “, began to get filled before "Magrittomania" started, to be packed up when "Leah " was just to begin...