…A poster of the New Stage of the Bolshoi theatre was not a little puzzling. It said: “Roland Petit talking…” Certainly, one could assume that the balletmaster would not only do some talking but a few fragments from his ballets either screened or staged were to be shown. As to the details, the program remained a riddle literally until the show began.

Though, being chamber in its essence, the program, the only one of the kind which produces communication between a balletmaster and his admirers, only possible in the course of such programs, surprised as being unusual for the auditorium like the New Bolshoi stage designed to accommodate a fairly big audience. As well as for all other concert halls in this country. Notably, it’s not our tradition for choreographers to have their creative programs arranged at all, at least it happens very seldom. For the last five or six years it may have happened only once, I mean Dmitry Bryantsev’s creative program organised in the Central Concert Hall " Rossia " in 1999. This sort of evenings follow the same scenario with the balletmaster telling about himself, fragments of his performances (some Adagio from his ballet or choreographic scene) shown on the screen or danced if the size of the stage permits. Then question time follows. The answers alternate with some speeches on the part of invited colleagues, his masters and his own apprentices, and also dancers and composers who were privileged to work with him. It is considered to be a traditional scheme. Yet Roland Petit did it his own way. That night on the Bolshoi New stage there were no masters and apprentices, no colleagues, no dancers. Even the audience didn’t ask their questions; they weren’t supposed to because the French choreographer and the Moscow spectators speak different languages. Roland Petit was the only one to speak and his speech lasted three hours and a half alternating with fragments of his ballets filmed and performed on stage (duets, solos and trios). Roland Petit was very impressive, interesting, active, fascinating, he spoke in a purely French easy going manner, no pathos or domination. His words were accentuated by his choreographically expressive arms and no less expressive eyes.

He demonstrated a fine sense of pausing. He was calm and ironical in responding to some minor technical hitches that occurred in the course of the performance. Elegant, charming, witty, a man of legend, an epoch-making choreographer, he naturally captured attention. Probably, for the first-comers and those who are not well aware of the history and technicalities of the art of ballet, his narration (which was perfectly interpreted by Êàterina Novikova and delivered to the public in Russian over earphones) could sound a little bit too lengthy and boring, but I do hope that they were minority in the hall that night...

By all means, despite all the fascination of the choreographer’s life-story, his creative work and all the famous people, who he came across and collaborated with, still of special interest were excerpts from his productions, by the way, brilliantly performed by his troupe accompanying him in the tour. The magnificent Luccia Laccara, a ballerina of Spanish origin (now she’s working with San Francisco Ballet) and five other dancers of different nationalities: an Italian Luigi Bonino, a Frenchman Ñyrill Pier, a Cuban Linz Changa, a Japanese Kei Kikuchi and swarthy Silven l’Erand bearing a pseudonym “Slide”. Luccia Laccara, this subtle childlike woman with her eyes full of grief and a touching smile, was an eye-opener for the Moscow public. An amazing ballerina with strikingly beautiful legs and flexible, singing hands, charming and refined, she did each piece with new choreographic strokes, she conveyed new psychological nuances, she captured with her rare femininity, grace of poses, cantilena of movements. Then followed a scene from the ballet “Charley dancing with us”, very much Chaplin’s style of parody, both bitter and ironical, which was performed by Luigi Bonino, who impeccably flitted around the stage like a classical ballerina. He had a magnificent ballet tutu on his neck as a pelerine, and pointe shoes on his hands; the vivid miming of his face conveyed the wide range of a woman’s emotions (from horror up to delight) she experiences while on stage...

The culmination of the evening was a duet from " The Queen of Spades " performed by Ilze Liepa and Nickolay Tsiskaridze. It’s worth noting Petit had created this ballet specially for Tsiscaridze to star and meant the choreography to fit the dancer’s individuality. And there is no failing the idea. It has evidently become one of Tsiskaridze’s best works.

In the duet with the charismatic and mysterious Countess he appeared as a controversial and restless character, driven by illusions, overwhelmed by painful doubts and bitter disappointment.

The Countess, in the ballet she is a symbol of Eternal Temptation, hypnotises with cold grandeur of gestures and magnetism of sparkling eyes.

Plasticity of her slow movements, her cat-like way of walking, incredibly flexible body gave away an infernal essence, a witch in her. But Ilze did the Old Countess too full of female charm and elegance to look naturalistically old. So, German was trying to solve a riddle of the three cards and each time encountered with the eternal and insoluble riddle of the female soul - attracting, worrying and mysterious...

The fragment from " Queen of Spades " to music of Chaikovsky’s Sixth symphony became a link between the ballet art of France and Russia. It reminded the spectators that this ballet piece had been specially created for the Bolshoi Theatre Company. At the Bolshoi there had been in 1973 staged a duet from another ballet by Roland Petit to Gustav Mahler’s score - " Perish of the Rose ". The majestic Ìaya Plistskaya used to dance it together with her French partner Rudi Brian and it’s worth noting that this duet appeared to be so long lived as part of the Company’s repertoire thanks to her brilliant dancing. Then, 15 years later, in 1988, at the invitation of Yury Grigorovich, the choreographer mounted in the Bolshoi his old production " Syrano de Bergerac " originally created for the " Ballet of Paris " troupe in 1959. The music to the ballet based on Edmond Rostand’s play of the same title was composed by Marius Konstan. (But, unlike " Perish of the Rose " which was a success, " Syrano de Bergerac " didn’t enjoy much popularity with the public and disappeared from the repertoire too quickly.) In 2001 the Moscow stage saw a new variant of Roland Petit’s “Queen of Spades” double-billed with his " Passacalia " to music by Ànton Webern. Then in 2003 the prolific choreographer produced at the Bolshoi his famous " Notre-Dame de Paris " by Ì. Jarre. And now, in 2004, Roland Påtit made a new step in his collaboration with the Bolshoi Company. The one-man-show program at the Bolshoi inspires new hopes for further joint French-Russian projects...