The strongest impression it leaves is of how extraordinary exceptional musical -- or any other -- talent is, and how trapped in time the people who it inhabits nonetheless are, just like the rest of us.
With the Kirov Ballet currently in Taipei, and their last performance [today] being of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, Philips' DVD of the same company in the same ballet could hardly be better timed. The production may not be precisely what you will see in Taipei -- it's from the Mariinsky Theater in 1994, with choreography by Vasily Vainonen. But it's a highly traditional performance from Russia's top ballet troupe. The Christmas-card sets, the elaborate costumes, and the dancing styles too, are, in spirit at least, probably not dissimilar to what they were when the ballet was first performed over 100 years ago
A related curiosity is that the company title Kirov was, for a time, dropped in favor of Mariinsky -- Sergei Kirov had been Stalin's second-in-command and his assassination on Dec. 1, 1934, led to a nation-wide purge involving millions and many institutions were subsequently named after him. But wide familiarity with the Kirov name caused it to be restored.
This is a performance that will appeal to lovers of traditional Romantic dancing. And with Christmas coming on, it could well prove alluring too to those wanting something for both the children and their more discerning seniors. Those keen on anything modern and astringent will be less satisfied.
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