Kuznetsov, dressed in black leotard and tights, with small silver-tipped wings and headdress, was made up to look like a very evil owl. He exuded menace. He is a great jumper, though one got the impression that some of his jetes had to be reined in because the depth of the National Theater's stage is not what the Kirov is used to back in St. Petersburg.
The corps de ballet was a stunning flock of 26 swans with pliant backs and lovely arms that seemed to be so light they couldn't be real. Their arms didn't just move through the air, they caressed it, sifting each mote through their fingers. The four Signets -- Svetlana Ivanova, Elena Yshkouskaya, Yana Khaldina and Elena Sheshina -- were a joy to watch. Very crisp and clean, not a feather out of place, they whipped through their piece if anything just a little too fast. You didn't want it to end.
Sofia Gumerova and Kolb, however, were a bit disappointing as the leads. Gumerova is a tall, regal looking dancer and she moves beautifully as Odette/Odile, combining a sense of strength with one of fragility. But as the White Swan, Odette, Gumerova was all turned inwards, remote.
Kolb is a very accomplished classic dancer, though he looked more at home as the fun-loving prince in Act I than he did as the smitten lover in the rest of the ballet. But there didn't seem to be any spark between him and Gumerova and hardly even much eye contact.
As Odile, the Black Swan, Gumerova was in complete control -- smiling all the while -- even through her 32 foutettes, which were rather sloppy and for a moment in doubt of being completed.
As for the Kirov's happy ending, with the prince tearing off one of Rothbart's wings and killing him, freeing Odette from the curse, it appears to be a rather abrupt and unsatisfactory conclusion.
Not that suicide should be promoted as a way out of an unhappy love affair, but Peter Tchaikovsky's music for this scene calls for more theatrics than a prince waving a piece of cloth around before dashing back to pose with his swan princess.
Hopefully, the younger Kirov dancers will learn that along with all that wonderful technique, you need to spend some time to show some emotion.
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