Serge Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky – Lieutenant Kije, Le Baiser de la Fee (1995)

A compilation of three ballet videos here: Prokofiev’s “Lieutenant Kije”, Stravinsky’s “Baiser de la Fee”, and an old black-and-white bonus clip featuring dancers Raisa Struchkova and Boris Khokhlov in two Pas-de-Deux. As for the latter, I don’t know enough about the history of ballet to dwell on their legendary status; but they must have been prominent dancers of the Bolshoi during the fifties and sixties. I’m sure their names ring a bell among our Russian members.

Lieutenant Kije!
Proof of the fact that it’s not always a composer’s more complex and ground-breaking pieces to expose his genius to the full. How good he gets here, the Russian modernist! The simple, dainty tunes, pleasant rhythms and exhilarating humour of the music will make any listener fall in love with it immediately – yes, I will even go so far as to say those who don’t love it have probably never heard it. Throw away your pills and/or stimulating drugs, the Lieutenant works as one of the best natural anti-depressants you can lay your hands on.
Choreography, decor and costumes in this production form a coherent unity. There must have been a perceptive stage director at work here, who was quite knowledgeable about the visual arts.
(Female) soldiers’ uniforms – brilliant colours enclosed in thick black lines, like cloisonist paintings - reflect the enlarged, curly handwriting on the floor, the Jugendstil moustaches painted on their faces, and the elegant, golden lines on the walls. It’s all about a playful arrangement of lines and colours here; playful, but done with great care and precision. And so is the choreography: dancers hop around with light and joyful steps, yet reveal the order and discipline of a trained military corps.
Watching this a fantastic experience of total theatre, the successful combination of various art disciplines into a single production.
Note: this was made as far back as 1969, don’t expect high def picture quality here. My autoGK rip could not make it better than the original.

About Le Baiser de la Fee, then. How different this is from the Lieutenant! No intricate geometrical patterns corresponding with each other from decor to dresses to dancing movements; here we get the dreamy, impressionistic world of a fairy-tale.
Talking about dreams, I’m sure you’ve all had this standard dream of being able to fly at least once: you jump into the air, jump again; and to your delight, you stay up there longer and longer, reaching higher and higher…it’s a great dream. I always wake up feeling fresh after a dream like that.
Unfortunately, it’s only a dream, sniff.
And then, watch this darn’d Vasiliev Malakhov, he’s doing it for real! He jumps and stays high up there like an African Springbok in slow motion; jumps again and stays up even longer. You hardly see him touch the floor. In short, he’s flying, I watched it enviously. You have to see it to believe it.
About the striking attractiveness of the dancers – see the coverart above, there’s Malakhov with that peculiar handsome face of his; and one reviewer commented the feet of Babette were worth dying for…er, I’d rather live and hope to ‘baiser’ Tatiana Yatsenko, who performs as a stunningly beautiful Fee. What eyes.
Made in 1990.

performers

Moscow Classical Ballet Orchestra
Nemirovich-danchenko Music Theatre Orchestra – Algis Zhuraitis

Main dancers

Tatiana Yatsenko
Raisa Struchkova
Ludmila Vasilieva
Tatiana Popko
Vladimir Malakhov
Vanya Gorbatsevich
Vladimir Vasiliev