A little bit of a disappointment

The Russian State Ballet's production of Cinderella at the Point is a major disappointment. Like its staging of The Sleeping Beauty two years ago, it is hard to believe it was produced by the same company as their delightful Nutcracker.

The whole thing seemed to have been thrown together in a hurry, with bits of stock choreography, tacky settings and costumes and an old-fashioned feel, although it is allegedly a brand new production. It is strange that artistic director Vyatcheslav Gordeev, who tells the Nutcracker story better than anyone else, failed to outline the well-known fairy tale with clarity.

Guest conductor Alexander Sotnikov drew a fine performance of Prokofiev's wonderful score from the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, but Evgeny Ivancheko's Prince not only lacked charisma, but proved an inadequate partner for Maya Dumchenko's charming Cinderella, a fine dancer with lovely arms and beautiful feet, whose acting found little response from her escort.

There was good dancing by many individuals, including Yuri Burlakin as the Time Clock and Andrei Joukov and Maya Ivanova as the Russian couple the Prince meets on his travels around the world in search of the owner of the glass slipper. But, compared with the Monte Carlo Ballet's brilliantly-choreographed and designed Cinderella, seen recently in Belfast, it seemed like a dreary museum piece. Admittedly, the Monte Carlo version was impressionistic and post-modern, but classical Russian ballet at its very best can still be seen in Dublin, as in the recent production by the Perm Ballet of Giselle.

Sadly, productions like the Russian State Ballet's Cinderella give Russian Ballet a bad name.