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Bolshoi Ballet performing Act 2 Giselle, Grande Pas Classique, The Ultimate Tango, Diana and Acteaon, The Dying Swan, Don Quixote Grand pas de deux in Recife Brazil.

Having the opportunity of seeing the Bolshoi in Brazil made up for the fact that I will miss them this summer in England. However I think that the experience of seeing them in Brazil was very different from anything you would see at home. To begin with they were half an hour late, which apparently is very good by Brazilian standards. I felt very sorry for the dancers because they had to put up with camera flashes, mobile phones and people moving around the theatre. To complete the strange experience I only discovered when the performance ended that the company had decided to cut the second Act, which was supposed to be Spartacus Act 2, because it was not worth their while bringing all of the scenery for just one performance.

The second Act of Giselle was danced with a very small company but the uniformity of appearance especially in the corps made it more interesting. Sergei Filin danced Albrecht and Inna Petrova Giselle. He was full of huge jumps and fast turns which were impressive but not always neatly performed. She was a little earthbound but was a very tender Giselle and put a lot of feeling behind it.

The second half was also a mixture of high and low points. My favorite part was the Diana and Acton pas de deux danced by Anna Antonicheva and Dmitri Belogolovtsev. She was beautiful to watch and certainly stood out from the rest. Her jumps were light and she had great extension (having never seen Sylvie I cannot compare). It was interesting to see her fouettes done on her left side which I have never seen before. It was a shame that they did not perform Spartacus because she would have danced Phrygia.

Another high point was Marianna Ryzhkina in the Don Quixote pas de deux. Her movements were strong and sharp and there was passion behind her dancing. She performed a fantastic set of fouettes with doubles every third turn.

I was disappointed with The Last Tango although it was the main crowd pleaser (probably due to the Latin American connections) Although it was technically good there was no passion behind it and the couple, Nina Semizorova and Mark Peretokin, made little eye contact.

Overall it was a pleasure to watch although I donīt think that I saw the first company. Nevertheless it might give some indication of what might arrive in England this summer, and it certainly looks promising.