A New & Improved Course for the Kirov

It was with some reluctance that I went to Boston last week to see the Kirov Ballet dance "Swan Lake" at the Wang Center, where it was part of the Bank of America Celebrity Series, which first brought the Kirov to Boston in 2003. At that time the Kirov was still coasting on the strength of its performances of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when it looked as though it had undergone a glorious rebirth. The years since 2003, however, have seen an alarming decline in the Kirov's standards. Yet in Boston, the company succeeded and even triumphed. The reason was that it had apparently decided, or been forced to clean up its act— at least temporarily.

Much of what the Kirov has been putting onstage in recent years — on tour and in St. Petersburg, Russia — is on the level of onstage training exercises. The roster has been for some time now dominated by dancers in their late teens and early 20s, while at the same time there has been an attempt to drive off dancers who might show up the fledglings. Whereas traditionally Kirov ballerinas have danced well into their 40s, a Kirov dancer in her late-20s recently told me: "In this company, a ballerina my age is old."

The mature Kirov dancers who have managed to hold on have done so because they are celebrities — like Uliana Lopatkina or Diana Vishneva — or because they are coached by powerful members of the artistic staff.

At the three performances I saw in Boston, the lead roles were, for a change, cast responsibly. The protégés who came on the tour remained exactly where they should have been: in supporting roles. Boston was the last leg of a one-month tour in which the company performed "Romeo and Juliet" three times and "Swan Lake" 20 times.

Although the company occasionally looked exhausted, it performed heroically in Boston. The corps de ballet deserved the ovations it received at every performance. Inimitable, too, were the company's character dancers and their performance of the Spanish, Hungarian, Neapolitan, and Polish dances in the Act III ballroom setting.

Ms. Lopatkina was Odette/Odile on Thursday night, giving one of the best performances of "Swan Lake" I've seen her dance. As the White Swan she employed few mannerisms — or rather exactly the right ones, employed judiciously. While always strikingly regal and slightly aloof, she was more vulnerable than she has sometimes been, which is all to the good. As the Black Swan, she evinced or simulated an unusual abandon and her fouettés were flawless. Her extensions are now higher, and, as always, her long, long arms are extraordinary, seemingly devoid of sinew or bone, their line perfect to the tips of her fingers. Ms. Lopatkina's Prince Siegfried was Igor Zelensky, who at times bore the imprint of a long and punishing career, but showed throughout the performance that he remains a great dancer.

In the Act I pas de trois, there was also a gratifyingly refreshed performance by Anton Korsakov. Mr. Korsakov is a privileged person in the company, and I've seen him dance the same piece in Russia with a complacency that made that privilege all too egregious. Here he was slimmer, more animated, stylish, and attentive to niceties. He's been allowed to substitute a volley of entrechat-six for the equally difficult but less showy series of double scissone jumps that conclude the variation. Whatever one thinks of this kind of accommodation — and it's only allowed the "special" people — he performed the entrechats beautifully.

On Friday night, it was Ms. Vishneva's turn as Odette/Odile. She has had to fight a ballet royale with the administration to win the right to perform this role. It took no less than the personal intervention of Valery Gergiev to ensure that she received the opportunity she deserved. I was present for her Kirov debut at the St. Petersburg season opening a year ago, where she gave a great performance that reflected the extraordinary dedication with which she had prepared. She did not quite equal it when she danced "Swan Lake" with American Ballet Theatre in New York last June, but in Boston she did. She danced like a dream, smoothly harmonizing all the many frequencies on which she's capable of working. Astoundingly, Ms. Vishneva, who is an allegro ballerina by nature, danced the White Swan adagio at a tempo almost as slow as Ms. Lopatkina's, and did so with unhurried, in fact, luxurious cantilena and continuity. In the Black Swan, she was an incendiary whirlwind, remarkably unleashed without any cost to precision or security. Igor Kolb was a loving and supportive, and even at times, uncharacteristically passionate partner for her.

Saturday afternoon's Odette/Odile was Victoria Tereshkina, who is considerably younger than Ms. Lopatkina or Ms. Vishneva and does not have their power or authority, but gave a beautiful performance nevertheless. It was a more sensitive delivery than I would have thought possible — her true affinity has seemed to be diamond hard classical technique. She was gentle, melancholy, and even poetic as Odette; her Odile was a little brassy, but not tinsel. Danila Korsuntsev was quite good as her cavalier.

A tour de force was contributed by Vasili Scherbakov, who performed the Spanish dance in all 20 performances, as well as the Act I classical pas de trois nine times. In Boston, Mr. Scherbakov's fatigue was visible at a couple of moments, but his pas de trois was a primer of invigorated classicism by virtue of his aristocratic bearing, his incredibly high and light jump, his ability to etch lines and poses to give maximum meaning and poetry even in a display piece like this. Then in Act III, he returned to give a feral exhibition of the completely different style, technique, and coordination needed for the Spanish dance: the reckless knee bends, the arms swirling around the spiraling torso, the head cocked audaciously.

Mr. Scherbakov epitomizes the mature and deep artistry that the Kirov can generate, but the way he has been treated also epitomizes what has gone wrong in the company. He has rehearsed leading roles by every choreographer in the repertory without being allowed to perform them. Most outrageous of all, while the young favorites are now frequently sent onstage with what looks like minimal preparation, Mr. Scherbakov has rehearsed Prince Desiré in "Sleeping Beauty" with his coach, ex-Kirov star Sergei Vikulov, for almost four years without being given a single performance.

This treatment of Mr. Scherbakov — not to mention Mr. Vikulov — is scandalous, as is the attempted obstruction of Ms. Vishneva, as is so much that has gone on at the company in recent years. The Kirov has just spent too much energy on wasteful, destructive suppression, and that has brought it to the crucial point it has now reached: It can either reclaim its mantle as the world's greatest classical ballet company or it can continue to decline. For inspiration and goad, the Kirov could look to its traditional rival, Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet, which over the last few years has been able to return from near-comatose condition and has now practically overtaken the Kirov.

It will certainly take a lot of reform to make the Kirov what it can be and should be, but it would well be worth the effort.