PARIS/FRANCE: The Bolshoi Ballet from Moscow is guesting at the Palais Garnier in Paris, and are getting good reviews for its presentation of Alexei Rathmansky´s whole evening ballet Lost Illusions. In this piece Rathmansky creates visions of the past.

By Henning Høholt

Diana Vishneva is danscing the leading role in this production, which is a story ballet set to a commissioned score by Leonid Desyatnikov. Based on a libretto by Vladimir Dmitriev from 1936. It was mr. Rathmansky´s first creation for the Bolshoi company, after he moved from Moscow to New York
. It was premiered in September 2011, shortly after Sergei Filin was appointed as artistic director for the Bolshoi Ballet. Lost Illusions is in three acts, with characters in several important acting roles and it gives several important acting roles and dramatic prevetive possibilities to the three central characters , headed by Diana Vishneva, (Coralie) and Ekaterina Shipulina, (Florine),  dancing in what is suppose to be a version like of La Sylphide by the character Lucien, danced by Vladislav Lantratov, at the Saturday performance
. Costumes and scenography by Jérôme Kaplan, and melodic music by Leonid Desyatnikov.

Bolshoi Ballet. Lost Illusions by Alexei Rathmansky, photo Damir Yusupov

Still that the Bolshoi Ballet from Moscow is a popular guest in the French capital in a warm Paris, and spite in the good skills of mr. Rathmansky, the good dancers in a strong performance, Lost Illusions didn´t convince entirely. His wish of presenting a story ballet is good and is needed in the ballet world, where to day, only a few famouse story ballets are surviving, such as Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Sylvia, La Sylphide, Romeo and Julia, Onegin, La Bayadere,  Le Corsaire, and also Flames of Paris. Mr
. Rathmanskys creations are however fascinating.

Lost Illusions