Advertisement
Performing arts in Hong Kong
LifestyleArts

Review | Mariinsky Ballet’s Maria Khoreva dazzles in Rudolf Nureyev tribute at Hong Kong festival

Mariinsky Ballet’s Maria Khoreva shows why she is making waves, hometown hero Lam Chun-wing earns acclaim in tribute to a legend of dance

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
Maria Khoreva and Jacopo Tissi in the Act III pas de deux from La Bayadère, part of Nureyev & Friends – A Ballet Gala Tribute, a programme of the 53rd Hong Kong Arts Festival. Photo: Tony Luk, courtesy of the Hong Kong Arts Festival
Natasha Rogai

More than 30 years after his untimely death in 1993, Rudolf Nureyev’s name has lost none of its magic. Nureyev & Friends – A Ballet Gala Tribute revisits a project Nureyev himself created in which a group of dancers would tour with a programme of short pieces, presenting top-notch ballet around the world.

The repertoire consisted of works drawn from Nureyev’s career. It ranged from the familiar, with some of ballet’s most famous pas de deux, to lesser-known pieces and featured some of Nureyev’s own choreography, making for an interestingly eclectic programme.

Fittingly, the performers included dancers from the three companies with which Nureyev was most closely associated: the Paris Opera Ballet, Britain’s Royal Ballet and what is now St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Ballet – Leningrad’s Kirov Ballet when Nureyev was there.

After its initial revival in Vienna in 2024, this first Asian edition had as artistic adviser Paris Opera Ballet “Étoile” Charles Jude, a protégé of Nureyev who danced in those original tours; the artistic director was former Royal Ballet principal David Makhateli; and the project manager was Hong Kong’s own Lam Chun-wing, the first Chinese dancer to join the Paris Opera Ballet.
Mathieu Ganio, formerly of Paris Opera Ballet, and one of the troupe’s star ballerinas, Dorothée Gilbert, dance the duet from Act IV of Swan Lake as part of Nureyev & Friends – a Ballet Gala Tribute. Photo: Tony Luk, courtesy of the Hong Kong Arts Festival
Mathieu Ganio, formerly of Paris Opera Ballet, and one of the troupe’s star ballerinas, Dorothée Gilbert, dance the duet from Act IV of Swan Lake as part of Nureyev & Friends – a Ballet Gala Tribute. Photo: Tony Luk, courtesy of the Hong Kong Arts Festival

Galas are, inevitably, a lucky dip – some of the dancing was sublime, some good; if some was disappointing, the high points made up for it.

Advertisement