N E W S ...&... R E V I E W S
Recent Review

Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007

By Matthew Erikson
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH – Even though the scheduled lead guest star was sidelined by a leg injury, the Metropolitan Classical Ballet's season-opening concert Monday evening had a silver lining.

The Arlington-based company's principal dancer, Olga Pavlova, took the place of Bolshoi ballerina Marianna Ryzhinka to perform in not one but two of the ballets on the mixed bill at Bass Hall. Ryzhinka was missed. But as the title temptress in the Carmen Suite and the lead in Paul Mejia's Scriabin Sonata, Pavlova demonstrated once again why she is among the most exciting dancers in the Metroplex.

Much else in Monday's program followed a familiar formula. Now in its 11th season, the company has been content under the unusual co-artistic leadership of Alexander Vetrov and Mejia to present Bolshoi-style ballets alongside Mejia's Balanchine-inspired pieces. In addition, all three of the works on Monday's program have been seen recently. Fortunately, Pavlova and the company's young talent prevented much of the programming from seeming stale.

With Pavlova, it is her sassy personality, beautiful extensions and magnetic stage presence that generate heat -- even in Vetrov's too abstract staging of Carmen, which is based on the original Bolshoi choreography by Alberto Alonso. Andrey Prikhodko and Yevgeni Anfinogenov helped complete the story's love triangle with their stirring athleticism.

Pavlova and Anfinogenov (who happens to be Pavlova's husband) were also the main attraction in Mejia's Scriabin Sonata, with the two dancing a dreamy duet at the work's core. A trio of "suitors" wasn't nearly as well-coordinated.