Ballet giants on course for collision
IF Bolshoi means ''big'' what could be bigger? Try two Russian ballet giants set on a near-collision course. From June 10-13, Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet will perform at the Cultural Centre Grand Theatre. Just three days later, the Byelorussian Ballet from Minsk will take over the + same venue for six performances including a matinee.
If nothing else, this back-to-back deluge will make local ballet history; literally hundreds of top Russian dancers descending on Hongkong. Which to choose? ''I'm confident ballet-lovers will watch both companies,'' said Michael Hosking, managing director of Midas Productions which is handling the Byelorussian Ballet's Hongkong season.
Mr Hosking is right to be optimistic. True, ticket sales for the Bolshoi have been brisk, while the opposition, which tossed away a crucial advantage by booking the Grand Theatre perilously late in the day, can only claim ''quite good''.
Even so, the laggard looks like being the greater crowd-pleaser. Compare the two: from the Bolshoi Ballet will come a cast of 44 including 17 principals, led by that ''priceless jewel'' prima ballerina Natalia Bessmertnova. Accompanying them in a mixed bill - half the programme given over to Swan Lake, Act II - will be the Hongkong Sinfonietta.
From the Byelorussian Ballet will come 75 dancers who will present the full-length spectacular, Spartacus plus a mixed programme, accompanied by the company's own symphony orchestra - 55 musicians for this tour.
Judging by past efforts in Hongkong, the Minsk dancers are also likely to have the artistic edge. True, the legendary Moscow company was long-synonymous with Russian ballet at its best, but as the Bolshoi revealed with a kitsch, and decidedly patchy Giselle at the Grand Theatre in September 1990, things ain't what they used to be.
Once known as the great innovator, artistic director Yuri Grigorovich has increasingly been dubbed the great-stick-in-the-mud and recent years have seen many of the company's most gifted dancers voting with their feet by joining companies in the West. By contrast, Valentin Yelisariev, guiding light of the Byelorussian Ballet, firmly believes in putting dynamic young talent up front.