Grace, Elegance Put Mezentseva Atop Ballet World

Prima ballerina Galina Mezentseva is the world’s most famous dying swan. At least that’s what the dance critic at the St. Petersburg Times, a weekly Englishlanguage newspaper in Russia, says. And, really, few in the ballet world would argue.

The Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg accepted Mezentseva as a student at age 9, and within a decade she became one of the thenSoviet Union’s premier dancers.

“We lived a luxurious and advantaged life close to that reserved only for the Communist elite,” Mezentseva, now in her 40s, said during an interview with St. Petersburg Times reporter Chris Graeme. “At a time when eight families could be crammed into a communal apartment, I, by the age of 25, had a three-room apartment all to myself, as well as two cars and a chauffeur.”

But like other famed Russian dancers, including Mikhail Barishnikov, Mezentseva felt the Soviet system restricted artistic growth. After mastering classic ballets such as “Swan Lake” and “Le Corsaire,” she sought new challenges beyond the boundaries of Communist life. She stunned the ballet world when she defected in 1990 to Scotland and joined the Scottish Ballet Company.

Today, she lives in Kensington, London, but appears as a guest artist with the St. Petersburg Ballet throughout the world, including the ballet’s hometown. On Tuesday, Mezentseva will dance with the St. Petersburg Ballet at the Spokane Opera House. The troupe and Mezentseva last performed in Spokane (and in Pullman) in October 1995.

While Mezetseva is arguably the world’s most famous classical ballet dancer (clearly the writers in St. Petersburg have elevated her to the status of goddess), her rendition of “The Dying Swan” is unequaled among contemporary performers. The program Tuesday night will close with Mezetseva performing this Michel Fokine solo.

After a performance of “The Dying Swan” at the Hermitage Theater in Russia last year, critic Graeme said: “Her grace, poise and elegance were faultless and her posture perfect right down to her fingertips. This is not just an incredibly talented dancer, this is an accomplished actress, a legend who uses every muscle in her body to portray the emotional agony of death in her famous rendition of the short ballet ‘The Dying Swan.’

“… As the famous Russian choreographer Leonid Yakobsen once said: ‘Many can dance brilliantly, but very few can speak the language of dance.’ Mezentseva clearly can.”

While Mezentseva clearly is the prima ballerina in St. Petersburg Ballet’s appearance in Spokane, she’s not the whole show. While classical ballet fans probably won’t recognize the names of the company dancers, they will be familiar with most of the other ballets on the program: “The Nutcracker” pas de six, the White Adagio from “Swan Lake,” the pas de sklav from “Le Corsaire” and the pas de deux from “Don Quixote.” Other ballets rounding out the program include the “La Vivandiere” pas de six, the monologue from “Legend of Love,” “Passione” and “Remember When?” which is set to the music of George Gershwin by choreographer Peggy Willis-Aarnio.

Willis-Aarnio is notable in that, after Mezentseva defected and feared a degradation of her talents for lack of a classically trained teacher, the choreographer contacted the ballerina offering to teach her. At the time, Willis-Aarnio was teaching dance at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

“This lady called us; we couldn’t be serious about this little town in Texas,” Mezentseva said in an interview. “After a few words I realized this lady is a professional, she knows the language. I canceled two performances and flew out to meet her. My manager thought I was crazy. Peggy gave me a lesson, and I said thank goodness I have finally found a choreographer who can train me.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: BALLET The St. Petersburg Ballet will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Spokane Opera House. Tickets are $25, $20 and $18 ($20, $15 and $13 for students). 325-SEAT.