Virtuoso dancing in Hungarian National Ballet's Laurencia

By Graham Watts, 11 March 2020

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“Tatiana Melnik is a rare jewel in the company’s crown”

Reviewed at Erkel Színház (Erkel Theatre), Budapest on 6 March 2020

Laurencia (Vakhtang Chabukiani, Mikhail Messerer)

Hungarian National Ballet

Pavel Sorokin, Conductor

István Rózsa, Set Designer

Nóra Rományi, Costume Designer

Tatiana Melnik, Dancer

Gergely Leblanc, Dancer

Cristina Balaban, Dancer

Lili Felméry, Dancer

Iurii Kekalo, Dancer

Jessica Carulla Leon, Dancer

Hungarian State Opera Orchestra

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In addition to providing a showcase for the principals, the ballet provides ample opportunity for the company's soloists to shine.

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The story may be a bit thin but the quantity of its dancing makes up for it. Laurencia is a ballet little known in the west (though the Mikhailovsky Ballet brought it to London in 2010). Combining the jollities of Don Quixote with the revolutionary fervour found in Flames of Paris, Laurencia is really just an excuse to fill the stage with non-stop dancing.

****1

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Graham Watts

Graham Watts is a freelance dance writer and critic writing regularly for Dancing Times, Dance Europe, Danza Europa, and many more publications. He regularly writes features for Sadler’s Wells, London Coliseum and La Scala. Chairman of the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle in the United Kingdom and of the UK National Dance Awards he has interviewed many of the greatest names in dance including Maya Plisetskaya, Vladimir Vasiliev, Boris Eifman, Alexei Ratmansky, Andris Liepa, Sir Peter Wright, David Bintley and Dame Gillian Lynne. When not involved in dance Graham is a keen fencer, and has captained the British Sabre team.