Esthetical pleasure from Russia in the form of a ballet lit up Glen Ellyn

Esthetical pleasure from Russia in the form of a ballet lit up Glen Ellyn - by Natalia Dagenhart

You buy a ticket and go to a ballet performance. Ballet dancers come out to the stage, dance, and soon the performance is over. You get up and go home. What is left with you? What do you bring home? The answer is - the esthetical pleasure. You can't touch it, you can't eat it, and you can't put it on; but it stays with you forever as a beautiful and elegant memory and emotion. It lights up your life with the touching sounds of music and with the beautiful moves of the ballet performers who don't just show their ballet skills, but first of all demonstrate their heart and soul through each little move they make.

On January 15, Russian National Ballet Theatre lit up suburban Glen Ellyn with one of the most elegant kinds of art in the world - ballet. It gave two successful "Swan Lake" ballet performances at DuPage County's premier cultural entertainment center - McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage. Both performances were sold out days before the date. Suburban residents couldn't wait to attend this great event organized so close to their home. They had high expectations of this ballet company, and as always the Russian ballet dancers met those expectations.

Russian National Ballet Theatre brought to the Chicago suburbs fifty leading dancers from across Russia as part of its 2017 four month coast-to-coast tour of the United States. Talented performers, majestic costumes and stunning choreography united to tell an unforgettable fairy tale full of dramatic episodes. This full-length ballet in four acts with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovksy, choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, additional choreography and staging by Iryna Kovalova and artistic direction by Elena Radchenko once again demonstrated the high level of the timeless traditions of classical Russian Ballet.

Among the stunning ballet dancers that wowed the public at the McAninch Arts Center were: Olga Gudkova as the white swan Odette, Hanna Zimovchenko as the black swan Odylle, Nelson Pena as Prince Siegfried, Evgeniy Rudakov as sorcerer Von Rothbart, and Sergey Kotov as Jester. The audience greeted all the dancers with a great appreciation. Here is what the audience members shared with me during the intermission and after the performance.

Ludmila: I love it very much! My daughter Simona is doing ballet now. We are watching the steps, the moves. They are so gorgeous, their costumes, every move they make!

Nicole: I am enjoying it! Jester has the best choreography.

Robby: That's my first time at the ballet. It is way harder than I expected it to be. They have to put a lot of work to perform that good. My daughter just started the ballet this semester. I am excited for her!!!

Daniel: I like this ballet and the Russian dancers. I saw it already in the past, and every time I enjoy it. I am half-Russian and I am proud of our Russian ballet performers!

David: The combination of the music and the choreography is amazing!

Dave: Awesome! I loved it absolutely! I went online and read the story about what's happening in this ballet, and it helped a lot. It was the first time I have seen a Russian ballet, and my wife saw it the second time. It is great that they came to the COD, not to downtown Chicago. It is good for the local audience. It makes you feel important that Russian ballet came to the suburbs.

Karin: I enjoyed it very much! I was glad to read the story ahead of time so I could follow the dances and the acts. Otherwise, it would not have made any sense to watch it. Music was amazing, romantic, and dramatic; it was invigorating; it kept your attention. The lighting was good, the change of the dancers was good; it kept you captivated.

However, I would like to make a little remark about some audience members who are still learning to appreciate ballet. It was very upsetting for me to see some people making a lot of noise by opening crispy bags with food, chewing on crunchy pop-corn, opening crackly wrapping paper that wraps suckers and other kinds of candy, talking after being done with their food and texting on their cell phones. And all this was happening during a stunning performance, where talented and hardworking ballet dancers with great inspiration were extending their toes in their spectacular moves and while heavenly music composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovksy was playing.

I wanted to ask all these people only one question: why did you come to the ballet? Why didn't you go to a fast food place and eat, send texts and talk there? Why spend time and money to go to the ballet performance when you are extremely hungry and have an urgency to talk? By doing that, these people showed disrespect first of all to themselves, then to the people surrounding them, and what is even more important, to the ballet dancers. These dancers worked very hard to become excellent in their profession, they put all their heart and soul into it and travelled all over the globe to demonstrate their skills, professionalism and historic dancing traditions to be treated like that? I understand when a two year old can't wait until the end of the performance and starts whining, but an adult person can wait to finish her pop-corn after the show or can eat a good meal before attending a performance.

What makes me happy in this situation is that the majority of the audience members did appreciate the performance and did watch it with great attention. They appreciated the ballet dancers' acting, which was very natural and gorgeous. Besides the excellent dancing technique, the public enjoyed the dancers' inspiration and love to profession that was seen through the dancers' eyes and moves. Their extensions were spectacular and went all the way until the end of their feet and beyond, and that line was extended into infinity.

That day, the Russian National Ballet Theatre lit up the Chicago suburbs with its two incredible "Swan Lake" performances that brought the audience members to the infinity of esthetical pleasure. It's an everyday life for these great ballet dancers and it's their mission - to enrich this world culturally and esthetically and to make it more friendly, kind and loving.

Natalia Dagenhart