Marvelous Moiseyev!

Last night I went to a see Russia’s fabulous Moiseyev Dance Company at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts located on the campus of Brooklyn College. Most would agree that Moiseyev is the world’s premier folk ballet dance company. They certainly lived up to that billing last evening. Their performance was simply spectacular. Bravo!

Maybe you remember their Partisans dance from a while back. This current program certainly wasn’t lacking anything, but it would have been great to see them perform it once again. Perhaps they will in a future appearance. I’ll be there of they do.

This acknowledged masterpiece of stagecraft – considered by many his signature work – was created by Moiseyev as a tribute to the mountaineers of various nationalities who banded together to fight against Nazis in the region of the north Caucasus. The scouting party appears first in the scene, followed by the Partisan unit, which engages the enemy. It is impossible not to believe that these partisans are actually riding horses through the mountain passes.

The video does little justice to their excellence. This review in the Washington Post about their Thursday performance does a much better job. In the final analysis, however, you must see them in a live performance.

It was a packed house and my Goldstar discounted balcony seat was a major bargain at $19. The view was just fine with lots of Russian language conversation going on around me. It could just as well have been Moscow. What a legacy Igor Aleksandrovich left to the world. Long live Moiseyev!

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