Embraced by the magnificent opera of Bizet, the dancers of the Ballet Royal Héritage tried staying coordinated in very fast and changing steps. Despite the good jumps of some of the male dancers, the overall impression displayed a lack of merging between the choreography and the singing of the opera, and ill-prepared performances by some of the dancers. Luckily, Igor Yebra & Oksana Kucheruk, stars of l´Opera National de Bordeaux, saved the play.
Igor´s facial expression transmitted all the way to the back row of the Léman Theatre and Oksana´s complete dominance of point shoes (held by a only a thin lace) allowed her to stay balanced even on top of a cheap moving wood-wheeled platform that was their only scenery on stage to simulate a different setting. At some point it was scary to see and with another stage she could have showed more of the Spanish pícara attitude of her gypsy role. This was overtaken by the scary platform. The costumes seemed very low budget as well, and were more reminiscent of Hawaii than Spain. It was a pity to see such great stars in such a limited environment only having the possibility to rely on sheer talent to fill the stage.
R&L Green