Cinderella meets a Russian princess

Gwen Herat from Swansea's Grand Theatre

THEATRE: My friends and I had to wait in the foyer of the Grand Theatre until Princess Olga of Russia made her appearance for mounting of Cinderella. There was excitement in the air as she was introduced to the dancers of Cinderella.

An attractive woman at 56, her passion for ballet was obvious. The media was frenzied by her first visit to South Wales, Swansea and the dancers were impatient to get on boards to display their Russian training.

The real-life Russian princess and Cinderella crossed paths at the glittering night of ballet.

Princess Olga Ramonoff cast her expert eye over Ballet Russe's premiere of the fairy tale that has thrilled all children around the world. The princess's family and the Russian dancers left their homeland under very different circumstances.

The Ballet Russe's fortunes suffered with the collapse of communism and they settled unhappily in Bristol before moving over to Swansea when they originally arrived in England. This was over seven years ago. Princess Olga's father fled the revolution torn Russia after his uncle, Tsar Nicholas II, and his wife and children were murdered in 1918.

Royal guest

He escaped on HMS Marlborough, a cruiser sent by King George V whose mother was the sister of the Tsar's mother. During her short stay in Swansea, Princess Olga will be hosted by John Isaac and his family in the beautiful Mumbles.

Isaac is a trustee of the Ballet Russe and was thrilled to have the royal guest in Mumbles. He knew her parents and had met the princess many times in London and Kent where she lived. He was able to coax her to attend the opening night of Cinderella.

Princess Olga is a footnote to history with what happened to her family. Her aunt was married to a prince who assassinated Rasputin, The princess belongs to the former imperial family who as a tradition, supported ballet. So, princess Olga is perpetuating that tradition.

Tonight's Cinderella is written by Russian, Sergei Prokofiev and a very funny romantic, containing modern and classical choreography. The costumes and settings are designed in Germany and appeal to all ages.

Ballet schools

Many people who discover ballet tonight in Swansea, will be completely captivated as few visiting companies touch down in this city. Ballet Russe comprises 12 leading dancers who came from Russia and among them is one English and the prima ballerina a Japanese.

The rest of the cast are taken from ballet schools around Swansea. A few students travelled from London to join the cast. Director of Ballet Russe, Isaac said they were keen in mounting a light ballet before they moved over to classics so that gradually they could build up a greater audience.

A high profile person like Princess Olga gave the initial impetus and all shows were over-booked. The ballet presentation was marvellous as all dancers did their roles with passion and fire.

For a ballet ensemble like the Ballet Russe that is hardly a few decades old and suffered much frustration in Russia, they have made good in England as a resident ballet company. They have all the options of visiting the major cities as a touring ensemble and make a great impact in time to come.

Cinderella

Especially choreographed for children, this fairy tale is known by all and the magic in the story, makes it one of the most sought after ballets. Especially the 'Pas de deux' executed by the prince and Cinderella is the dream of all leading dancers.

The original Russian version was mounted as Zolu Shika. The French called Cendrillon while the Italians named it as Cinderentola. The Germans too had their own name; Aschenbrodel. The ballet is in 3 Acts and 7 scenes to the music of Prokofiev and choreographed by Zakhorov in a spectacular production in 1945 for the Bolshoi, Moscow with Lepeshinkaya and Gabovih.

Other productions of the ballet with different choreography included K. Sergeyev in Leningrad in 1946. Ashton directed one for the Sadler's Wells Ballet in December 1948 and another for Covent Garden, London with Shearer and Somes. Orilkovosky did his version in Paris in 1963.

Stevenson mounted it for the National Ballet of Washington in 1970. More and more choreographers found Cinderella tempting to have their versions mounted. There was the London Festival Ballet's version while a film production was launched in 1971, which was the production of the Bolshoi version.

The earlier treatments of Cinderella were by Duport in Vienna in 1813 and Reisinger in Moscow in 1871. Petipa with music by Schell in 1989 was perhaps the most successful in that era and mounted at St. Petersburg.

There were more and more debuts of this fairy tale either at full length or in excerpts. Different choreographers opted for different scores and the popular ones among them were Prokofiev and Johanne Strauss.

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