Tolstoy’s novel, a little-known composer (Rodion Shchedrin), a hot Russian choreographer (Alexei Ratmansky, who is currently artist in residence at the American Ballet Theatre and a former director of the Bolshoi Ballet) and some of the world’s loveliest dancers in a 250-year-old dance troupe made the Mariinsky Ballet’s new “Anna Karenina” a compelling evening of dance.
Anna, played Monday by Diana Vishneva, showed off her limpid technique; all dancers on stage had remarkable, fleet feet, with prominent arches. Many of them are very tall and all are a pleasure to watch.
And although “Anna Karenina” was only onstage for three nights during the famed group’s brief engagement, you can still catch the Mariinsky Ballet on Saturday in another one of Ratmansky’s works, “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” based on a Russian fairy tale, and a double bill featuring choreographers Alberto Alonso’s “Carmen” and George Balanchine’s “Symphony in C.”
Mariinsky Ballet
Through Saturday
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center; 212-721-6500
$20-225; www.lincolncenterfestival.org
