Mariinsky Ballet's "Paquita"

This year I treated myself to a ballet subscription at the Kennedy Center. I feel like such a grown-up lady! My first show for this season was the Mariinsky Ballet* dancing Paquita. I didn't know the story, but the program included a nice summary. Essentially, gypsies steal treasure as well as a baby girl from this high-powered Spanish official, and 16-20 years later, the baby Paquita (performed by Viktoria Tereshkina) has grown up and dances with the gypsies to make money. An officer named Andrés (performed by Timur Askerov) falls in love with her, but she says he has to give up that life and join the gypsies if he wants to be with her; he does so, and they fall for each other. At some point they are accused of stealing, they're arrested, and her true identity is revealed. She is returned to her parents, and her father releases her lover from prison, so everyone is happy in the end.

Before I get into my thoughts, here's the preview video from the Kennedy Center:

Pros

• The dancing: This is a classic ballet. The third act is everything you would want from a ballet, jetés and pirouettes and all. I also enjoyed the scene when the two lovers are in prison, and even though they are separated, they are mirroring each other's movements as they dance. This dance company has so much talent!

• The sets: You can see in the video how beautiful the set is for the final act. The background landscapes are amazing throughout, and for the prison scenes, the 3-D effects of the prison walls really made you feel like you were looking at stone archways.

At the end, sheer curtains with roses came down. It was so pretty! Image found here.

• The music: Most of the music was written for the original production by Édouard Deldevez in 1846. But some things have been added to it or rearranged. Either way, the harp, flute, and of course castanets make a big appearance. The music was happy and fun, and I would listen to the score on its own.
• The costumes: As you can see from the photos, the costumes were gorgeous, especially the sparkly tutus in the final act (the "Grand Pas Variations"). But the outfits throughout the show are very pretty and colorful.

These are the gypsies dancing. You can see that Viktoria Tereshkina, the prima ballerina, is the only one in pointe shoes. Image found here.

These were their fancier performing outfits as gypsies. Image found here.

Cons

• The length: This performance includes three acts, which means there are also two intermissions. I was there for more than THREE hours! I love the ballet, but...enough is enough. There were so many scenes that just went on and on. I was actually falling asleep throughout the production because it was getting so late. Wrap it up! 
• The wigs: I can't be certain that many of the male dancers were wearing wigs, but either way, their hair looked so bad. It was shaggy and scruffy and too long...they looked like ragamuffins.

Do you see that messy flop of hair? Is that for real? Original image found here.

• The miming: In general, I prefer dance that is simply dance. A full-on story like this makes the dancers into actors, and since they cannot speak, they have to mime everything. The vigorous, obvious movements of mime are so clunky, the very opposite of the grace that ballet should be. Miming is the slapstick version of dance. Ew.
• The timing: I've never seen a ballet with so many awkward silences. I am not sure if this was done intentionally or if the orchestra was off-beat of the dancers (or vice versa). When Paquita and Andrés are taken to prison, there was absolutely NO music, so you could hear the talking and movement of the other dancers behind the scenes. There were many silent transitions, waiting for dancers to take the stage for the music to finally begin. It seemed unprofessional, honestly.

I did enjoy the show, but I would have loved it even more if it were half as long. Too much of a good thing!

*I have seen the Mariinsky Ballet perform before, so click here for the blogs posts related to Swan Lake and Le Corsaire.