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Who’s Eifman?
A phenomenon explained; plus José Mateo
BY IRIS FANGER

This weekend, Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg returns to the Wang Theatre with the world premiere of Who’s Who, a story ballet that promises to be as audacious a spectacle as any Boris Eifman has brought to our shores. Although his previous ballets have explored the lives — and psyches — of such outsized real and fictional characters as Hamlet, Don Juan, Tchaikovsky, and the Russian ballerina Olga Spessivtseva, Who’s Who seems to have raided the film industry for its material and American pop dance culture for its style.

The plot, as described by Eifman’s American producer, Sergei Danilian, concerns two Russian classical dancers who flee to America after the Revolution, in search of "a better life, better jobs, and freedom. It’s a different kind of dance for Eifman. His works are usually based on famous people. This is the first ballet story with regular people as heroes. "

As the scenario points out, there’s no such thing as a classical ballet company in the United States in the 1920s, so the two men are reduced to selling their Imperial Theatre costumes at a flea market. They find work only after dressing as women to audition for a nightclub chorus line — shades of Some Like It Hot. Then there’s Miami filmmaker Bill, who’s doing a movie about gangsters: he falls in love with one of our heroes, and that leads to a wedding, complete with on-stage chuppah, but the bride goes missing. The action is embellished by a pair of dream sequences, reminders of the device that Agnes de Mille made famous to express characters’ motivations.

All of the above is set to American jazz — Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Scott Joplin — plus music by Samuel Barber and Sergei Rachmaninov. " There are two dream scenes in the show, " Danilian explains, " the dark dream set to music by Barber and the light dream to music by Rachmaninov composed when he was in America. The show is Eifman’s voice of dedication to Americans. The idea came after September 11. He decided to bring something light, funny, more optimistic to the US. It’s his gift, a Russian choreographer’s vision of American culture. "

Eifman is something of an anomaly in Russia and the United States, working outside the system of the established ballet companies in his homeland and without the regular concert presenters here. Danilian brought the company to New York for the first time in 1998, when it created a sensation with the public and was praised by the New York Times, though other critics were unimpressed by his overcooked dance psychodramas. Returning six months later, the troupe sold out 15 New York shows; a year later it embarked on an extensive US tour of nearly 60 performances. This weekend’s Boston engagement opens a 10-week national tour for the company of 40 dancers.

Also this weekend, José Mateo’s Ballet Theatre starts a five-weekend run of " New Dances, " which includes two premieres, one set to Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G and one to Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 (Surprise). Mateo’s troupe performs in Harvard Square’s Old Cambridge Baptist Church, which he’s transformed into a performance space complete with tables and bar service, plus studios for his well-regarded ballet school.

Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg presents Who’s Who at the Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont Street in the Theater District, Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are $29.50 to $59.50; call Telecharge at (800) 447-7400, or visit www.wangcenter.org, or stop by the box office. José Mateo’s Ballet Theatre presents " New Dances " at the Sanctuary Theatre in Old Cambridge Baptist Church, 400 Harvard Street in Harvard Square, through April 13, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. Tickets are $28. Call (617) 354-7467.

Issue Date: March 13 - 20, 2003

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