PEORIA, IL --The Grand Kyiv Ballet danced its way into the Peoria Civic Center Theater on October 16, performing the beautiful classic Swan Lake.
The dancers were wonderful, the sets and costumes were elegant, and the recorded music was fine, though a live orchestra would have been nice to have.
The only flaw in the evening was the lack of a printed program. Who were these wonderful young dancers from Ukraine? Did we see a future Rudolph Nureyev? The wizard character Rothbart was brilliant. In fact all the male dancers were terrific. The famous scene with the pas de deux was especially well done.
The Civic Center Theater remains its shabby self, but a staff member said it's soon going to be renovated. Now if they will just require printed programs for any presentation in the theater, and ditch the 'no-purses' rule....
-- Elaine Hopkins