From dance review on Online Merker (German)

BAYERISCHES STAATSBALLETT: „DIE KAMELIENDAME“ — 15 February, 2015

by Gisela Schmöger

The performance at 19:30 on Feb. 15th promised to be especially enthralling since the Bavarian State Ballet had invited Artem Ovcharenko, the Principal Dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet, for the role of Armand. The expectations were completely justified. Ovcharenko is an exceptionally interesting dancer. His Armand is very boyish and romantic, very close to the character in the Alexandre Dumas' novel. With his fine, delicate interpretation, he brought the audience to enchanting enthusiasm. They were not only mesmerized by his wonderful acting, but also completely captured, by his fascinating dance. He mastered this difficult role with a stupendous ease and was almost flowing across the stage. His jumps and gestures were perfect in all respects. It was a level we had never seen in Munich. In addition, Ovcharenko is a very experienced partner who completed the PDD with Daria Sukhorukova very well, although only a few days ago he had stepped in for the ailing Matej Urban. The only shortcoming was that Ovcharenko's dance was not deeply emotional in some scenes that might have been necessary for an absolutely touching rendition of his role. However, his performance was a great success. Daria Sukhorukova as Marguerite also contributed to an excellent quality of this performance. Especially as a woman in unconditional love in the act II and, in desperation, due to love lost in the act III, she deeply touched the audience. The other soloists such as Javier Amo as Gaston, Zuzana Zahradníková as Prudence or Ivy Amista as Olympia were evidently inspired by the guest from Moscow. All of them were dancing very well this evening. An extra praise should be given to Séverine Ferrolier and Maxim Chaschegorov who dancing the roles of Manon and Des Grieux for the second time (the same day matinée was their debut). Michael Schmidtsdorff directed the Bavarian State Orchestra, Wolfgang Manz and Simon Murray were, as always, excellent pianists.

Hopefully, we would see Artem Ovcharenko again and soon in Munich!

Photo © Marc Haegeman — Dariya Sukhorukova and Artem Ovcharenko

English translation by Yilu Chen and Natalia Solomenko