The jump of God

by Petar PLAMENOV

Balanchine & Farrell: American Ballet for Bulgaria
Premiere
Conductor - Boris Spasov

9 June (Thursday), 19:00
10 June (Friday), 19:00
11 June (Saturday), 15:00, 19:00
National Opera and Ballet
Address:
Sofia, 1 Vrabcha Str.
Phone: 02 987 13 66

Agon
performed by The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, choreographed by George Balanchine with music by Stravinsky and staged by Suzanne Farrell, Guest - Conductor Emil de Cou;

Divertimento Brillante
performed by the Bulgarian National Ballet, choreographed by George Balanchine with music by Glinka and staged by Suzanne Farrell;

Stepping Stones
performed by the Bulgarian National Ballet, choreographed by Kathryn Posin with music by Joan Tower and staged by Gerard Charles;

Vardar Suite
performed by the Bulgarian National Ballet choreographed and staged by Momchil Mladenov with music by Pancho Vladigerov




George Balanchine (1904-1983) (Georgi Melitonovich Balanchivadze) was born in St. Petersburg (Jan 22, 1904) into a very musical family and began studying the piano at age 5. He received a classical education, acting and dance training, beginning at age 9, from the Imperial Theater School in St. Petersburg. It was originally thought that young Georgi would become one of the Tsar's cadets, so it was with the thought that if things didn't work out at the ballet school he could always join the army. In fact, in his first year he was not at all thrilled by what he was learning. It was only once he got to perform in the Maryinsky Theater in such spectacles as The Sleeping Beauty (his favorite) that Balanchine became enamored of the theater.

Balanchine was raised on the dance traditions of the classical Russian ballet established by Petipa. Despite having all the best teachers and dancers in the world at the time Balanchine states that "Contrary to popular belief, ballet was not taken very seriously by the Russian public. It was an entertainment almost exclusively for the aristocracy, among whom there were perhaps only a few gentlemen who were not primarily interested in what the ballerinas were doing after the performance." This changed with the revolution. Ballet was banned for a period until the Minister of Education, Lunacharsky, a balletomane, persuaded the authorities to gradually reinstate ballet.



Balanchine began to work with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes that he became exposed to a stimulating array of choreographers, composers and artists such as Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Satie, Ravel, Picasso, Cocteau and Chagall. With the departure of Bronislava Nijinska from the Ballets Russes in 1925, Diaghilev made Balanchine, at age 21, ballet master (principal choreographer) for his company. Balanchine's first substantive effort was Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges (1925), the first of four treatments he would make of this score over the years. Next was a reworking of Stravinsky's Le Chant du Rossignol, in which 14-year-old Alicia Markova made her stage debut. From that time until Diaghilev's death in 1929, Balanchine created nine more ballets, including Apollon Musagète (1928) and Prodigal Son (1929).

Прочети цялата новина

Свързани новини: