Eternity of Beauty

by Petar PLAMENOV

15 September (Thursday), 2011
National Palace of Culture
Hall 1,
Start: 19:00,
Entrance: 10-50 BGN

Address:
Sofia, 1 Bulgaria Sqr.
Phone: 02 916 63 69
Phone: 02 916 63 68

Programme: Tchaikovsky, Khachaturian, Rimsky-Korsakov, Saint-Saens
Choreography by George Balanchine, Marius Petipa and R. Zakharov
Cast:
Soloists of the Mariinsky Theatre: Victoria Tereshkina, Anton Korsakov, Dennis and Anastasia Matviyenko Matviyenko
Soloists of the Bolshoi Theatre: Natalia Ossipov and Ivan Vasilev


Now the Russians are known the world over as ballet dancers of extreme quality. The greatest Russian theatres’ famous dancers will  present a remarkable ballet concert gala  with choreography works by George Balanchine, Marius Petipa and R. Zakharov with famous music bg great Russian composers Tchaikovsky, Khachaturian, Rimsky-Korsakov and other in Sofiaon the stage of National Palace of Culture.

  
 
This magnificent show is a part of the Days of Russian Intellectual Culture in Bulgaria and is organized with the kind support by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria. The event programme includes performances after popular works by composers such as Tchaikovsky, Khachaturian, Rimsky-Korsakov, Saint-Saens, etc. 

Discipline and perseverance, the ability to pursue a training programme to an achievement level and to assert oneself and on the other hand to adjust and to co-operate, an alert reaction and development of concentration, a distinctive awareness of an inner and outer posture, mental and physical agility, the ability to give feelings expression and form and to interpret them, a sense of style and tact and last but not least of course, a healthy and aware relationship to one's own body and to physical well being in general ... This is the style and strength of the Russian ballet school.

   

In 1869 Petipa took over the position of Ballet Master in Chief to the Imperial Tsar. In his role of leadership Petipa created many multi- and single-act ballets for presentation on the imperial stages of Russia. In 1869 he went to Moscow and created Don Quixote for the ballet of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Then in 1877 he created La Bayadère for the Bolshoi Theatre in St. Petersburg, (There was a Bolshoi in both Moscow and in St. Petersburg - the word Bolshoi meaning "big").





In 1890 the Italian ballerina Carlotta Brianza, (1867-1930), was chosen by Petipa to dance the title role in a new ballet called Spyashchaya Krasavitsa in Russian, La belle au Bois Dormant by the Francophile Russian Court, and The Sleeping Beauty in English. With music by Tchaikovsky composed "to spec" for Petipa, this ballet is the second of the Russian "Big Three" and is one of the great classical ballet masterpieces.

Then, continuing on their roll of success, in 1892 Petipa, Tchaikovsky, designer Ivan Vsevolozhsky, and assistant ballet master Lev Ivanov, (1834-1901), created The Nutcracker. This third of the Russian "Big Three" was based on a sweetened French retelling of the story by E.T.A. Hoffman. The Nutcracker has enjoyed huge popularity in hundreds of different versions as a "Christmas ballet."



One young dancer and choreographer with the Ballets Russes was Georgi Melitonovitch Balanchivadze, (1904-1983), whose name was later Frenchified to George Balanchine. He choreographed several works for the Ballets Russes, the most famous of which being Apollon Musagète in 1928, which has become a classic of the neo-classical ballets. Apollon Musagète, which later became Apollo, is a one-act ballet with a Greek look to it. After Diaghilev died Balanchine left the Ballets Russes and set out on his own for a while before ending up directing the dance company Ballets 1933. When that company folded he was invited to come to America by Lincoln Kirstein, (1907-1995). Kirstein knew almost nothing about ballet, and Balanchine know almost nothing about America, (except that it produced women like Ginger Rogers), and decided to take the offer and establish ballet in America.

America has George Balanchine to thank for transforming ballet from the poor relation of the other arts into one with an American identity. Balanchine retained the technical rigor from traditional ballet, while changing the focus from elaborate sets and costumes to put attention on the dancer and the story. Balanchine's approach to a vast repertoire of work has now established contemporary ballet practice all over the world.

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