The idea to organize the Summer Ballet Seasons came to Alla Nimodruk, an experienced employee of the State Concert. Its main area of activity for many years was the organization of tours of foreign artists in Russia, and vice versa: Russian artists – abroad. More than 20 years ago, when the project was just starting, the capital’s theaters with ballet troupes closed the season in June. And it turned out that in the summer, foreigners could not get to the most attractive theatrical spectacle in Russia – ballet.
Now Seasons is a successful commercial project. Its creators have relied on the classical repertoire and on the venue – and guessed it with both. This summer the Seasons will last 59 days. A total of 72 performances will be played. In all likelihood, tickets for them will be sold, despite the fact that the influx of foreign tourists is not expected now.
Orchestra, music!
The first Seasons were held on the stage of the Romen Theater. Only one group took part in them. There was no orchestra. The artists danced to the soundtrack. Beginning in 2002, the Seasons moved to the stage of RAMT – in a building with more than a century and a half history of theatrical performances. Here is a big stage. During the Seasons, it is covered with a special dance floor. The theater has an orchestra pit, and at the RAMT the summer ballet seasons began to be held with the accompaniment of an orchestra.
It soon became clear that Russian spectators wishing to attend the Seasons were no less than foreigners. At first, the organizers focused on the metropolitan teams that did not have their own venue. Foreign dancers were invited. Then the idea arose to invite theaters from Russian cities.
Perhaps it was the success of the Seasons that prompted the capital’s musical theaters to extend their work for another month. Until the end of July, the Seasons will have to compete with the Bolshoi Theater (it gives performances on three stages at once, and then provides the historical stage for the troupe of the St. Petersburg Ballet Theater named after Leonid Yakobson for eight days), as well as with the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater. But, as practice shows, even in the face of such competition, the Seasons manage to maintain demand. According to the directorate of the Seasons, over the past 20 years, the performances have been visited by about 1 million spectators.
This year, the main Russian ballet, Swan Lake by Pyotr Tchaikovsky with choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, will be performed by all four participants of the Seasons: the Mari Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Russian Classical Ballet Theatre, the National Classical Ballet and the Natalia Sats Theatre.
“Swan Lake” has the most impressions – 17. It is an all-time hit. Its visit is an obligatory ritual both for avid balletomanes and for those who are only superficially interested in ballet.
The Seasons traditionally show other legendary ballets associated with the name of Marius Petipa, a French choreographer, during the second half of the 19th century. who staged ballets on the stage of Russian theaters and received Russian citizenship only in the eighth decade of his life. Among them are The Nutcracker, which can be seen performed by three ballet companies, and the old French fairy tale The Sleeping Beauty, set to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. And three more ballets – “Don Quixote”, “La Bayadère” with music by the Czech composer Ludwig Minkus and “Giselle” to the music of the Frenchman Adolphe Adam.
Each of these performances is not only an example of an ideal combination of libretto, music and choreography, but also a myth that has stepped over the boundaries of ballet. If we compare ballet theater with drama theater, then dancing the choreography of the great Petipa is like playing a play based on a play by Chekhov or Shakespeare. The role of Odette for a ballerina is like the role of Hamlet or Uncle Vanya for a dramatic actor, this is the pinnacle of skill. But if the interpretation of the role of Hamlet can vary endlessly, then in the editions of classical ballet productions, the variations are minimal.
“Cipollino” – also a ballet
The repertoire of the 21st Summer Ballet Seasons includes not only time-tested productions by Petipa. The Mari Opera and Ballet Theater brought “Esmeralda” to the music of the Italian Caesar Pugni. And one-act productions – “Carmen”, which will feature the music of Georges Bizet arranged by Rodion Shchedrin, and “Paquita” to the music of Ludwig Minkus – will be shown by the National Classical Ballet, once again reminding that the golden age of this art form fell on the 19th century. and pre-revolutionary Russia became its epicenter.
Another rise of Russian ballet – “Russian Seasons” in Paris – is associated not only with Sergei Diaghilev, but also with choreographer Mikhail Fokin, the founder of the romantic style in ballet, who settled in the United States after the revolution. And, perhaps, his merits in the development of American ballet are comparable in scale to Petipa’s contribution to Russian ballet. Mikhail Fokin’s one-act productions of Scheherazade, Chopiniana and Polovtsian Dances, restored by Andris Liepa, will be shown by the Natalia Sats Theater.
The inertia gained by Russian ballet in the 19th century turned out to be so powerful that it not only survived in Soviet Russia, but also received an additional impetus for development. Proof of this is the Soviet ballets Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella (they will be presented by the Russian Classical Ballet Theater and the National Classical Ballet). Both with brilliant music by Sergei Prokofiev. At the Summer Ballet Seasons, they will go on the same stage with the Bakhchisarai Fountain to the music of Boris Asafiev, a close friend of Prokofiev, and then one of his most furious persecutors.
The most unusual ballet on the poster this year is Cipollino. It contains the music of Karen Khachaturian, which he originally wrote for the cartoon of the same name. And the choreographer Genrikh Mayorov liked it so much that he took it as the basis of the ballet, supplementing it with the composer’s music for other feature and animation films. The ballet “Cipollino” will be shown at the Summer Ballet Seasons for the first time and only once. On stage is the troupe of the Mari Opera and Ballet Theatre, led by choreographer Konstantin Ivanov, who once danced Cipollino at the Bolshoi Theatre.
Minister at the ballet barre
Ivanov is not only the artistic director of the Mari Theatre, but also one of its dancers. He enters the stage in the “Fountain of Bakhchisarai” in the form of Khan Giray. He is also the author of the libretto and choreography of the ballet based on Pushkin’s poem. But not only that, Konstantin Ivanov is also the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Mari El.
In the 1990s Ivanov danced on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater in the status of a prime minister – an artist performing the main parts. In 2001, at the age of 28, he headed the Mari Opera and Ballet Theatre, combining leadership with a career at the Bolshoi Theatre. But when the Bolshoi closed for many years of reconstruction, he decided to devote himself entirely to the Mari Theatre.
Being himself a native of Mari El, Ivanov actually re-created the local ballet. At home, he feels so free that in his version of Swan Lake, in contrast to the classical interpretations, he gave a lot of space to the male dance, and made the finale of the ballet happy.
Homecoming
The consonances in the names of the Russian Classical Ballet Theater and the National Classical Ballet are not accidental. These are two touring troupes led by the ambitious Valentin Grishchenko and Anna Nekhlyudova. In the past they are dancers, both almost simultaneously decided to create their own projects, focusing on the classical repertoire, without which touring is unthinkable. Both theaters are now more than 10 years old.
For the first time, the Natalia Sats Theater takes part in the Seasons. They plan to show Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Mikhail Fokin’s ballets, restored by Andris Liepa.
The participation of the Sats Theater in the Seasons is symbolic, because the RAMT building is historically associated with the name of Natalia Sats. She is the founder of the Central Children’s Theatre, which in 1992 was renamed the Russian Academic Youth Theatre. He received the building on Theater Square in 1936, and in 1937 Natalia Sats was repressed.
Returning to Moscow 20 years later, having managed to open the first children’s theater in Kazakhstan during this time, she started a new project – a children’s musical theater, which she implemented in a building on Vernadsky Avenue.
Natalia Sats was not limited only to the children’s repertoire. From the first days of the launch of the new theater, she began to create a ballet troupe. For the last 12 years the theater has been headed by Georgy Isahakyan. Under him, on the stage of the theater, as well as under Natalia Sats, there are both children’s performances and ballet classics. Now the main stage of the theater is being reconstructed, and the Summer Ballet Seasons for its troupe is an opportunity to show performances of the repertoire designed for the big stage.