Monthly Archive: July 2024

Tempestuous

July 24, 2024

“Le Corsaire”
Ballet of the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre
Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre
Krasnoyarsk, Russia
July 2024 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

1. K.Litvinenko (Seyd Pasha) and ensemble, “Le Corsaire” by Y.Malkhasyants, Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre 2024 © Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre2. E.Mikheecheva, R.Abolmasov (Pas d’Esclave), and ensemble, “Le Corsaire” by Y.Malkhasyants, Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre 2024 © Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet TheatreThis July, the Ballet of the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre traveled 2.400 miles eastward to tour their Catharsis Dante at the Helikon Theatre in Moscow. I wasn’t able to fly to Moscow but, by chance, I had the opportunity to watch videos of two of their recent premieres. One of them was a new Le Corsaire by Yuliana Malkhasyants, which premiered on May 19th. It’s based on Petipa’s 1858 version for the Mariinsky Theatre from which Malkhasyants kept seven of the most famous fragments, such as the Pas d’Esclave and the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux for Medora and Conrad. The Jardin animé was refashioned, and the libretto was pruned for better understanding. Malkhasyants dropped the figure of Conrad’s young, faithful slave, Ali, and streamlined Medora’s and Conrad’s escape from Seyd Pasha’s harem. (more…)

Ambivalent

July 13, 2024

“Manon”
Ballet Company of Teatro alla Scala
Teatro alla Scala
Milan, Italy
July 08, 2024 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

1. N.Manni (Manon) and R.Clarke (Des Grieux), “Manon” by K.MacMillan, Teatro alla Scala 2024, photo by Brescia and Amisano © Teatro alla Scala Given the mind-boggling speed with which Western culture is changing, La Scala’s live stream of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon felt like a relic from the good old days of ballet. Unlike other staples of the classical repertory—Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, or The Nutcracker, for example—with a spiritual dimension that serves as a source of inspiration in difficult times, Manon has the opposite effect. Based on Abbé Prévost’s novel Manon Lescaut (1731), it dives deeply into the social swamp of early-18th-century France and in the real swamps near the then-French colony of Louisiana. Rabble and the poor crowd the streets and the upper class’s silk and satin façade barely hides their rotten morals. Sex, money, and power reign in everyday life, and, for women, alluring men is the only way to secure an existence. Not a single soul remains untainted in the sex-and-crime-ridden love tragedy of Manon. (more…)