Krasnoyarsk Ballet | Landgraf on Dance

Unstoppable

November 10, 2024

“Spartacus”
Ballet of the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre
Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre
Krasnoyarsk, Russia
October 18, 2024 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

This October, the Krasnoyarsk Ballet revived Yuri Grigorovich’s epic Spartacus, which had been absent from their stage for seventeen years. The production was therefore announced as a premiere. As Spartacus has rarely been danced by Western companies (the Bavarian State Ballet performed it in 2017, and the Ballet of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in 2018), I was glad to view a video of the opening night in Krasnoyarsk.

Spartacus is an icon of Russian ballet culture. Its title character, the captive King of Thrace, leads the slave uprising in the Third Servile War (73-71 BC) against the Roman consul Crassus. A man of honor and principles, Spartacus fights for freedom no matter what. But female intrigue undermines the strength of his army and leads to his execution in an unjust one-against-many showdown. Spartacus’s unfaltering—and ultimately self-sacrificial—courage resonates with Russians who have great esteem for their war heroes. (more…)

Present-day Perspectives

August 3, 2024

“Snow Maiden. Myth and Reality” (“Another Light”/“Refraction”)
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

In March last year, the Russian playwright Alexander Ostrovsky (1823-1886) would have celebrated his bicentenary. Around one hundred and fifty years ago, in September 1873, he published The Snow Maiden, a work of narrative poetry about a fairy-tale, fantasy tsardom in prehistoric times for which Tchaikovsky wrote the music. A few years later, it was adapted into an opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The Snow Maiden deals with the opposition between eternal forces of nature (represented by the mythological characters of Grandfather Frost, Spring Beauty, the Sun God Yarilo, and a wood sprite), humans (a merchant and citizens), and those in-between (half-real, half-mythological characters, like Snow Maiden and the shepherd boy, Lel). The title character, daughter of Grandfather Frost and Spring Beauty, decides to live among the people, whom her beauty enchants. She is, however, unable to feel love, which complicates her interactions with humans. After her mother grants her the ability to love, Snow Maiden’s passion for the merchant, Mizgir, is ignited. As her hearts warms and she declares her love, a bright ray of sunlight hits her and she melts. Her demise conciliates the Sun God, Yarilo, who, angered by her sheer existence, had withheld sun and warmth. Consequently, the forces of nature become rebalanced. (more…)

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

This 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…)

Sorting Out

October 13, 2023 0 Comments

“Catharsis Dante”
Ballet of the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre
Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre
Krasnoyarsk, Russia
June 30, 2023 (video)

This April, the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre scored a double victory at Russia’s Golden Mask Awards. Their reconstruction of “Catherine ou la fille du bandit” won the prize for the best ballet production and the best female part. I was curious about the company’s repertoire, but failed because of the distance. Krasnoyarsk is in Siberia, around 2400 miles east of Moscow. Luckily, Nikita Dmitrievsky helped me out. His ballet “Catharsis Dante” received its world premiere at the Krasnoyarsk Ballet this June and Dmitrievsky sent me a recording without much ado.

His name is well-known in Russia, where he realizes the majority of his dance projects, but he also worked in the Netherlands, UK, Israel, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Finland. An allrounder, Dmitrievsky is choreographer, artistic director, producer, filmmaker, lighting designer, and teacher in one. Costume design doesn’t seem to be on his spectrum and in the case of “Catharsis Dante” is by Inna Zaitseva. (more…)