The Coolidge Corner Theatre

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Dmitri Shostakovich's second ballet, Bolt, brings serious and popular music and dance all together including Komsomol routines, Red Army marches, circus acrobatics, and vaudeville antics. Its first and last performance at the Leningrad State Academy Theatre of Opera and Ballet was in 1931. Critics argued that, while the ballet's storyline was topical – addressing the threat of industrial sabotage and the promise of Soviet industrialization – the music and dance were extremely superficial.

The world premiere of the ballet at the Bolshoi was in 2006, in honour of the 100th anniversary of Shostakovich’s birth. The choreography, sets, costumes and, above all, Shostakovich’s masterful score, have revitalized Bolt, making it a theatrical event capable of making even the most cynical viewer stand up and cheer.

“... Once again, Ratmansky shows an ability to deal with large-scale scenes involving the corps de ballet. He also proves to be a master of droll comedy”. - The Moscow Times Context

Conducted by Pavel Sorokin
Choreography by Alexei Ratmansky
Starring Anastasia Yatsenko and Andreï Merkuriev

Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, 1h15m

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With the Mariinsky Ballet

The premier of what is known to be one of the world’s most famous ballets, the Nutcracker, took place at the Mariinsky Theater of Russia in 1892. Mikhail Shemiakin, Russian émigré and world-renowned avant-garde artist and sculptor reinterpreted the historical ballet to suit a more colorful audience. Known as the sophisticated and witty Nutcracker, Mikhail Shemiakin’s version is a more unconventional production different from the traditional versions popular at Christmas.

This unique interpretation was filmed in the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, home of the Kirov Ballet Academy and the Nutcracker’s original stage. The 2007 production showcases the eye-catching costumes and startling staging designed by Mikhail Shemiakin. An exhibition of Shemiakin’s costume and design sketches used in the staging of the ballet was presented in the private collections of the Russian Museum in St.Petersburg.

“First-rate performances by the principals, Irina Golub as Masha, Leonid Sarafanov as the Prince and fabulous Anton Adasinsky as Drosselmeyer. Golub has childlike charm and sparkling dancing. The most delightful surprise is the eloquently expansive performance of Ekaterina Kondaurova as the Queen of Snows.” - Ballettalk.com

Choreographer: Kirill Simonov
Conductor: Valery Gergiev

Olga Balinskaya (The Sugar Plum Fairy)
Irina Golub (Masha)
Alexander Kulikov (The Nutcracker)
Ekaterina Kondaurova (The Queen of the Snowflakes)
Leonid Sarafanov (The Nutcracker Prince)

Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, 1h30m

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THE FIREBIRD
With the Mariinsky Ballet

In February 1909, Sergey Pavlovich Diaghilev (1872 - 1929) had the opportunity to hear two short, but brilliant, orchestral works by the young composer Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971), at a concert in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Impressed by the promising composer, Diaghilev, the incomparable impresario of the Ballets Russes, commissioned some arrangements for his summer 1909 season in Paris. The Firebird was premiered on 25 June 1910 at the Paris Opera House, directed by Gabriel Pierné. The ballet was an immediate success.

The Ballets Russes enabled Fokine to fully realize his ideas since he shared the same vision of ballet with Diaghilev, perceiving it as a total work of art where every element must be in harmony with the artistic project. As for Diaghilev, he found in Fokine the choreographer who could bring his enterprise the right amount of novelty needed to captivate but not clash with the audience.

THE WEDDING (LES NOCES)
With the Mariinsky Ballet

This ballet in four scenes recounts the entire story of a Russian peasant wedding.
Igor Stravinsky started to compose The Wedding using folk texts that he adapted, relating the details of a traditional Russian peasant wedding. The score for the first two scenes was finished in the spring of 1915 but the complete work was only finished two years later on April 4th, 1917 in Morges. Diaghilev decided to put these choreographic scenes on the program of his Ballets Russes in June 1923. The choreography was entrusted to Bronislava Nijinska, sister of the famous dancer.

Le Sacre Du Printemps (The Rite of Spring)
With the Mariinsky Ballet

The premier of Le Sacre du Printemps at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, on 29 May 1913 caused a veritable scandal. The audience was shocked by the primitive violence of the ballet. It was so radically rejected that the ballet was taken off after eight performances.

Although long forgotten, thanks to the relentless work of Millicent Hodson, Nijinsky's original choreography was recreated. After fifteen years' research, notably helped by Marie Rambert who had been Nijinsky's assistant, she managed to recreate the original Rite of Spring, which was performed by the Joffrey Ballet on 30 September 1987 in Los Angeles.

In this work, Igor Stravinsky further developed the rhythm and harmony, elements he had already experimented with in his first two ballets, the Firebird and Petrouchka.

Choreography by Michel Fokine, Bronislava Nijinska and Vaslav Nijinsky
Starring Alexandra Iosifidi and Yekaterina Kondaurova

Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, 1h50m

Choreography Alexei Ratmansky, reconstructed from the original choregraphy by Vasily Vaynonen

Produced in the 1930s, in Leningrad, at the then Kirov (today Mariinsky) Theatre, and soon transferred to the Bolshoi, LES FLAMMES DE PARIS was to become a ballet favorite. It was presented on the eve of the anniversary of the October Revolution, and later continued to be included in the ranks of works which were always brought out for an airing on anniversaries of this sort. And this is hardly surprising, the flames of Paris, after all, is about the conflagration of the great French Revolution. And it had a new 'hero' type which, up to then, had not been encountered in ballet - one of its main characters was the populace, revolutionary in mood and ready for action.

Delighting in Vasily Vaynonen's rhythmically refined dance combinations - his nickname was Vaska-the syncopator - choreographer Alexei Ratmansky has attempted to make maximum use of the preserved fragments in his new ballet. Interwoven into its fabric, are the Vaynonen Basque dance, the Mireille and Antoine Mistral pas de deux, the farandola, two carmagnoles and, of course, the famous Jeanne and Philippe pas de deux, the perennially popular ballet competition and concert number.

Date of performance January 19, 2011
Choreographer Marius Petipa after Jean Coralli and Jules Perro
Additional Choreography Peter Wright
Artists of The Royal Ballet Featuring: Marianela Nuñez and Rupert Pennefather

"...The Royal Ballet's revival of Giselle provides the succulent spectacle of a world-class company at the top of its game." — The Telegraph

Giselle is one of the most influential of all Romantic ballets, and one of the greatest and most popular works of the dance canon and of The Royal Ballet’s repertory. The title role presents the transcendental power of a woman’s love in the face of betrayal and is one of the most technically demanding and emotionally challenging roles in classical dance – not surprisingly, it is here a great showcase for the leading ballerinas of the Company. Peter Wright’s sensitive staging in the atmospheric designs by John Macfarlane heightens the contrast as the story moves between the human and supernatural worlds.
-- Courtesy of Opus Arte