Classical Ballet Grand Prix of the Mikhailovsky Theatre Mikhailovsky Classical Ballet and Opera Theatre (established 1833)
Schedule for Grand Prix of the Mikhailovsky Theatre 2022
Composer: Peter Tchaikovsky Composer: Frederic Chopin Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach Composer: Ludwig Van Beethoven Choreography: Nacho Duato
Orchestra: Mikhailovsky Symphony Orchestra
Charity Project
Starring - Natalia Osipova,
Olesya Novikova, Sabina Yapparova, Ivan Vasiliev,
Denis Matvienko, Leonid Sarafanov, Marat Shemiunov
The Mikhailovsky Theatre Grand Prix will take
place on 21 and 22 November, and among those taking part,
by tradition, will be pupils from the Vaganova Ballet Academy.
Participation in the Grand Prix is one of the most important
stages in the preparations for a significant date: in May 2013
the Vaganova Ballet Academy will celebrate its 275th anniversary. There will
be special concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow to mark the
occasion.
Part I
Award
Ceremony of the Grand Prix’2012 Gala
of the Prize-winners
Part II
Na Floresta Music: Heitor Villa-Lobos/Wagner Tiso Choreography: Nacho Duato Stage Design: Walter Nobbe Costume Design: Nacho Duato Lighting Design: Nicholas Fishtel Assistant to the Choreographer: Eva Maria
Lopes Crevillen Repetiteurs: Elena
Poryvkina, Alexey Ilyin
Performed by the Students of the
Vaganova Ballet Academy
Part III
Ballet Stars Gala
Pas de Deux from The Sleeping Beauty Music: Pyotr Tchaikovsky Choreography: Nacho Duato Performed by Olesya Novikova and Leonid
Sarafanov
Guilty Music: Frederic Chopin (Nocturne in B-flat minor Op.
9 No. 1) Choreography: Edward
Klug Performed by Denis Matvienko
Cello from Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and
Emptiness Music: I.-S. Bach Choreography: Nacho Duato Performed by Sabina Yapparova and Marat
Shemiunov
Trio from
Prelude Music: Ludwig van Beethoven Choreography: Nacho Duato
Serenata from Cantata Music: Amerigo Ciervo Choreography: Mauro Bigonzetti Performed by Natalia Osipova and Ivan
Vasiliev
This year Nacho Duato, who considers his collaboration with the
Ballet Academy to be of fundamental importance, has offered the
students his famous ballet Na Floresta to the music
of Heitor Villa-Lobos. The choreographer often drops into the rehearsal
room himself, but the main work with the final-year students is being
carried out by his assistant Eva Lopez Crevillen and Academy teachers Elena
Poryvkina and Alexey Ilyin.
“This is the second time I have
worked with students from the Academy”, says Eva. “Last autumn we staged Madrigal here. I often work with
students in Spain and France, but Russia has a unique school
of ballet. There is such a strong teaching tradition here: pupils
demonstrate excellent technique from a very early age and have beautiful
proportions. Now we are rehearsing Na Floresta — literally step
by step. I already know some of the students from Madrigal, but even those who are dancing
Nacho Duato’s choreography for the first time are very receptive. When Nacho was
teaching us, he always tried to immerse us in the
action, using metaphors, and saying things like ‘Look at that tree’,
so that we could feel the atmosphere of the ballet better.
I try to work in the same way: those imaginary pictures make
it easier to capture the spirit of the music, to move your
body in accordance with it, and become part of a beautiful
production”.
The success of Madrigal at last year’s Grand Prix
is still fresh in the minds of ballet fans. Kommersant wrote
at the time: “The main surprise of the festival was the performance
by the students from the Russian Ballet Academy, who danced Madrigal to the music of Joaquin
Rodrigo in an ‘out of competition’ production. It is easy
to discern Duato’s typical methods in Madrigal: the virtuoso combination
of rhythms and plastique elements, the instantaneous changing
of angles and poses, the swiftness of movement, and the long drawn-out
adagios, which appear to be in slow motion. The 20-minute ballet enjoyed extraordinary
and very noisy success.”
Collaborating with the Artistic Director
of the Mikhailovsky Theatre Ballet is a source of special
pride for People’s Artist of Russia Altynai Asylmuratova, the Artistic
Director of the Vaganova Ballet Academy:
"We are very glad of this
opportunity: we are not only trying to master Nacho Duato’s
choreography — we are doing it with delight. But our
participation in the Grand Prix is not confined to Na Floresta. We will
be staging several other performances, including a trio choreographed
by one of our students, Maxim Silagin, who is only 14.
I think he is very talented — one of those rare people
who can ‘see music’ as Nacho Duato can ‘see’ it, or as another
graduate of our school was once able to do — Georgy
Balanchivadze, whom the whole world knows as George Balanchine.
Incidentally, his first experiments in choreography also took place while
he was still at school. In the last academic year Maxim staged
10 works — he composed the trio after the summer. He does
everything himself: he chooses the music, conceives the costumes, and takes
the rehearsals. We try to support this creative inclination,
and I think that in this sense, his participation in the
Mikhailovsky Theatre Grand Prix will be very important for him.
Schedule for Grand Prix of the Mikhailovsky Theatre 2022
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