RUSSIA: Bolshoi theatre closes season with "Petrouchka" one of the ballets from Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes

Record ID: 755595

  • Title: RUSSIA: Bolshoi theatre closes season with "Petrouchka" one of the ballets from Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes
  • Date: 6th July 2010
  • Summary: SCENE FROM BALLET VARIOUS OF BOLSHOI BALLET SOLOIST, ARTYOM OVCHARENKO, BEING MADE UP IN DRESSING ROOM OLD PHOTOGRAPH OF DANCER IN PETROUCHKA COSTUME SCENE FROM BALLET
  • Embargoed: 21st July 2010 13:00
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  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVARW2U5JWHXRH19F0KXSEUJHNU
  • Story Text: Russia's Bolshoi theatre is reviving the ballet "Petrouchka" -- one of one of the most famous ballets of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes.
    The ballet tells the story of a traditional Russian puppet made of straw and a bag of sawdust which comes to life and develops human emotions.
    "Petrouchka", a result of co-operation between composer Igor Stravinsky, choreographer Mikhail Fokine and set and costume designer Alexander Benois, was premiered in Paris at the Theatre du Chatelet on June 13, 1911.
    Since then the ballet has been staged many times in various locations. The first Russian versions appeared in the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres in 1920 and 1921 respectively.
    The Bolshoi has decided to restore its 1921 production, with choreographer Sergei Vikharev in charge.
    "Why did we decide to restore this ballet? Next year it will be 100 years since this ballet was created and it still is as fresh, original and picturesque as before. And today's public, as always, is interested in the performances which combine the work of a great artist, composer and choreographer. And such synthesis usually results in an amazing production," Vikharev said.
    "Petrouchka" is a Petersburg ballet, which reproduces the city's spirit. The first scene takes place during traditional Shrovetide or "Maslennitsa" festivities in St.Petersburg. On stage there is a boisterous crowd, shopping, dancing and entertaining themselves at the "balagani" - popular comic theatres. Inside such "balagan" Petrouchka, the Ballerina and the Moor (Russian versions of Pierrot, Comumbine and Harlequin) live through an eternal drama of love and jealousy.
    Fokine's choreography, originally created for the stars of Diaghilev's ballets, Nijinsky, Karsavina and Orlov, presents a challenge to modern dancers. It is quasi-dance quasi-pantomime.
    Artyom Ovcharenko is the Bolshoi's ballet soloist who dances the part of Petrouchka.
    "Movements on this ballet are very difficult, because on the one hand I should remain Petrouchka, a puppet, but at the same time I should express human emotions and it is very hard not to cross this line. This ballet is also very tough physically. The choreography is such that your diaphragm is repeatedly compressed and released as a result of movements and at the same time I have to express all these emotions in a puppet-like way," he said.
    The Bolshoi's soloist Darya Khokhlova who is dancing the part of Ballerina agrees that Fokin's choreography is challenging for the dancers.
    "First of all, as Artyom pointed out, it is puppet-like movements. His way of moving is different from mine, because the ballerina is almost a 100 percent doll. In the room scene she demonstrates some human emotions, but she is a cold, porcelain doll, who cannot feel all the sufferings of Petrouchka," she said.
    The plot of the ballet is traditional: Petrouchka is in love with the ballerina, who rejects him and falls for the richer and more attractive, but cruel and heartless Moor. Petrouchka is rejected, humiliated and even stabbed with a curved sabre. But he comes alive and taunts the horrified crowd which had believed him dead.
    The return of the legendary ballet to the Bolshoi stage after almost 20 years was welcomed by Moscow ballet lovers.
    The secret of Dighilev's ballets' success - collaboration of brilliant composers, artists, choreographers and dancers - still works today, almost over 100 years since his Ballets Russes conquered Europe.
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