“Cinderella”
Tartar State Academic Ballet
Jalil Opera and Ballet Tartar State Academic Theatre
Kazan, Russia
May 11, 2026 (video)
by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf
Romeo and Juliet is inextricably linked to Sergei Prokofiev’s (1891-1953) music, but it’s less well known that he also composed the score for Cinderella. The ballet was the Bolshoi Theatre’s first post-war world premiere in 1945. One year later, a lighter, more fairy tale-like version premiered at the Kirov Theatre (now Mariinsky Theatre) in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). This year, Prokofiev would have celebrated his 135th birthday, and two new Cinderellas seem like respectable gifts. In mid-May, Nadezhda Kalinina’s version opened the 39th Rudolf Nureyev International Classical Ballet Festival in Kazan. Vyacheslav Lopatin’s debut choreography for his home company, the Bolshoi Ballet, followed closely on May 28th. I had the opportunity to watch a recording of Kazan’s Cinderella.
It was Kalinina’s third take on the fairy tale, following a 2019 version for the Omsk State Music Theater (where Kalinina is chief choreographer) and another one for the Astana Ballet, Kazakhstan, in 2022. Reportedly, Kazan’s audience eagerly anticipated the production, as the last one was dropped from the repertory four decades ago. Perhaps it was a mere coincidence that the new version’s overarching theme is time and that its Cinderella must also be very patient. Although her time in the story occasionally ran short, it often dragged, and she was unaware of the various-sized astronomical clocks whose hands timed her fate.
Of Ilya Smilga’s many video projections and AI-generated pictures, those in Act I particularly visualized the mechanics of passing time. As long as its cogwheels and rod systems worked like clockwork, Cinderella (Alexandra Sadykova) enjoyed a happy childhood. The apple of 
her parents’ (Carolina Zaborne’s and Akzhol Musakhanov’s) eyes, she was just about to learn to play piano when dark figures with beaked masks and bat-like coats crept in. The family home’s columned, baroque hall grayed and filled with fog, gray video chandeliers swung like wrecking balls, and the actual chandelier—a constant in almost all scenes—turned bloody red as the intruders took away her mother. She had barely been carried off when Cinderella’s future stepmother (Artem Belov in an en travesti role), flanked by her daughters (Lana Khalimova and Alexandra Elagina), made their showy entrance. Bustling activity replaced the previous turmoil while the new lady of the house and her brats moved in.
A long, bitter time awaited Cinderella (Kristina Zakharova), as her stepsisters were not only as clumsy and shallow-brained as their counterparts in Ashton’s Cinderella but also brimming with malice and scorn and, to top it all off, violent. When scuttling across the stage with flapping arms and kinked wrists, they looked like stupid fools. But more often, they assaulted Cinderella and their stepfather, downed their mother, or were at each other’s throats. Although she was without a whip and wearing a high-necked black dress, the stepmother reminded me of a hybrid between an impertinent dominatrix and a constable. She and her daughters even floored the smart, Fred Astaire-esque ballet maestro (Fayaz Valiakhmetov) and his assistant (Dmitry Stroitelev) who tried to instill some style in them (of course, in vain). After all, the court ball was just around the corner.
Although she acquiesced to every assault, time hung heavy on Cinderella’s hands. When alone, she seemed to be waiting for happier days. Her exhaustion was visible. Thanks to the Fairy Godmother (Ekaterina Ledachkova), change was indeed underway. She took Cinderella to her realm where four representatives of the seasons (Nail Saleev, Artur Libertini, Amir Gilfanov, and Salavat Bulatov) and their retinue enchanted her and dressed her up for the ball. Given the malicious forces of the stepmother and stepsisters, Kalinina’s Fairy Godmother wasn’t as mellow as Ashton’s but needed to act firmly. At times, her arms had a momentum as if whipping cream. As the clock ticked toward midnight, she vigorously pushed Cinderella to leave the ball in time.
Whereas Cinderella was tender, graceful, and impeccably composed from scratch, the Prince (Oleg Ivenko) matured all at once at the ball. Initially, he dashed into the party with a series of jumps that was a bit too long and breathless for royal etiquette. Then he brushed off some non-existent dust from his jacket, briskly declined all brides-to-be, and pitted the stepsisters and their (at this point already tipsy) mother against one another like a versed fielder. The moment Cinderella appeared at the rear center, he was struck. At first sight, the headlights surrounding her seemed to herald a Hollywood diva (lighting design by Ivan Vinogradov). But instead of being glamorous, she blossomed like a long-dormant bud. Her natural charm elicited another series of jumps from the prince who must have decided in that instant that Cinderella would be his bride.
However, she found herself back on the floor in her father’s gray home, wearing the same shabby gray dress. The infinitely long corridor on the backdrop suggested that the prince’s journey to her would be long, though a bright red line pointed to her from above like a celestial road sign. He and his four comrades traveled with the same locomotive that had transported the flock of wannabe-brides to the palace to try on Cinderella’s lost ball shoe. (The cute locomotive Sergei Novikov designed immediately reminded me of the Augsburger marionette theater’s Luke, the engine driver—a classic of German children’s entertainment.) The prince entered the scene with adequately stately jumps but would have left empty-handed if the Fairy Godmother’s entourage had not escorted Cinderella on stage. From then on, a happy ending was assured.
As every Jack has his Jill, the ill-natured trio found their mates as well. The stepsisters carried on with the prince’s two footmen (Ivan Anufryev and Askar Samigullin), and their mother made friends with the majordomo (Fayaz Valiakhmetov). Duplicitous as always, she tried to curry favor with Cinderella, but the prince politely rejected her. He and Cinderella reunited under the huge clock in a seventh heaven-like realm. The curtain slowly closed as they turned and turned and turned.
The Tartar State Academic Orchestra played Prokofiev’s score under the baton of Karen Durgaryan, director of the Armenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre and a friend of the house.
| Link: | Website of the Jalil Opera and Ballet Tartar State Academic Theatre | |
| Photos: | 1. | Akzhol Musakhanov (Cinderella’s father), Kristina Zakharova (Cinderella), Artem Belov (Stepmother), and Fayaz Valiakhmetov (Ballet Teacher); “Cinderella” by Nadezhda Kalinina, Tartar State Academic Ballet 2026 |
| 2. | Fayaz Valiakhmetov (Ballet Teacher), “Cinderella” by Nadezhda Kalinina, Tartar State Academic Ballet 2026 | |
| 3. | Artem Belov (Stepmother), Lana Khalimova and Alexandra Elagina (Stepsisters), and ensemble; “Cinderella” by Nadezhda Kalinina, Tartar State Academic Ballet 2026 | |
| 4. | Kristina Zakharova (Cinderella) and Oleg Ivenko (Prince), “Cinderella” by Nadezhda Kalinina, Tartar State Academic Ballet 2026 |
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| 5. | Ivan Anufryev (Footman) and Lana Khalimova (Stepsister), “Cinderella” by Nadezhda Kalinina, Tartar State Academic Ballet 2026 | |
| 6. | Oleg Ivenko (Prince) and Kristina Zakharova (Cinderella), “Cinderella” by Nadezhda Kalinina, Tartar State Academic Ballet 2026 | |
| 7. | Ensemble, “Cinderella” by Nadezhda Kalinina, Tartar State Academic Ballet 2026 | |
| 8. | Ekaterina Ledachkova (Fairy Godmother), “Cinderella” by Nadezhda Kalinina, Tartar State Academic Ballet 2026 | |
| 9. | Akzhol Musakhanov (Cinderella’s father), Artem Belov (Stepmother), Lana Khalimova and Alexandra Elagina (Stepsisters), and ensemble; “Cinderella” by Nadezhda Kalinina, Tartar State Academic Ballet 2026 | |
| all photos © Tartar State Academic Ballet | ||
| Editing: | Kayla Kauffman |
