Monthly Archive: April 2025

Full of Spirits

29. April 2025

“The Tempest”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre (New Stage)
Moscow, Russia
April 22, 2025

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

1. D.Savin (Prospero), “The Tempest” by V.Samodurov, Bolshoi Ballet 2025 © Bolshoi Theatre/E.Fetisova For his latest choreography for the Bolshoi Ballet in 2024—The Tempest (after Shakespeare’s play)—Vyacheslav Samodurov again teamed up with composer Yuri Krasavin. Both had already collaborated on the one-act ballet Dancemania in 2022. This time, their cooperation must have been tempestuous. “Vyacheslav Samodurov and I did not get along right away…I still see this play completely different,” Krasavin stated in an interview. While Krasavin believed that he accompanied rather than led the artistic process, for Samodurov, “Music comes always first and the composer is the boss in many ways.” But whoever was the boss, the score (played by the Bolshoi Orchestra under the baton of Pavel Klinichev) was mesmerizing. (more…)

New Takes

25. April 2025

“Stravinsky. Puppets. Dances”
Ballet of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
Moscow, Russia
April 20, 2025

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

1. D.Dmitriev (Moor), E.Zhukov (Petrushka), and O.Kardash (Ballerina); “Petrushka” by K.Semenov, Stanislavsky Ballet 2025 © Stanislavsky Ballet/Y.Gubina The Stanislavsky Ballet’s new double bill, Stravinsky. Puppets. Dances, attracted large crowds, especially because they scheduled only five performances over three consecutive days. The two ballets, Petrushka and The Firebird, were originally choreographed by Michel Fokine for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1911 and 1910, respectively. Both are set to compositions by Igor Stravinsky. The Stanislavsky Theatre presented new interpretations by Kirill Radev (The Firebird)—a former choreographer of the Barcelona Ballet—and Konstantin Semenov (Petrushka)—a dancer-cum-choreographer from the company’s own ranks, whose one-act piece, Through the Looking-Glass I saw in 2023. Both teamed up with stage director Alexey Frandetti (a Tashkent native who later moved to Moscow) and set designer Viktor Nikonenko. The internationally awarded Nikonenko is a puppet maker at Moscow’s State Academic Central Puppet Theater S.V. Obraztsov, which cooperated with the Stanislavsky Theatre for the first time (an exhibition of puppets and photos from the S.V. Obraztsov museum was shown at the Stanislavsky as well). (more…)

A Farewell Triplet

14. April 2025

“Pathétique” (“Divertimento No. 15”/“Summerspace”/“Pathétique”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
April 09, 2025 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

1. Ensemble, “Divertimento No. 15” by G.Balanchine © George Balanchine Trust, Vienna State Ballet 2025 © Vienna State Ballet/A.TaylorTriple bills have become a trademark of the Vienna State Ballet since Martin Schläpfer took over as artistic director in 2020. The latest, Pathétique, is titled after Schläpfer’s newest and last creation. As on previous occasions, the program’s safe and well-tested base was a Balanchine followed by Cunningham’s Summerspace. (more…)