Despite the recent promotions of Philippe Stepin to principal and Maria Iliushkina (last month) to prima ballerina at the Mariinsky, the perpetual discussion in Petersburg ballet circles over the lack of principal male dancers is one that does not easily disappear. Mariinsky artistic director Andrian Fadeev has demonstrated his eagerness to recognize and promote talent …
The “My Maya” production, created with the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives along with a team of professionals and dedicated to what would be Maya Plisetskaya’s 100th birthday this November, took place ahead of other celebrations in mid-September at the Bolshoi Dramatic Theatre in Saint Petersburg. Produced by Sergey Velichkin, the gala …
To close out the 241st season, the Mariinsky presented the premiere of its new “Coppelia”, a ballet that has not run in the company’s repertoire since Oleg Vinogradov presided over the ballet troupe. Choreographer/dancer Alexander Sergeev, with significant choreographic experience already under his belt, created a full-scale contemporary production that uses multimedia, novel pastel-hued costumes, …
As part of a three-day festival dedicated to Igor Stravinsky and falling on the composer’s 142th birthday, the Mariinsky offered several evenings of Stravinsky-based music, including the premiere of dancer/choreographer Alexander Sergeev’s latest work, “Concert Dances”, an intelligent multi-layered ballet that highlights the structures in Stravinsky’s score and includes allusions to choreographic works from Balanchine …
“The Fountain of Bakchisarai”, referred to as a “choreographic poem” in four sections based on the work by Alexander Pushkin with a prologue and epilogue and created by Rostislav Zakharov in 1934, is a quintessentially Russian ballet in its philosophical leanings which juxtaposes the refined civilization of Slavic (in this case Polish) Europe with the …