(The programme includes Acts
2 & 4 from “Swan Lake”)
Celebrated Russian
composer Tchaikovsky created the music for three of the world’s most loved and
enduring ballets – Swan Lake, Sleeping
Beauty and The Nutcracker.
His legacy will
live on when Stars of the Ballet Russia
tour South Africa in August with a stirring programme which features excerpts
from both Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty.
Choreographed by
Yury Vetrov, former director of the Bolshoi Ballet, the programme will also
feature excerpts from Paquita. Staged
for the first time in Russia in 1847 for The Imperial Ballet of St Petersburg
by Marius Petipa, the ballet was revived in 1881 with new pieces specially
composed by composer Ludwig Minkus.
All three featured
ballets are major cornerstones of the traditional classical ballet repertory
and have been staged over centuries by ballet companies throughout the world.
Vetrov started his
career as a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Theatre and then trained under
the direction of world-renowned choreographer Yury Grigorovich before
completing his ballet master training at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1982. He
created the television film ballets Adagio
and This Wonderful World and
choreographed several famous dance scenes in the operas, The Spanish Hour (Ravel) and The
Masquerade Ball (Verdi).
From 1990 to 1994
he was the artistic director of The Bolshoi Ballet and subsequently
choreographed Don Quixote and Cinderella for the Russian National
Ballet Company. He currently works as a choreographer in various Russian and
international ballet companies and teaches at the Moscow State University.
The programme he
has prepared for the Stars of the Ballet Russia South African tour includes
Acts 2 and 4 from Swan Lake, the pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty and the grand pas from Paquita.
Stars of the Ballet Russia comes to Durban for two shows only on
August 5 and 6 in the Playhouse Opera. Tickets range from R150 to R280. There
are a limited number of tickets at R100 for pensioners and children under 12. Shows
are at 19h30 and booking is at Computicket.
Posts
