20 & 21 November, 2015.
There are ballerinas of silence, snowflake dancers –
they merely melt. But she’s a demonic spark.
Perishing, she’ll burn up half the planet!
Even her silence is the raging, roaring silence
of expectation, the actively intense silence
between the lightning flash and the thaunderclap.
Plisetskaya is ballet’s Marina Tsvetaeva.
Andrei Voznesensky
And now in memory of her and of her plans for celebrating her 90th birthday – how once again she aspired to astonish and delight her fans – the Bolshoi Theatre is ready to give its all to rise to the occasion. She both approved and blessed the PROGRAMME for her evening, she wrote it out in her own hand and we have reproduced this in facsimile in the very unusual theatre programs for the Gala. And, of course, she will be visibly present – alas, not on stage, but on the screen…
Plisetskaya belonged to the ranks of those exceptionally talented and very determined people in whose careers the chance factor plays a minimal role. It was as if Nature, having rewarded her with unique gifts – a huge extension, perfectly centуred movements, brilliant virtuosity, a high leap, the ability in a leap to remain suspended in the air – had marked her out for ballet. Add to this her extraordinary musicality and powerful temperament – and one ends up with a portrait of an outstanding ballerina.
But here one must also add a striking artistic gift, the ability to be maximally expressive on stage and to convey what a character is feeling via movements of the body. And thus, in addition to her gifts as a ballerina, she was also a unique actress.
Distinguished by an exceptional artistry and audacity, Plisetskaya preferred to destroy – rather than follow – canons, and by destroying them she created a style and repertoire of her own. She always fought furiously for the life of the unique theatre she created which, as all that breaks new ground and is non-trivial, often shocked people of orthodox views and those in authority.
Maya Plisetskaya had an exceptionally long life as a ballet dancer – she danced for well-nigh sixty years. And for close on fifty of these she danced at the Bolshoi Theatre, with the company she joined, in 1943, straight after graduating from the Moscow Ballet School. It was on this stage that her triumphant fame began, it was here she danced the leading roles in the great ballets of the classical repertoire, which were to become her ‘signature tunes’ and would reflect from then on the imprint of her style – coming first on this list are Odette and Odile in Swan Lake and Kitri in Don Quixote.
It was also at the Bolshoi Theatre that the ballets created especially for Maya, took on flesh and blood. And here the work which immediately comes to mind is Carmen – one of her favorite roles. In a matter of years this ballet, for which Maya fought tooth and nail to get a production at the Bolshoi, had conquered the whole world.
PART I
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Introduction to «The Sleeping Beauty»
Mikhail Glinka
«Jota Aragonesa»
Choreography by Igor Moiseyev
Igor Moiseyev State Academic Ensemble of Popular Dance
Ludwig Minkus
Kitri’s variation from the 1st act of the ballet «Don Quixote»
Choreography by Marius Petipa, Alexander Gorsky
Maria Alexandrova (Bolshoi Theatre)
Alexander Glazunov
Raymonda’s variation from the 2nd act of the ballet «Raymonda»
Choreography by Marius Petipa
Maria Allash (Bolshoi Theatre)
Solo on French horn: Alexei Raev
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Marie’s variation from the 3rd act of the ballet «Nutcracker»
Choreography by Vasily Vainonen
Evgenia Obraztsova (Bolshoi Theatre)
Solo on celesta: Vladimir Chukhnov
Boris Asafiev
Zarema’s variation from the ballet «The Fountain of Bakhchisarai»
Choreography by Rostislav Zakharov
Yulia Yangurazova (Bolshoi Theatre)
Alexander Glazunov
Raymonda’s variation from the 1st act of the ballet «Raymonda»
Choreography by Marius Petipa
Ekaterina Shipulina (Bolshoi Theatre)
Alexander Krein
Laurencia’s variation from the 2nd act of the ballet «Laurencia»
Choreography by Vakhtang Chabukiani
Angelina Vorontsova (Mikhailovsky Theatre)
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Aurora’s variation from the 3rd act of the ballet «The Sleeping Beauty»
Choreography by Marius Petipa
Nina Kaptsova (Bolshoi Theatre)
Solo on violin: Vladimir Sklyarevsky
Ludwig Minkus
Kitri’s variation from the 3rd act of the ballet «Don Quixote»
Choreography by Marius Petipa, Alexander Gorsky
Ekaterina Krysanova (Bolshoi Theatre)
Solo on harp: Elizaveta Simonenko
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Odile’s variation of from the 3rd act of the ballet «Swan Lake»
Choreography by Marius Petipa
Olga Smirnova (Bolshoi Theatre)
Waltz to music from «Raymonda»
by Alexander Glazunov
Choreography by Polina Filipova
Maya Plisetskaya Ballet School (Tolyatti)
Piano: Elena Domasheva
Extracts from Maya Plisetskaya’s book
«Looking Back at My Life…»
Reciter – Ilze Liepa
«Alas Negras»
Choreography by Eva Yerbabuena
Eva Yerbabuena
Composer and guitar player – Paco Jarana
Singers – Juan Jose Amador & El Extremeno
Percusion – Antonio Coronel
Final
Alla Dukhova’s Dance Theatre «Todes»
PART II
LA ROSE MALADE
Ballet to music by Gustav Mahler
Libretto by Roland Petit after William Blake
Choreography by Roland Petit
Costumes by Yves Saint Laurent
Uliana Lopatkina
Andrey Ermakov
(Mariinsky Theatre)
Extracts from Maya Plisetskaya’s book
«Looking Back at My Life…»
Reciter – Ilze Liepa
BOLERO
Ballet in one act to music by Maurice Ravel
Choreography, Set & Costumes by Maurice Béjart
Lighting Designer: Dominique Roman
Diana Vishneva (Mariinsky Theatre)
Gabriel Arenas Ruiz, Oscar Chacon, Fabrice Gallarrague, Connor Barlow, Jiayong Sun, Kevin Lila, Mattia Galiotto, Federico Matetich, Vito Pansini, Lawrence Rigg, Javier Casado Suarez, Ergys Lalaj, Jaym O’Esso, Denovane Victoire, Masayoshi Onuki, Juan Sanchez, Kwinten Guilliams, Anthony Maestre Benitez (Bejart Ballet Lausanne)
Bolshoi Theatre Corps de Ballet
PART III
Georges Bizet – Rodion Shchedrin
CARMEN SUITE
Ballet in one act
Libretto by Alberto Alonso after the novel by Prosper Merimee
Choreography by Alberto Alonso
Set & Costumes by Boris Messerer
Carmen – Svetlana Zakharova
Jose – Denis Rodkin
Torero – Mikhail Lobukhin
Corregidor – Vitaly Biktimirov
Fate – Yulia Yangurazova
Tobacco Girls – Olga Kishneva, Tatiana Lazareva, Viktoria Yakusheva
Flamenco dancers – Alexey Gaynutdinov, Anton Gaynutdinov, Ivan Filchev, Kirill Kireev, Anton Kondratov, Vladislav Kozlov, Victor Meshcherekov, Apollinary Proskurnin, Kirill Sobolev, Erick Swolkin,
Solo on percussion: Sergei Soloviev, Mikhail Dunaev, Igor Prokopov, Evgeny Romanov, Vasily Moiseev
Conductors – Tugan Sokhiev, Pavel Sorokin
Director – Andris Liepa
Lighting Designer – Mikhail Sokolov
Video – Nikita Tikhonov
Fuente bolshoi.ru
