Mikhailovsky Ballet: Giselle in London

This spring the Mikhailovsky Theatre ballet company will take to the stage of the London Coliseum for a third time. The programme will include ballets by Nacho Duato, in addition to classics Giselle, Don Quixote, and Laurencia. The performances will feature Mikhailovsky Theatre ballet stars Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev, and Leonid Sarafanov, as well as Guest Principal Dancers Polina Semionova and Denis Matvienko.

By tradition, the programme will include Nikita Dolgushin’s version of Giselle. It first captivated London audiences during the Mikhailovsky Theatre’s tour in 2008, and now British theatregoers can once again experience the tender charm of this romantic ballet on 26, 27, 28 and 29 March. The principal roles will be danced by Polina Semionova and Denis Matvienko, by Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev and by Olesya Novikova and Leonid Sarafanov.

The invariably popular Don Quixote gives the dancers an opportunity to demonstrate their virtuosity, temperament, and acting skills. On 30 and 31 March Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev will perform their trademark roles of Kitri and Basilio. In the matinee performance on 31 March these parts will be danced by Oxana Bondareva and Denis Matviyenko.

Laurencia arouses particular interest, as a production from the ‘golden age’ of Soviet ballet that is not being performed anywhere else. It has been revived by the Mikhailovsky Theatre’s Principal Guest Ballet Master Mikhail Messerer, an acknowledged expert on ballet heritage, who is in great demand all over the world as a teacher. On 2nd and 3rd April London audiences will see Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev, whose performance of the ballet critics called ‘phenomenal’.

Nacho Duato, the Artistic Director of the Mikhailovsky Theatre ballet company, will present his full-length ballet Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness. On 5th and 6th April the Mikhailovsky Theatre’s guest prima ballerina Polina Semionova will appear in this ballet for the first time.

On 7th April an evening of three Nacho Duato one-act ballets will give the London audience a vivid and comprehensive impression of the choreographer’s renowned original style: Without Words, Nunc Dimittis, and Prelude, each different in tonality and concept.

The Mikhailovsky Theatre tour is supported by Gazprom Export and Wingas.

*Due to the injury Marcelo Gomes will not be able to take part in the performances of the Mikhailovsky Season in London in March – April 2013. Denis Matvienko will be dancing with Polina Semenova March in Giselle performances on the 27 and 28 of March.

Giselle, ou Les Wilis

The Mikhailovsky Ballet

Visiting Company

Fantasy ballet in two acts
Music: Adolphe Adam
Libretto: Vernoy de Saint-Georges, Théophile Gautier and Jean Coralli
Choreography: Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa, staging by Nikita Dolgushin

Tue 26 Mar 2013