June, 20 2014 . Issue No. 318

The Royal Ballet guest performances started at the Bolshoi Theatre; this event is a part of the Russia-UK bilateral year of culture Katerina Novikova, the Bolshoi's spokeswoman, talked about premieres of the coming season in her interview with the TV channel "Moscow 24" Facebook: video about the start of the Royal Ballet guest performances at the Bolshoi

June 17 - June 22 - The Royal Ballet guest performances at the Bolshoi June 19th - Maxim Perebeynos made his debut with the role of Dancairo in the opera "Carmen" Historic Stage - Manon. Ballet in three acts. Royal Ballet (Covent Garden) presents New Stage - Carmen. Opera in four acts June 20th - 22nd - "Manon" on the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage. Manon - Sarah Lamb, Des Grieux - Rupert Pennefather. Photo: the Royal Ballet A scene from the one-act ballet "Rhapsody" (to the music by S. Rachmaninoff). Photo: IT AR-T ASS Newsletter

Beauty in movement A scene from the one-act ballet "Rhapsody" presented by the Royal Ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre. Photo: RIA Novosti The Royal Ballet presents its guest performances at the Bolshoi Theatre; this tour is a part of the UK-Russia bilateral year of culture. The last time the company visited Moscow was in 2003. The series of guest performances opened with the program of one-act ballets. The audience was presented with three prominent productions staged by the British choreographers of dif ferent generations. Sir Frederick Ashton (1904 - 1988) determined the style of the Royal Ballet for many years. He was a fan of the classics, but at the same time he was very inventive and used free dance ideas to make his works very diverse. He staged plotless ballets as well. Many generations of British artists, including Margot Fonteyn, grew up watching Ashton's productions. The ballet "Rhapsody", which was the first production presented by the Royal Ballet in Moscow this time, was choreographed by Ashton in 1980 for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier. The choreographer used the music of the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for piano and orchestra by Sergei Rachmaninof f. There is no plastique image of Paganini in the ballet, but there is an image of Art, which is conveyed using the means of virtuoso dance - sometimes it is passionate, sometimes it is calm and sometimes it is lyrical. Steven McRae and Laura Morrera do not try to copy their famous predecessors, but rather suggest their own plastique images that have a modern energy and a bit of irony and create a counterpoint between the sophisticated clarity of lines and the power of movement. The Moscow audience were some of the first to see the second ballet - "T etractys - the Art of Fugue", which has recently premiered in London. It was choreographed by an ultramodern and very popular choreographer W ayne McGregor, who refused to stage "The Rite of Spring" at the Bolshoi last year because of the "acid war". He either got nervous or decided not to compete with the classics - Nijinsky, Bejart and Bausch. McGregor's choreographic style has two distinctive features: his dance combines a variety of broken lines and angles with a tornado of physical "fluidity", while his world of images and emotions is based on modern computer technologies. This is quite a harmonious union of "harmony" and "algebra". The ballet "Tetractys" (the title has the sacred Pythagorean number "four", which has a harmony of unity and contradiction) is staged to the music by Bach. Here the choreographer "researches" the plastique abilities of a dancing body in the space. The designer Tauba Auerbach matched Bach's harmony with the geometry of her neon installations that she called counterpoints and canons. McGregor matched the fractures of her multicolored lines and constructions with the broken lines of the twelve dancers' bodies. We see something that can be called beautiful but callous choreographic abstractions. "Tetractys" stars only soloists, including the Bolshoi Theatre former prima-ballerina Natalia Osipova, who is now a prima-ballerina at the Royal Ballet. Her performance, which has the combination of classical movements and free physical expression, hypnotizes. The ballet "DGV: Danse Г  Grande Vitesse" (2006) was choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to the music by Michael Nyman, composed to mark the launch of the first high-speed train (TGV) in France. This is a ballet-reflection about movement, journeys, joys and emotions. Because music is the main motivator for Wheeldon and the main artistic image of the production, his ballets are very musical. He widely uses the classical dance language to create his own original choreography. There are four couples and the corps de ballet that together make a harmonious and vivid production; just like the choir in ancient Greek tragedy, which plays the role of a commentator as it becomes the wheels of the train, a crowd of people at the station, the crowd on the train line. Wheeldon made the artists that have virtuoso technique create the illusion of constant movement, which is amazing and scary. It is the movement that makes ballets beautiful and meaningful, at least from the emotional viewpoint. The Royal Ballet presents works of three famous choreographers and three different ways to understand what movement is. The Bolshoi Theatre's spokeswoman talks about premieres of the new season In her interview with the TV channel "Moscow 24" Katerina Novikova, the Bolshoi Theatre's spokeswoman, explained how the scandal, associated with Sergei Filin, influenced the Bolshoi's reputation, and talked about premieres of the coming season. - Katerina, thinking back to the most recent scandalous events that took place at the theatre, I cannot help asking: was it a dif ficult time for you? - It was not an easy time. I am not really ready to talk about criminal stuff; I am a theatre historian, so I want to talk about culture. It was a big shock for all of us; we did not know what to do. But Anatoly G. Iksanov, who was the Bolshoi Theatre General Director at that time, is a very decent and open person. He considered that we had to explain our position in a very precise way. Vladimir G. Urin, who is the Bolshoi Theatre current director, also considers we should not hide anything. Here is our position: theatre is not a war plant, theatre is open for everyone, and we have no secrets. - Y ou have mentioned Iksanov. T o put it bluntly, you used to be his right hand, not just his press-secretary. Does it mean that you also participated in negotiations from time to time? - I participated in many negotiations. I came to the Bolshoi in the winter of 2001. Gradually our relations became very warm; we started to feel like a family. However, I have known Anatoly for many years; he used me as an interpreter. - Did you use to live in Japan? - Yes, I did - after I had graduated from the institute and had completed my post- graduate studies. I did not really know what I wanted to do in life. So I worked with the Theatre "Litsedei". -Who were you? - I was a deputy director for international relations. There are 12 people at the Theatre "Litsedei", including the technicians; there are 3500 at the Bolshoi. Of course I felt free at "Litsedei". I also studied Japanese and lived in Japan for nine months. Mass media about the Theatre June, 20 2014 Newsletter

- Are many other members of your family theatre historians? - My grandfather is a theatre historian, so we used to have different people from the theatre visit us, for example Grigory Gorin or Anatoly Smelyansky. I used to stay at the Art Center for Composers and Filmmakers together with my grandmother and grandfather. For quite a long time I used to think I would be a wonderful actress; however, by the time I started my eighth grade at school, I realized I had no talent so I would not make a wonderful actress. So I graduated from the department of journalism in college. I was going to apply for the department of journalism at our university, and then my fathers talked me out of that and send me to the Theatre Institute to study. - Did you keep your status of the director's assistant when the new administration came? - No, I think that our relations are a bit different. They are good relations based on mutual trust, since Vladimir Urin and I have known each other for so long; however, it looks like he does not need me as much as Iksanov needed me. - Will there be any staff changes after Mr. Urin coming to the theatre? - It is dif ficult to say now. Vladimir Urin did a very decent thing - he did not touch a single person from the previous team, he decided to work with all of them and then see whom he can work together with and whom he cannot. When it comes to such huge institutions as the Bolshoi Theatre, you cannot just come there and change everything.
Some small changes do take place. Sinaisky left, the new music director came. Mikhail Fikhtengoltz and Sergei Filin's assistant left the Bolshoi. Dmitry I. Kiyanenko, the new deputy director on PR and marketing, joined the team. - Mr. Filin cannot see very well after the tragedy. Does it impact his work? - Over the whole period of time not a single premiere and not a single performance has been cancelled. Moreover, Sergei Filin gathered the Bolshoi Theatre Company as we know it today. He invited Semyon Chudin, David Hallberg, Evgenia Obraztsova and Olga Smirnova. Today the company has such stars, as Svetlana Zakharova and Maria Alexandrova. That is why the Bolshoi Ballet company is so highly praised all over the world. But Sergei has to leave for surgeries from time to time; the doctors are still trying to save his left eye. - Two of the Bolshoi's employees went to prison. Did it have any impact on the theatre's reputation? - I would say, it damaged not only the Bolshoi Theatre's reputation, but the reputation of the ballet community in general, because everything that has happened cannot be possibly associated with the wonderful, magic, amazing and fairy-tale world of talented people that everyone dreams about and that everyone wants to find himself in. But on the other hand those events have nothing to do with the theatre in general. Y ou know, if a schoolboy with a gun comes and shoots kids at an American school, it is not like it gives us any idea about the American education system. Unfortunately, the Bolshoi Theatre is under the microscope. Everything that happens here becomes under the spotlight. - Can those events that are happening now to our Southern neighbors in the former Soviet republic influence the Bolshoi Theatre's touring schedule? - They cannot. W e have heard that when our colleagues went there the audience halls were not always packed, but we have sold all tickets. W e have just had successful guest performances in W ashington, D.C. We showed "Giselle". David Hallberg and Svetlana Zakharova are an example of Russian- American friendship. In summer we will bring guest performances to New York; David will perform there as a member of the Bolshoi Theatre company. W e will bring to New Y ork three ballet productions and a concert version of the opera "The Tsar's Bride". - I understand that the house will be full, but can some incidents happen? - Perhaps, there will be some demonstrations, but I do not worry about it; we do not expect any provocations. - Please, say a couple of words about the idea to broadcast productions in cinemas. - Several times a year we have lives broadcasts of our productions in cinemas; there are about 800- 1000 cinemas that participate in this project all around the world. A couple of years ago Russia joined us on YouT ube. W e have been working with the company CoolConnections since last year, and now our productions are broadcast in dif ferent cities: Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk. These really are live broadcasts; you see exactly what is happening on the theatre's stage at the moment. Now we do both live broadcasts and transmissions of recorded versions. I am the MC of these broadcasts, and I assure you that we always go backstage before the performance starts and also during intermissions. We show what is happening backstage; I interview the directors or choreographers. - What premieres can the Bolshoi Theatre's audience look forward to in the new season? - W e will have many opera and ballet premieres. We will start with the concert version of "The Maid of Orleans". Tugan Sokhiev, our new music director, will conduct the orchestra. Then we will have "Rigoletto", which is a festival co-production. Director - Robert Carson. We will continue to present our program for children. A young director Belyanushkin will stage an opera for children "Kai and Gerda". There also will be the production of "The Queen of Spades". This production has already been staged, but it will be the first time that it will be shown at the Bolshoi Theatre. Director - Lev Dodin. In the end of the season we will show "Carmen". As for ballet, we plan to have new productions, absolute world premieres. "Hamlet", directed by Declan Donnellan, is one of them. The music by Shostakovich might be used there; negotiations with his family are being conducted at the moment. Y uri N. Grigorovic will bring "Legend of Love" back to the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage. As for the new productions, there will be "A Hero of Our Time", directed by Kirill Serebrennikov and choreographed by Yuri Posokhov. Ilya Demutsky, a young and talented composer from Saint Petersburg, is writing the music for this ballet. On the Bolshoi Theatre official pages in the social networks we uploaded the video: The Royal Ballet guest performances

The Royal Ballet presents guest performances at the Bolshoi - June 17 - 22 ! The Royal Ballet presents one-act ballets "Rhapsody", "Tetractys" and "DGV", as well as the ballet "Manon". More information is available on our website: Y ouT ube .youtube.com/watch?v=1EuofV1MZdE

Analysis of articles published on June 18 2014 Spanish newspaper El Mundo reports that two dancers of the Ryoal Ballet have refused to come to Moscow for the ballet company's tour at the Bolshoi Theatre because of what they say is anti-gay legislation in Russia. The Times (London) also publishes a short report about the two Royal Ballet dancers who refused to come to Moscow. V oice of Russia writes about an historical plan to send Bolshoi ballerinas to Britain in 1942 during the Great Patriotic War. CNN reports about the world's most spectacular video projections and names the projections on the Bolshoi Theatre among those it considers the most spectacular. Bolshoi Theatre in the Internet June, 20 2014 Newsletter

June, 20 2014