Boris Eifman resume Boris Eifman s choreographic imagination has immortalized history of great Russian ballerina Olga Spessivtseva which has got to whirlpool of events of an epoch of revolutionary terror. Expatriation and personal tragedies have aggravated sincere torments of the heroine that has led to a tragic outcome... Extraordinary expressive choreography, inexhaustible director s imagination, the magnificent scenic decision involve in this performance of new admirers. The choreographer notices that «Red Giselle» one of the major steps in its creative ascension. Boris Eifman word «By creating this ballet we wanted to pay the tribute on behalf of the ballet theater to the memory of Olga Spessivtseva, a great ballerina with the tragic fate. Our ballet is dedicated to Olga Spessivtseva, one of the greatest ballerinas of the twentieth century. I was astonished when I learned the details of her life: the unique actress, bathed in glory and worshipped by fans and critics, spent 20 years in an asylum outside New York, absolutely alone and deprived of all her rights! The tragic emotions I felt, became the impulse for creating the ballet. This is not an illustration for Spessivtseva s biography; rather this is an attempt to generalize her fate and the fates of many talented people who were forced to leave Russia and who came to a tragic end. Spessivtseva was a brilliant Giselle. The ballerina got into the role so deeply that she lacked the power to come back to the real life: Giselle s fate became hers. That fact that Spessivtseva as a prima-ballerina became involved in the bloody events of the revolutionary Petrograd played a fatal role in her life: the red symbol, like the symbol of the fate, haunted and tortured her. The emigration did not only bring her professional and personal disappointments, it filled her life with even more tragedies that led, in the long run, to the catastrophe.» Ballet in Two Acts Choreography: Boris Eifman Music: Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Alfred Shnitke, Georges Bizet Scenery and costume designer: Vyacheslav Okunev Premiere was held on 28 January 1997
Boris Eifman Ballet Twenty eight years ago, a ballet troupe with an intriguing name of The New Ballet presented its first performance which completely justified its name. In the stagnant creative atmosphere of Russia in the 1970s, works by Boris Eifman the founder and Artistic Director of The New Ballet were like a breath of fresh air. Eifman s combination of relevant themes and deep psychological perception, philosophical ideas and fiery passions, audacity of movement vocabulary and clarity of dramatic intent were highly unusual for that time. Even more remarkable was the artists level of commitment. The creation of a ballet troupe dedicated to performing works by one choreographer only was a unique phenomenon in itself. Eifman s ballet theater was geared towards a continuous creative process and each year produced new titles for its repertoire. After Boomerang, which was set to rock music, came The Idiot, which became a phenomenon in the Russian theater and clearly defined the aesthetic goals of Eifman s ballet troupe: the dramatization of the art of dance, deep penetration into the human psyche, daring interpretation of the most relevant, or taboo, themes of the time, and the creation of meaningful metaphors through movement. Eifman also became known for the elegance and powerful impact of the mass action scenes impeccably executed by the troupe s captivating corps de ballet. Eifman s repertoire helped create a special type of artist, combining dancing, acting, brilliant technique, and a gift for transformation. Eifman s ballet theater presented 27 productions in its first decade. Seeking to create a diverse repertoire, Eifman experimented with various genres, which ranged from choreographic miniatures to full-evening ballets. This period produced The Metamorphoses and Autographs, The Legend and A Crazy Day, The Twelfth Night and Love s Intrigues. It was also during that time that the poignant Sub-lieutenant Romashov and the innovative Master and Margarita broke though the barriers of censorship. These ballets saw an entire generation of audiences to whom Eifman s works have given an unusual feeling of freedom and on whom they have made an astounding emotional and spiritual impact. Eifman s production of The Murderers signaled a new period in the life of Eifman Ballet characterized by a special emphasis on seeking new forms of dance expression, psychoanalysis through movement, and a new, previously unexplored, energy in dance. Eifman Ballet s latest and best known productions include Tchaikovsky, Don Quixote, The Karamazovs, Red Giselle, My Jerusalem, Russian Hamlet, and Don Juan & Moliere. These ballets have brought worldwide recognition to such already well-known and versatile artists of the Eifman Ballet as Albert Galichanin, Elena Kuzmina, Vera Arbuzova, Yuri Ananyan, Alexander Rachinsky, Sergei Zimin. Today, a young generation of artists is realizing its talent alongside these masters. They include Yuri Smekalov, Natalia Povorozniuk, Alina Solonskaya, Konstantin Matulevsky, Anastassia Sitnikova, Maria Abashova, Oleg Markov. Besides the talent of its soloists, Eifman Ballet also owes its success in large part to the incredibly disciplined and professional corps de ballet. Collaborating on Tchaikovsky has laid the foundation for a creative union between two extraordinary artists Boris Eifman and set designer Vyacheslav Okunev, both of whom are now responsible for what is described as the amazing visual impact of the Eifman Ballet productions.
[ THE PRINCIPALS ] BORIS EIFMAN Artistic Director GENNADY ALBERT Ballet Director PETR KOSTYSHEV Deputy Director for development GERMAN GUREEV Deputy Director for tour management VLADIMIR BONDARENKO Deputy Director for administrative work VICTORIA BYKOVA Deputy Director for HR SERGEY ILCHENKO PR Manager
[ CAST ] Ballerina International Ballet Contests Laureate SVETLANA BEDNENKO International Ballet Contests Laureate Golden Soffit Award Laureate NINA ZMIEVETS Сhekist ALEXEY TURKO SERGEY VOLOBUEV Teacher OLEG MARKOV SERGEY VOLOBUEV Partner Golden Soffit Award Laureate OLEG GABYSHEV NIKOLAI RADZIUSH Friend ANTON LABUNSKAS DMITRY LUNEV
[ CORPS-DE-BALLET ] ALINA BOKALOVA VALENTINA VASILYEVA POLINA GORBUNOVA SOFIA ELISTRATOVA ALEXANDRA KUZMICH EKATERINA MIKHEEVA AMBER MILLER AIZHAN MUKATOVA NATALIA POZDNYAKOVA ANJELA PROKHOROVA KSENYA SAULEVICH NATALIA SMIRNOVA OLGA TELYUPA OXANA TVERDOKHLEBOVA EKATERINA TROFIMOVA ZLATA YALINICH ANASTASIA ZABEREZHNAYA DIANA ZALEVSKAYA EKATERINA ZHIGALOVA EVGENIJA ZODBAEVA SERGEY BARABANOV SERGEY BISEROV PAVEL HARBACHOU ANATOLIY GRUDZINSKY VASIL DAUTOV KIRILL EFREMOV MIKHAIL IVANKOV ALEXANDR IVANOV YURY KEKALO ANTON LABUNSKAS DMITRY LUNEV ALEXANDR MELKAEV ARTUR PETROV IGOR POLYAKOV DMITRY SAVINOV ROMAN SOLOVIEV
SYNOPSIS [ ACT ONE ] Revolutionary Petrograd. In the ballet school of the former imperial theatre, a lesson of classical dance is in progress. Severe and perfect dance plus a slightly mysterious aura - such is its ideal of beauty. A brilliant and gilt-decorated auditorium. The Ballerina s performance arouses rapturous applause. Among her admirers is a representative of the new authorities, member of the Cheka. It is not just her fine dancing that attracts him to the Ballerina. The Chekist s coarse pressure and his powerful embraces overcome the Ballerina s will power. The Chekist introduces the Ballerina to his world which is unknown to her. Here the wild revelry of the revolutionary crowd is transformed into a crazy festival of annihilation. And she, herself, hold sway at this festival, forgetting for a brief moment the behests of her Teacher. However the spiritual values instilled in her by the Teacher are stronger than the drug of destruction. The Ballerina returns to ballet school and to her Teacher. A new power holds sway within the walls of the theatre: cruel and aggressive, it crushes all obstacles in its path. The white Ballerinas must be the obedient instrument of the red ideology. The Teacher is in despair. What is happening is unbearable, but he is unable to do anything about it. The Ballerina and the Chekist are linked by a complex relationship. Here there is both attraction and non-acceptance, passion and non-understanding. The Chekist permits the Ballerina to join the emigres who are leaving Russia for good. [ ACT TWO ] A ballet class at the Grand Opera in Paris. A famous dancer and choreographer is taking the rehearsal. The dancing technique is unfamiliar to the Ballerina, but she recognizes the inspired talent of a creator. The dancer becomes her Partner: they are both to have a triumphant success. The Ballerina s growing infatuation with her Partner is not reciprocated. This unrequited love, her feeling of loneliness in a world that is alien to her have an increasingly negative affect on her mental state which shows signs of cracking-up. The Ballerina attempts to find distraction in gay Paris. But even here she is haunted by the specters of the past. The red reflections of the Revolution give her no peace. The Chekist appears to her in a nightmarish hallucination. Even her favorite role of Giselle in which the Ballerina always moved her audience and for which interpretation she won world fame, did not bring her peace of mind. Giselle s fate lay in store for her -she herself repeated it: the betrayal of her loved one, madness. Mirrors refract the great ballerina s sick mind. And madness is seen as salvation, as a departure into the flickering world of the other side of the mirror.
Vyacheslav Okunev Set and costumes designer in Red Giselle People s Artist of Russia Born in Leningrad. Studied at the Leningrad Cherkasov State Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinema (studio of I. Segal). While still a student, he was invited to work with the Maly Opera (Mikhailovsky) and the Kirov Theatre (Maiinsky). Has worked as a set and costume designer on over three hundred productions since 1975. Major works include: Prokofiev s Love for Three Oranges, Mozart s Le nozze di Figaro, Delib s Coppélia, Adam s Giselle, Stravinsky s Mavra, Les Noces, Petrouchka, Shchedrin s Anna Karenina, A. Tchaikovsky s The Government Inspector and Rimsky-Korsakov s Kashchei the Immortal at the Mariinsky Theatre; Lovenskjold s La Sylphide, Musorgsky s Khovanshchina and the ballet Russian Hamlet (choreography by Boris Eifman) at the Bolshoi Theatre; Tchaikovsky s Eugene Onegin, Puccini s Tosca, Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica at the St Petersburg Chamber Opera Company; Tchaikovsky; I, Don Quixote; The Brothers Karamazov; Red Giselle; My Jerusalem; Don Juan, or Moliere Passions; Musagete; Anna Karenina at Saint Petersburg Eifman Ballet; and Bizet s Carmen, Verdi s La traviata, Rigoletto, Otello, Rimsky-Korsakov s The Tsar s Bride, Tchaikovsky s Swan Lake, Glazunov s Raymonda and La Fille malgardée at the Mikhailovsky Theatre. Over the years he has worked with companies including the Theatre Royal in Glasgow, the Greek National Opera, the Theatre Wielki (Poland), Hungarian National Opera (Budapest), the National Theatres in Seoul and Tokyo, New York City Ballet and the Theatre Cagliari, La Scala and the Arena di Verona in Italy.
Boris Eifman BORIS EIFMAN is one of the few, if not the only Russian choreographer, who continued his active creative work for decades. Perhaps none of his contemporaries can take pride in such achievements. There are more than forty performances on the director s account. He was the laureate of the prestigious theatrical Golden Soffit and Golden Mask awards, of the State Prize of Russian Federation, received the Order of Arts and Letters of France, the People s Artist of Russia title, Order of Merit for the Fatherland and many other prizes and titles. The choreographer was born in Siberia, finished the department of choreography of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Conservatory. In 1977 he organized Leningrad New Ballet (today called Saint Petersburg Eifman Ballet), the only individually managed theatre in Russia, developing the art of modern choreography. He did not only create an original style, which absorbed the achievements of new time art and which is based on the classical school, but also brought up a team of kindred spirit, for whom no unsolvable tasks exist. The current Company s repertory includes the following works that have been already recognized worldwide are Requiem, Tchaikovsky, I, Don Quixote, The Karamazovs, Red Giselle, My Jerusalem, Russian Hamlet, Don Juan, or Moliere Passions, WHO is WHO, Musagete, Anna Karenina, The Seagull, Onegin and the most recent one Rodin. Boris Eifman is a choreographer-philosopher. He is concerned with the problems of the modern world; with the secrets of creativity and the magic of geniuses, which uncover themselves in his interpretation of the fates of Tchaikovsky, Spesivtseva, Moliere or Rodin. He makes experiments with such dark and fearful sphere as human psyche (Idiot, Murderers, I, Don Quixote, Russian Hamlet and Anna Karenina), creating the images of stage psychoanalysis. He strives for showing extreme states of human mind, regarding his heroes` madness not as an illness but as their ability to penetrate into another worlds. The choreographer pulls apart the limits of his imagination with the help of his heroes` fantasies, deepening in the questions of spiritual and philosophic life of humankind, which interest him most. Boris Eifman s desire to draw his spectators into the inexhaustible world of human passions, to establish live spiritual connections with the audience, to stun it with brilliance and dynamism of plastic language all this determined the success that accompanies the theatre s performances on the leading stage venues of the world for decades. The choreographer marks: «The spectator wants to receive from a ballet performance, first of all, a catharsis, a deep emotional shock. And visiting our performances, he receives this live emotional charge. We aspire to that the psychological theatre would be the privilege not only of a drama, but also of a ballet. And from this point of view we are unique. Such type of theatre to which our Company belongs with the strong dramaturgic base, the deep philosophical maintenance and high heat of passions - is necessary for many spectators». Creating his own style Eifman worked at various dancing systems. The theatre became a kind of laboratory for him. The choreographer did not limit himself with the frames of a purely ballet performance, since the most important thing for him is theatricality. His plays are unforgettable shows, revealing new forms and new principles of dancing action. Boris Eifman has created his theatre a theatre of unconcealed emotional feelings. PRESS ABOUT BORIS EIFMAN «Boris Eifman is undoubtedly the most interesting modern Russian choreographer. He has a magnetism of both his own personality and his constant desire for renewal». Le Figaro «The ballet world in search of a major choreographer need search no more. He is Boris Eifman» Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times «Eifman s personal qualities are strength and unrestraint. His nervous painful style is a cover for the most brilliant skills». Le Figaro «Boris Eifman will remain one of the most creative artists of Russia». Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times «There is no doubt any longer that the choreographer Boris Eifman is an amazing magician of the theatre. Probably the only thing one can still have any doubts about is whether he is the last leading choreographer of the 20 century or the first choreographer of the 21st». Clive Barnes, New York Post «The artists of Eifman s theatre are phenomenal. Everybody from the soloists to the perfect corps de ballet. Amazingly skilful and flexible, they can equally purely and vividly perform the most incredible creation of the choreographer and any classical pas and are outstandingly expressive and musical». Russian Daily Novoye Russkoye Slovo
[ SOLOISTS ]
NINA ZMIEVETS Born 11 February 1982 in Kiev (Ukraine) 2000 graduated from the Kiev State Choreographic School 2000-2003 a soloist with the Eifman Ballet, St. Petersburg 2003-2004 a soloist with the International Ballet Theatre (USA) 2004-2006 a soloist with the National Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre 2006 to the present a soloist with the Eifman Ballet, St. Petersburg Featured roles since joining the Eifman Ballet: Nadezhda von Mekk (Tchaikovsky) Kitri (I, Don Quixote) Grushenka (The Brothers Karamazov) Ballerina (Red Giselle) The Empress (Russian Hamlet) Madeleine (Don Juan, or Moliere Passions) Cat (Musagete) Anna (Anna Karenina) Arkadina (The Seagull) Tatyana (Onegin) Rose Beuret (Rodin) Honors: Winner of international ballet contests Recipient of the Golden Soffit Award SVETLANA BEDNENKO Born 17 March 1991 in Donetsk (Ukraine) 2007 - graduated from the Vadim Pisarev Ballet School 2007-2011 a soloist with the Donetsk State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet 2011 to the present a soloist with the Eifman Ballet, St. Petersburg Featured roles since joining the Eifman Ballet: Antonina Milyukova, Tchaikovsky s wife (Tchaikovsky); Kitri (I, Don Quixote) Ballerina (Red Giselle) The Empress (Russian Hamlet) Olga (Onegin) Honors: Winner of international ballet contests OLEG GABYSHEV Born 10 August 1985 in Volgograd 2003 graduated from the Novosibirsk State Choreographic College 2004 to the present a soloist with the Eifman Ballet, St. Petersburg Featured roles while a member of the Eifman Ballet: Man (Requiem) Double (Tchaikovsky) Basil, Patient who imagined himself to be Don Quixote (I, Don Quixote) Dmitry Karamazov (The Brothers Karamazov) Partner (Red Giselle) Don Juan (Don Juan, or Moliere Passions) Vronsky (Anna Karenina) Treplev (The Seagull) Onegin (Onegin) Rodin (Rodin) Honors: Recipient of the Golden Soffit Award SERGEY VOLOBUEV Born 3 June 1986 in Kovel (Ukraine) 2004 graduated from the Kiev State Choreographic School 2004 to the present a soloist with the Eifman Ballet, St. Petersburg Featured roles while a member of the Eifman Ballet: Double (Tchaikovsky) Patient who imagined himself to be Don Quixote (I, Don Quixote) Ivan Karamazov (The Karamazovs) Teacher (Red Giselle)
Favourite of the Empress, The Ghost of the Heir s Father (Russian Hamlet) Commandore (Don Juan, or Moliere Passions) Vronsky (Anna Karenina) Trigorin (The Seagull) General (Onegin) Rodin (Rodin) OLEG MARKOV Born 9 October 1980 in Leningrad 1998 graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in Saint Petersburg 1998 to the present a soloist with the Eifman Ballet, St. Petersburg Featured roles while a member of the Eifman Ballet: Old man, Youth (Requiem) Tchaikovsky (Tchaikovsky) Patient who imagined himself to be Don Quixote (I, Don Quixote) Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, Ivan Karamazov (The Brothers Karamazov) Teacher (Red Giselle) Ghost of the Heir s Father (Russian Hamlet) Commandore (Don Juan, or Moliere Passions) Bill (Who s Who) Balanchine (Musagete) Karenin (Anna Karenina) Trigorin (The Seagull) General (Onegin) ALEXEY TURKO Born 23 October 1979 in Minsk (Belarus) 1998 graduated from the State Choreographic College of the Republic of Belarus 1998-2000 a soloist with the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus 2000 to the present a soloist with the Eifman Ballet, St. Petersburg Featured roles while a member of the Eifman Ballet: Man (Requiem) Double (Tchaikovsky) Basil (I, Don Quixote) Dmitry Karamazov, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov (The Brothers Karamazov) Partner, Chekist (Red Giselle) Moslem (My Jerusalem) Favourite of the Empress (Russian Hamlet) Don Juan (Don Juan, or Moliere Passions) Alex (Who s Who) Balanchine (Musagete) Vronsky, Karenin (Anna Karenina) Onegin (Onegin) NIKOLAI RADZIUSH Born 6 November 1984 in Belarus. 2004 - graduated from the State Choreographic College of the Republic of Belarus 2004-2008 a member of the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus 2008 to the present a soloist with the Eifman Ballet, St. Petersburg Featured roles while a member of the Eifman Ballet: Tchaikovsky (Tchaikovsky) Basil (I, Don Quixote) Alexey Karamazov (The Brothers Karamazov) Partner (Red Giselle) Karenin (Anna Karenina) Lensky (Onegin)