Exchange of serves

History of American ballet at the Bolshoi Theater

A week later at the Bolshoi Theater there will be a premiere, “An Evening of American Choreography.” The three one-act ballets should provide a glimpse into what was happening in US ballet in the 1930s, the mid-1980s and what is happening now. The set looks very bright.

They will start with Balanchine’s “Serenade” - the first ballet made by a former dancer of the Mariinsky Theater and a former choreographer of the Diaghilev enterprise in America. 1935, “Serenade for String Orchestra” by Tchaikovsky, seventeen girls in weightless skirts - this is not just the history of the theater, it is a legend. The legend of how the Balanchine style was created and how classical choreography began in America, which until then had only hosted famous guest performers. “Serenade” has been in the repertoire of the Mariinsky Theater for almost ten years, and it has been danced in Perm for three years, but this is not the case when the Bolshoi should be embarrassed that he is not the first in the country to get this choreography. Anyway, everything will become clear at the premiere - they will dance, and it will be clear who is first and who is last. And if you consider that the main part in “Serenade” is being rehearsed by Svetlana Zakharova, who once made the Mariinsky “Serenade” famous, the chances of a clear reproduction of the choreographic text are quite high.

“In the Room Above” by Twyla Tharp, first staged in the States twenty years ago, went mainly to young people - the text of the American dance revolutionary was too unusual, not everyone was ready to take risks. Tharp, who combines jazz, step and completely everyday movements, forcing her artists to dance in tennis shoes, was once brought to the quite classic American Ballet Theater by Mikhail Baryshnikov, and with his light hand, almost two dozen of her works appeared in the repertoire of this theater. "In the Room Above" to the music of Philip Glass is the most famous of them. Inspired by memories of spirituals, this plotless ballet nevertheless throws up quite clear gospel associations. The translation “In the room above” is not entirely accurate; in Russian it would be better “In the upper room” - where the Last Supper took place. Thirteen artists do not tell the story, but try to match its mood.

The latest ballet, Misericors, created by Christopher Wheeldon especially for the Bolshoi Theatre, also carries a prayerful glow. At the presentation of the ballet, which took place at the Bolshoi last Sunday, Wheeldon said that in the music of Arvo Pärt’s Third Symphony he felt “a heavy medieval mood, which at the same time is decorated in a very modern way.” He said that the light would stream “like through the windows of a cathedral”; and looking at the Latin dictionary, we find that the name is translated as “Merciful” - this is an appeal to God. Wheeldon, one of the most interesting post-Balanchine choreographers (the influence of the master is clearly felt in his choreography, but one can also feel a more dramatic perception of life), was not immediately persuaded by the Bolshoi Theater - negotiations lasted two seasons. And judging by the fact that the Bolshoi gave the best artists to the choreographer (Svetlana Lunkina, Maria Alexandrova, Dmitry Gudanov; Nikolai Tsiskaridze was supposed to be, but he, alas, fell ill with pneumonia), there are serious hopes for the world premiere.

Anna GORDEEVA