| The most significant ballet event of the year in Russia - the VIII Mariinsky Festival has become the most nervous of all the past St. Petersburg ballet festivals. At the last minute, the lineups changed (Diana Vishneva was supposed to dance with the Parisian Hervé Moreau - she came out with the local soloist Igor Kolb; Ulyana Lopatkina was promised the Italian Roberto Bolle - he was replaced by the reliable Evgeniy Ivanchenko), dancers fell ill (at the height of the festival he fell down with an exorbitant temperature Leonid Sarafanov), performances on the poster disappeared (like Pierrot Lunaire staged by Ratmansky, because Diana Vishneva did not want to give only one of her three “own” ballets to the festival program, and now her evening will be at the Stars of the White Nights festival) and appeared again (unexpectedly floated into Christopher Wheeldon's For Four program). The festival opened with an unsuccessful premiere - "Glass Heart", composed by Kirill Simonov, will be remembered only for the efficient scenography of Emil Kapelyush. Plus rumors that Valery Gergiev has decided to reform the management of the ballet. And therefore, a number of artists gathered to write a letter of support in defense of the supposedly fired boss.
But the structure - premieres, visits from foreign superstars and the final grand gala - was preserved and testified to the sustainability of the project. And they danced everything that was in the program, as before, with Mariinsky quality. And that means things will continue. |
