Sincere confession

"The Little Humpbacked Horse" by Alexei Ratmansky at the Mariinsky Theater

This, of course, became a kind of return of the prodigal son. Valery Gergiev never tires of repeating with pride that it was he who once, back in 1998, greeted the aspiring choreographer, inviting him to work at the Mariinsky Theater. The result was Ratmansky's entire three-act evening: "The Fairy's Kiss", "Middle Duet" and "Poem of Ecstasy". Then everything went according to Mariinsky custom: two ballets quickly left the stage, only the “Middle Duet” survived, and even then, apparently, because of ease of use, that’s why it’s a duet. Then Ratmansky was invited to compose “The Nutcracker,” but during the work it turned out that the performance could only have one author - the artist Mikhail Shemyakin, and the choreographer left the project. As a kind of compensation, he was offered Cinderella, which he released in 2002 (fortunately, the play survived). Since then, Alexei Ratmansky has become the chief choreographer of the Russian Federation not only in terms of talent, but also in status - having taken this post at the Bolshoi Theater (of course, the position of chief choreographer of the Mariinsky Theater is no lower, but it has been vacant since 1996, which may and for the better, but that's a different conversation). And now, having left the Bolshoi and signed a contract with the American Ballet Theater as a permanent choreographer, he returned to the city where he was born and where he made his mark.

The drug addict, if the effect of the dose was striking, wants to repeat it, and if it didn’t work, he wants to correct it. Valery Gergiev, may I be forgiven for the frivolity of such a comparison, follows this strategy: he always strives to resume successful productions and rearrange unsuccessful ones (sometimes vice versa, but that’s another conversation). At the end of the 70s, he already conducted The Little Humpbacked Horse, made at the then Kirov Theater by Dmitry Bryantsev, and, as he himself says, “has long been a fan of this score.”

What it proved in action on the day of the premiere: Rodion Shchedrin’s score (albeit shortened with the author’s consent) sounded wonderful - elastic, youthful, full-blooded, infectious with temperament, sparkling with colors, sometimes violently grotesque, sometimes tender and slightly ironic.

Gentle irony is one of the main intonations of choreographer Ratmansky. He is a man of culture, permeated, imbued with it, and he, of course, does not steal from his predecessors and does not mock them, does not parody, he seems to invite you on a wonderful journey through the history of dance. Here two older brothers come out, their elderly gray-bearded father, and here is the younger Ivan in only his underpants. Dad pantomimes about the misfortune that befell their wheat, which someone is trampling on the vine. Moreover, the set design by Maxim Isaev consists of huge (suprematist? constructivist?) geometric figures in the style of the 1920s - and in all this, Balanchine’s “Prodigal Son” suddenly begins to appear. And when the Tsar Maiden appears, you see: oh, so it is, in her plasticity there are almost direct quotes from Balanchine’s Siren.

And the choreographer, of course, knows very well about how the Russian theme existed in ballet and, as it were, tells us: remember? is it really cute? And it is clear that the flapping of wings in a dance will always be a flapping of the arms, and their fluttering will always be a small trembling of the hands, be it Lev Ivanov’s swans or Fokine’s firebird, such are the birds in “The Little Humpbacked Horse”. Even in Ratmansky’s underwater kingdom, wavy sea people, resembling all hydro-creatures at once, lie in a semicircle on the floor and wake up one by one when a couple of their comrades appear, sent for the ring demanded by the Tsar Maiden - a completely hilarious allusion to the fourth picture of “Swan Lake” .

This cloud of allusions envelops the entire choreographic text. The Tsar Maiden jerks her shoulder, hinting at the first performer of the role, Maya Plisetskaya. She was given neoclassical - “Balanchine” variations, very fast and complex. But for virtuoso Victoria Tereshkina there are no technical difficulties: she instantly, Forsyte-style, lets go of the body and grabs it again, plays with the center of gravity as if nothing had happened, easily and cheerfully. But it turned out that there were no acting difficulties for her - the pantomime comical flirtatious flirtation with Ivan (no less accurate and artistic Mikhail Lobukhin) was played deftly and charmingly funny.

For the Sea Princess with sea horses, marvelous, flowing variations with inventive, refined supports were also composed - they are danced perfectly by Ekaterina Kondaurova, a real revived plastic formula of the Art Nouveau style. The buffoonish role of the Tsar, presented here as a frail king, reminiscent of Lenin from jokes, in a shirt with Kremlin teeth along the hem and in a hat like the Spasskaya Tower, went to Andrei Ivanov. He did it perfectly. Like Ilya Petrov - his Hunchback. In general, the troupe seemed great: after Balanchine and Forsythe, they seem to be capable of any number of strokes and details in any short time. And Ratmansky, with his outstanding musicality, has a wealth of details: he hears the score in all its subtleties, and his text is completely adequate to it in this sense. In addition, when the artists like it, they begin not to work, but to dance, which, in fact, turns the ballet theater from physical education into art, and the performance into a holiday.

“The Little Humpbacked Horse” made us think about the very phenomenon of Alexei Ratmansky’s creative personality. We know: whoever lived and thought cannot help but despise people in his soul. Especially the one who lived in a terrarium of like-minded people, which is almost any theater. Such a perception of the world, once reflected, in a talented person may well become (and has more than once become) the subject of artistic expression. There are outstanding works about how mold penetrated into the secret place of the soul and, moreover, settled there, multiplied and finally took over the entire soul. And there are those (there are very few of them) that represent the message of spiritual goodness. For example, “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by Glinka is just such a work. "The Little Humpbacked Horse" by Rodion Shchedrin - too. Ratmansky’s adequacy to this music is not only choreographer’s, but also human. I don’t have the honor of knowing Mr. Ratmansky personally, but the artist talks about himself through his writings. So, it is quite obvious that this performance was made with a pure heart. Which, it turns out, can be preserved up to forty years, and after spending your entire life in the theater. This is a miracle, even purer than all the miracles invented by Pyotr Pavlovich Ershov in “The Little Humpbacked Horse.”

Dmitry TSILIKIN, St. Petersburg