Tickets for an evening of one-act ballets. The Bolshoi Ballet stumbled on "Etudes" Tickets for one-act ballets "Carmen Suite", "Cage", "Etudes"
"Cage" is one of the greatest ballets Robbins. In 1951, when this ballet began its life, critics were thrown into dismay by its ferocious fury. In Holland, the authorities even initially banned it - as "pornographic".
J. Homans, Apollo's Angels
In the spring of 1951, Robbins returned to the New York City Ballet again, and, according to him, applied the purely technical discoveries that he had realized in the musical The King and I* in his polemical ballet The Cage. He himself said that the overextended Siamese movements and gestures that he used in Broadway show, overflowed and spilled into the ballet. Set to the dark music of Stravinsky's String Concerto in D major, this ballet tells how female insects "rape" and then kill male insects. The program offered "competition or cult" as an explanation. And, according to Robbins, the original idea went back to the mythological Amazons. But already at the very first rehearsals it was transformed, so that the “Amazons” turned into praying mantis-like insects indulging in their cult. Robbins also took something from spiders, from the unbridled power of the animal world, to create what he himself called "a natural phenomenon."
The idea to stage "The Cage" first came to his mind when, turning over the plate with "Apollo Musagete" by Stravinsky, on reverse side he saw the 1946 Concert "What a dramatic thing!" - such was his reaction. He described this music as "terribly exciting, overwhelming and subjugating" and imagined the three parts of the concerto as a dramatic structure, which later became the basis of his ballet. Robbins layered the dance with an endless number of ideas and images that he found and absorbed throughout the work on the ballet, from Nora Kay slicked wet hair **, out of the shower, to watching a tiger in a cage, relentlessly whipping with his tail. He also hinted that he was inspired by the peculiar youthful features - carefully traced by him - in the dance of Tanakil Le Clerc *** (he compared her to a clumsy young colt about to turn into a thoroughbred horse). He himself spoke of this Imagist **** absorption process as follows: “I had a special look aimed at the material. This "special look" is typical of anyone who creative work whether he is an artist, playwright, poet, composer or choreographer. This “look” becomes a kind of Geiger counter that starts clicking in the brain or turns on emotions when you get close to some object that may be of value to your work.”
In such a case, the subject would probably have raised their eyebrows in surprise, as the ballet was deliberately threatening and violent. Summing up everything that happens in it, Robbins said: “This is a story about a tribe, a female tribe. A young girl, a Convert, must undergo a rite of passage. She does not yet know her duties and powers as a member of the tribe, nor is she aware of her natural instincts. She falls in love with a man and mates with him. But the rules by which the tribe lives require his death. She refuses to kill him, but is once again ordered by the (Queen of the Tribe) to do her duty. And when his blood really spills, animal instincts take over. She herself rushes forward to complete the sacrifice. Her feelings obey the instincts of her tribe."
And indeed, under the leadership of the Queen of the Tribe (Yvonne Munsee), two Strangers (Nicolas Magallanes, Michael Mol) were killed one by one by violent blows of women's hands and feet. If “Free as Air”***** expanded the classical “syllable” with a combination of pirouettes and somersaults, then “The Cage”, with its grotesque manner, should have pushed the boundaries of the classical form even further. “I didn’t have to limit myself solely to human movements, that is, movements made in the manner that we consider to be human,” Robbins recalled. - In the way their fingers worked, in the tilt of the body to the ground or the lunge of the arm, I had the opportunity to see what I wanted to compose. Sometimes arms, hands, fingers turned into claws, tentacles, antennae.<…>
The ballet premiered at the City Center on June 4, 1951. Artist Jean Rosenthal illuminated an empty web-like structure of intertwining ropes, and Ruth Sobotka dressed the performers in provocative "spider" robes. At the beginning of the ballet, the rope net dangling from above is eerily taut, a detail that Robbins added as if to warn of what is about to happen here. But this performance, less than fourteen minutes long, instantly crushes all the audience's assumptions.<…>
The reaction of the critics was very loud, but mostly in favor of Robbins. John Martin****** wrote: “This is an angry, piecemeal and merciless work, decadent in its obsession with misogyny and contempt for reproduction. It cannot avoid questions, but with its sharp and strong blows it penetrates to the very essence of the problem. The characters are insects, without a heart or conscience, and their opinion of the human race is not very high. But despite all the power of denial, this is a great little thing, marked with the stamp of genius. In the Herald Tribune, Walter Terry ****** concludes that "Robbins has created a startling, hard-hitting, but overall exciting piece."<…>
Clive Barnes****** later described The Cage as "a repulsive piece of ill-expressed genius". As if defending Robbins from accusations of misogyny, Lincoln Kernstein******* called it "the manifesto of the women's liberation movement, made twenty years before it began." At that time, Robbins was very hurt by such a harsh reaction and even issued a “rebuttal”: “I don’t understand why someone is so shocked by The Cage. If you look closely, it will become clear to you that she is nothing more than the second act of Giselle in modern view". And although he later explained that irony was implied in his statement, he was constantly “remembered” by the jeeps, vengeful spirits in female form, who brutally attacked Hilarion and Albert in the famous cemetery scene. But in The Cage there is no hint of the all-consuming power of love that helps Giselle save her unfaithful prince. Robbins made his ballet infinitely dark and ruthless: both of his Outsiders had to die without waiting for any manifestation of human emotions from their killers. Which was in line with Balanchine's advice, who, according to biographer Bernard Taper, told Robbins after the run, "Leave him clinically soulless."
An excerpt from G. Lawrence's "A Dance with Demons: The Life of Jerome Robbins"
Translation by N. Shadrina
* "The King and I" - a musical based on the novel "Anna and the King of Siam", staged by J. Robbins on Broadway in 1951.
** Nora Kay is the first performer of the part of the Convert.
*** Tanakil Le Clerc is a ballerina of the New York City Ballet, who soon after the events described became the wife of J. Balanchine.
**** Imagist - inherent in Imagism ( literary direction in English speaking countries).
***** Free as Air is one of the most famous ballets by J. Robbins (1944).
****** John Martin, Walter Terry, Clive Barnes are the greatest American ballet critics.
******* Lincoln Kerstein is a philanthropist, art connoisseur, writer, impresario, co-founder of the New York City Ballet Company.
"Cage, Etudes, Carmen Suite" - a fascinating ballet staged in the style of contemporary dance. lovers choreographic art three one-act ballets will be presented under musical accompaniment different composers. The ballet "The Cage" was staged by Jerome Robbins with musical accompaniment by I. Stravinsky. This is one of the oldest ballets, it was first staged in 1951, but is still revered by the public today. On the stage, all the subtleties of the ethnic rituals of the Amazons are revealed. Under the guidance of the queen, all the action is carried out for a teenage girl who knows her body. The performance "Russian Seasons" glorifies Slavic culture. Viewers are exposed to various calendar events that are now lost and little known to people. But this does not stop the ballet from being interesting and entertaining. "Etudes" - ballet by H. Lander to the musical accompaniment of K. Czerny. Everything that characterizes classical ballet is here - white tutus, elegance, bright solo performances.
An evening of ballet at the Bolshoi Theater will allow the audience to enjoy the wonderful performance of dance parts in a modern style. It is recommended to come to the ballet to all lovers of high choreographic art. AND to buy tickets can be on our website.
The program of the evening of one-act ballets at the Bolshoi Theater is represented by three performances that are completely different in form and content, choreography and design. The daring and frightening "Cage", which was inspired by the American D. Robbins by the gloomy music of Stravinsky, the "Carmen Suite" staged by A. Alons and the ode to dance in "Etudes" by choreographer H. Lander will not leave the viewer indifferent. In one evening, ballet connoisseurs will be able to get an incredible range of emotions and make a journey through the history of dance.
Ballet Carmen Suite
The ballet in one act "Carmen Suite" has not ceased to attract the attention of the audience for several decades. Made to Music Soviet composer Rodion Shchedrin, he was once glorified by the magnificent ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. Later, other prima ballet stars also shone in it.
In the abbreviated version, the play "Carmen Suite" is more understandable to the viewer, and the author of the production can afford his own reading. classical work. The story of a free and wayward gypsy within the framework of a one-act ballet is developing dynamically and rapidly.
Love, jealousy, fate - all this one line passes in front of the viewer. It is all the more interesting to read the images and characters in the gestures, facial expressions, plasticity of the dancers. In the ballet, everything that happens is very symbolic and sometimes it seems that Carmen's fate will change its fateful course. But the bullfight, with its inevitable and traditional ending, brings the viewer back to reality.
The premiere of this bright performance, saturated with love passion, took place in the spring of 1967. In 2005, after a long break, it was resumed. Since then, the ballet has been included in the repertoire Bolshoi Theater. I. Nioradze, I. Kuznetsov, D. Matvienko shine in Albert Alonso’s Carmen Suite 2018.
Ballet "Cage"
The premiere of the play "The Cage" at the Bolshoi was shown in March 2017, but even those who already had the good fortune to watch and appreciate the choreography of Jerome Robbins' production this season are returning to see everything again. Bright, grotesque, sometimes strange and incomprehensible, but piercing and impressive - "Cage" 2018 does not leave anyone indifferent.
What is happening on stage cultivates not the most positive emotion. Spider plastic goes against the grain classical ballet, wild aggressiveness, impregnated with feminism and denial of everything that is out of female control, causes a strange feeling of rejection, but the magnificent choreography returns everything to its place. The play "The Cage" is a spectacle about which they say: "We ask the faint of heart to leave the hall."
Robbins was inspired to create the production in 1951 by Stravinsky's music. In the seventh decade of existence in this performance, it also sounds differently in the interpretation of the conductor-producer Igor Dronov. Anastasia Stashkevich, who danced the role of Novinka, received a special praise from representatives of the Robbins Foundation. The performance “The Cage” at the Bolshoi Theater lasts only 14 minutes, but remains in the mind of the viewer for a long time, because it takes time to understand it and comprehend what is happening.
Ballet "Etudes"
The performance "Etudes" is a journey through the world of ballet choreography. It was created to the music of the composer Carl Czerny. The classical harmony of this ballet was "written" by the choreographer Harald Lander in his first production for the Royal Danish Theater in 1948. This ballet has no plot, in fact, it tells about 300 years of dance history.
In the production, in order of complexity, ballet steps are demonstrated, starting from the first simple positions of the legs and ending with a parade of complex rotations and jumps, refined ballet techniques. By the end of the performance "Etudes", the prima are already performing elements that are more often within the power of men, and the latter are spinning female fouettes. Sometimes it seems that Lander mocks everything and everyone, but this is just an illusion, in fact, the Big Dance is on stage.
The premiere of the one-act play "Etudes" at the Bolshoi Theater took place in March 2017. After its screening, many critics noted that for our dancers, who are accustomed to a radically different school of ballet, the interpretation of Harald Lander is difficult and sometimes simply unbearable physically. But to get on with it own opinion, you need to see the ballet with your own eyes. In any case, everything that happens on stage is wonderful.
Tickets for one-act ballets "Carmen Suite", "Cage", "Etudes"
Last season one-act ballets were very popular with the audience, which gives reason to believe that "Carmen Suite", "Cage", "Etudes" 2018 will be no less in demand. Our Agency has been working in the field of selling tickets for any events in Moscow for more than 10 years, so we can guarantee the quality of the services provided. On our website you can buy tickets for "Carmen Suite", "Cage", "Etudes" by paying for them in any convenient way:
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Our managers are ready to provide information support and provide best places in the hall at the most reasonable prices. And organizations and companies of 10 or more people can buy tickets for "Carmen Suite", "Cage", "Etudes" at a discount.
One-act ballets - a spectacle worthy of true connoisseurs of ballet
It is definitely worth seeing the one-act ballets Carmen Suite, The Cage, Etudes in Moscow. This is a dance festival that evokes powerful emotions. This is also confirmed by the fact that after the premiere of "The Cage" no one remained indifferent, and after watching "Etudes" the audience did not let the artists go, blowing up the hall of the Bolshoi Theater with prolonged applause.
"Cell". The new one is Anastasia Stashkevich. Photo - Damir Yusupov
American choreographer Jerome Robbins staged The Cage in 1951 and was inspired by Stravinsky's music, in which he heard the battle of suppression with submission, human with nature.
In the fourteen-minute opus, some female community (either female praying mantises, who are known to kill males after mating, or frenzied Amazons) initiates New Girl, drawing her into a sinister cult: the ritual murder of men. Or males? You can take Robbins' idea literally, but then The Cage makes a slightly comical impression these days.
But it is also possible in figuratively- for example, as a story covered with hidden irony about the extremes of feminism. Or an analysis of our internal animal aggression, which every now and then strives to get out, breaking through the fragile human barriers.
Robbins worked in The Cage with classical dancers, specifically focusing on those ballet steps that can be “turned up” to a frenzy (for example, sharp batmans - high swings of the legs). And in addition, he saturated the plastic with all sorts of “ugliness”.
The choreographer spoke about watching “a tiger in a cage, tirelessly whipping its tail”, about the horrors that were dreamed up when “arms, hands, fingers turned into claws, tentacles, antennae”.
A group of women (or creatures?) with rearing hair and zigzags on ballet “leotards” enter in spidery plasticity, gaping their mouths in a silent scream, wandering with a rustling step on half-bent, sticking out their hips and throwing up their sharp elbows. When the heroine, in the “alert” duet, almost fell in love with a sexual enemy, in the end she still acts according to the rules of the tribe and breaks her partner’s neck, holding his head between her crossed legs (all this against the background of a colored web) - the picture certainly confirms director's words:
"The Cage" is nothing but the second act of "Giselle" in the modern sense. Only Giselle, with her all-forgiving love, is gone, only ruthless killers-jeeps.
Conductor Igor Dronov interpreted Stravinsky's Concerto for String Orchestra in D major as if it were not Stravinsky. Where is the tart union of smoothness and impetuosity, sharpness and smoothness? Where are the accents and syncopations? Rhythmic and tonal changeable richness is mixed into a mess, as if the legs of dancers and ballerinas got stuck in it.
The troupe performed "The Cage" in an overly classical way, almost without the dramatic exuberance that can be seen - on record - in American performers, the bearers of the style who danced "The Cage" under Robbins. Even Anastasia Stashkevich (New Girl), who danced intelligently and was approved by representatives of the Robbins Foundation, “softened” a lot. And so far she has not been able to achieve the effect that the choreographer demanded: the resemblance to “an ungainly young foal that is about to turn into a purebred horse.”
The ballet "Etudes" is of a completely different kind. It was set to the music of Carl Czerny, any student knows this name music school, poring over piano etudes.
Created in Denmark in 1948 by choreographer Harald Lander, the ballet does not imply violations of classical harmony, on the contrary, it emphasizes it in every possible way. "Etudes" - a plotless journey around the world classical dance, with entries into the romantic style, and a guide to three hundred years of ballet history.
The journey begins with a simple up-down musical scale and a lone ballet girl downstage showing the basics - the five basic leg positions in classic and the plie (deep squat).
The “Etudes” end with a solemn general apotheosis, when the ballerinas in black and white “tutus” line up in columns along with the gentlemen. Between this, there are contrasts of tempo in allegro and adagio. Solo, duets and pas de trois.
Initial movements at the ballet barre in the classroom - and a parade of well-trained pros, equally impressive in both big jumps and spins, and sophisticated ballet trifles. Demonstration of the purity of the dance, the “steel” toe, the proper positioning of the hands and the not clamped body.
Lander's academic steps often smack of vaudeville playfulness, but mastery of the lyrical palette also needs to be shown. The prime minister spins women's fouettes, and ballerinas must have masculine strength and endurance. The villain Lander, as if in a mockery, winds everything up and winds up combinations. By the end of the ballet, the troupe - any - is suffocating from fatigue from these furious exercises.
The Etudes should be performed in unison, happily combining technical equipment with musicality. This is difficult in general - and doubly difficult for our dancers, brought up for the most part on a different repertoire, little or insufficiently accustomed to fine ballet technique, to all this laced “tie” with their feet (a sign of the Danish school), with which the “Etudes” are full.
In addition, rehearsals in the theater lasted only 20 days, which is less than necessary for such a choreography. As a result, the impression is half-hearted. It was evident that both the invited choreographer from Denmark and the head of the ballet troupe of the Bolshoi Theater, Makhar Vaziev, strictly demanded from the artists to observe the eversion positions, the clarity of the poses and the sharpened feet. A desperate desire to reproduce everything correctly was written on the faces of many speakers. What can you do if this hellishly difficult, technically “tricked out” ballet should, in spite of everything, seem like something easy, as if not requiring noticeable physical effort?
Effortless virtuosity - keywords for performers of "Etudes". Premieres Olga Smirnova, Ekaterina Krysanova (second cast), Semyon Chudin and Artem Ovcharenko danced, by and large, like a premiere, albeit with blots.
Things were more complicated for other soloists. Who strives to fall off the rotation, who gets tired quickly, and this can be seen, who twists his foot or does not pull, squats incorrectly or crosses his legs in skid jumps, not without “dirt”. Not to mention the imbalance of synchronicity. Small “dissonances” that arose here and there gradually accumulated, threatening the harmony of the overall building.
In these circumstances, the idea of broadcasting to cinemas from the premiere is not a good idea. The “raw” places of the first show were replicated all over the world. But as the director of the Bolshoi Theater Vladimir Urin said, the theater does not always have the opportunity to show in the cinema what they would like: the copyright problem interferes. Here is just such a case.
The first announcements of Russian cinemas promised a completely different program. Did not work out. But now ballet troupe The great and ambitious artistic director Vaziev, if they value their reputation, are obliged to bring the technique to perfection. A couple of months of hard rehearsals - and everything will surely work out.
