Rehearsing Don Quixote

26 Thursday Apr 2012

Tags

Ballet, Ballet Photography, Don Quixotte, Photography, The Bolshoi

Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova are two of the world’s most exciting ballet dancers. The former Bolshoi principles are seen here rehearsing the role that made them international stars; Don Quixote, at the Royal Opera House at Coven Garden, London.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Don Quixote is a ballet originally staged in four acts and eight scenes, based on an episode taken from the famous novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. It was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus and was first presented by the Ballet of the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow, Russia on 26 December 1869. Petipa and Minkus revised the ballet into a far more expanded and elaborated edition in five acts and eleven scenes for the Imperial Ballet, first presented on 21 November 1871 at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre of St. Petersburg.

The Quintessential Romantic Ballet; Giselle

09 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by Rola in Photography

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Ballet, Ballet Photography, Giselle, Photography

The most celebrated romantic endeavor in the history of Ballet; Giselle continues to challenge generations of iconic ballet dancers with both its interpretive complexity and wealth of technical nuances. The Bolshoi Ballet had offered the audience of the Royal Opera House a memorable show lead by two of their most acclaimed stars: Natalia Osipova and Ruslan Skvortsov.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Giselle is a ballet in two acts with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, music by Adolphe Adam, and choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. The librettist took his inspiration from a poem by Heinrich Heine. The ballet tells the story of a peasant girl named Giselle whose ghost, after her premature death, protects her lover from the vengeance of a group of evil female spirits called Wilis. Giselle was first presented by the Ballet du Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris, France, on 28 June 1841. The choreography in modern productions generally derives from the revivals of Marius Petipa for the Imperial Russian Ballet (1884, 1899, 1903). This production for the Bolshoi Ballet is by Yuri Grigorovitch with designs by Simon Virsaladze.

Vakhtang Chabukiani’s Laurencia

25 Saturday Feb 2012

Posted by Rola in Photography

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Ballet, Ballet Photography, Laurencia, Photography, Vakhtang Chabukiani

A Ballet that is rarely witnessed outside of Russian soil. The Mikhailovsky Ballet of St. Petersburg brought Laurencia to debut in London’s Coliseum Opera House. Leading the show is international guest star Denis Matvienko along with Mikhailovsky principal Irina Perren,

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Laurencia is a Soviet era ballet created by legendary Georgian dancer and choreographer Vakhtang Chabukiani. It is based on the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega’s Fuente Ovejuna. The first premiere of Laurencia was in 1939 in the Kirov Theatre. Leading roles were performed by Natalia Dudinskaya (Laurencia), Vakhtang Chabukiani (Frondoso) and Tatiana Vecheslova (Pascuala). In 1956, the ballet was staged at the Bolshoi Theatre where Vakhtang Chabukiani partnered Maya Plisetskaya. In 2010, after decades of absence from the Russian stage the ballet was revived for the Mikhailovsky Theatre by Mikhail Messerer.