The Bolshoi Ballet Gala programme introduces the divertissement with several of the most brilliant pieces from the Bolshoi Theatre’s repertoire which has been formed during a few centuries. The Gala presents the pieces from the early ballets as well as the Soviet classics.
Pas de deux from the ballet The Talisman
The Talisman is one of the most popular ballets of the Imperial Theatres and narrates about love between the heavenly goddess and a human being. After the Great October Revolution in 1917 the ballet was lost, but it was revived in 1950s. This ballet gave rise to the so-called Talisman Pas de Deux, which is today danced by many ballet companies.
Music: Riccardo Drigo
Choreographer: Marius Petipa
Performers: Anastasia Stashkevich, Vyacheslav Lopatin
Adagio from the ballet Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliette was created by the choreographer Leonid Lavrovsky in collaboration with the composer Sergey Prokofiev. It was premiered in 1940 at the Kirov Theatre of Opera and Ballet (now the Mariinsky Theatre) with Galina Ulanova and Konstantin Sergeev in the leading roles. This production received the international acclaim and established the ballet tradition of reading Shakespeare’s tragedies which was followed by Frederick Ashton, John Cranco, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, John Neumeier, Rudolf Nureev and many other choreographers.
Music: Sergey Prokofiev
Choreographer: Leonid Lavrovsky
Performers: Eleonora Sevenard, Artemy Belyakov
Pas de deux from the ballet The Sleeping Beauty
The Sleeping Beauty is an encyclopedia of classical ballet. The premiere took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1890, and from that year forward The Sleeping Beauty has remained one of the most famous of all ballets. It is based on the classical fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a princess cursed by an evil fairy to sleep for a hundred years before being awakened by a handsome prince. In the ballet the wonderful world of Princess Aurora is associated with the French Court of the Lois XII era; while the world of Prince Desire is associated with the Lois XIV era and the Versailles Palace. Yury Grigorovich, the Bolshoi’s choreographer, presented the new choreographic version of The Sleeping Beauty for the opening of the Bolshoi’s Historic Stage after its renovation in 2011.
Music: Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Choreographer: Marius Petipa
Choreographer of New Version: Yuri Grigorovich
Performers: Anna Nikulina, Artem Ovcharenko
Monologue of Phrygia and Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from the 3rd act of the ballet Spartacus
Spartacus by Yury Grigorovich is the visiting card of the Bolshoi Theatre. Premiered in 1968, it has still been in the Bolshoi’s repertory as one of the most prominent and spectacular ballets. The themes of heroism, struggle and devoted love are closely intertwined in the ballet. The scene of the Adagio of Phrygia and Spartacus is one of the most inspiring pieces of the ballet, an enthusiastic lyrical hymn of loyalty and love.
Music: Aram Khachaturian
Choreographer: Yuri Grigorovich
Performers: Maria Vinogradova, Mikhail Lobukhin
Pas de deux from the ballet The Flames of Paris
The Flames of Paris is devoted to the French Revolution. It is based on the novel by Felix Gras
The Marseillais. In the ballet the folk areal scenes alternate with the scenes of the courtiers of Versailles. The famous
Pas de Deux of Jeanne and Philippe is staged in the Soviet heroic style and is still being performed in the original choreography by Vasily Vainonen.
Music: Boris Asafyev
Choreographer: Vasily Vainonnen
Choreographer of New Version: Alexei Ratmansky
Performers: Maria Koshkareva, Igor Tsvirko
Pas de deux from the 2nd act of the ballet Swan Lake
Swan Lake is a visiting card of the Russian ballet. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed it by the order of the Directorate of the Imperial Theatres. The ballet was premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet in 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. It was revived by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in memory of the composer. There are a lot of versions of the ballet about love between a swan girl and a prince, but one of the most famous was choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1969. The famous Pas de Deux is the key moment of the ballet.
Music: Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Choreographer: Yuri Grigorovich
Performers: Alyona Kovalyova, Artemy Belyakov
Spring Waters
Spring Waters created in 1959 by Asaf Messerer, the choreographer and former chief soloist with the celebrated Bolshoi Ballet, is one of the most complicated ballet duets. It’s an energetic and ethereal Pas de Deux that conjures up the first days of spring and celebrates life renewal. Recognized for its highly athletic factor, this short piece features the agility of dancers in a choreography that is literally astounding.
Music: Sergey Rachmaninov
Choreographer: Asaf Messerer
Performers: Anastasia Stashkevich, Vyacheslav Lopatin
Pas de deux of Diana and Acteon from the ballet Esmeralda
One can rarely see the ballet Esmeralda on the modern ballet stage, but Diana and Acteon Pas de Deux enjoys a lot of love. It illustrates the classical Greek myth about Diana, the goddess of hunting, and Acteon, a young hunter, blinded by Diana’s beauty. In 1930s, the Pas de Deux was added to the early ballet by Agrippina Vaganova, the choreographer and the ballet teacher, who created the modern system of ballet teaching and upgraded (modernized) the classical dance. Agrippina Vaganova enriched the Pas de Deux with complex elements, which even nowadays are achievable to a few.
Music: Cesare Pugni
Choreographer: Agrippina Vaganova
Performers: Sofia Maymula, Alexei Putintsev
Grand Pas Classique
Grand pas Classique composed by Daniel Auber is a sample of French ballet academism, though choreographed by a Russian born ballet master Victor Gsovsky. Yvette Chauvire, the great étoile of Paris, was the first to perform in Grand pas Classique. This elegant concert piece has been loved for a long time in Russia.
Music: Daniel Auber
Choreographer: Victor Gzovskiy
Performers: Eleonora Sevenard, Dmitry Vyskubenko
The Swan
The Swan is an iconic ballet piece by Mikhail Fokine. It was created for the ballerina Anna Pavlova in 1907. The ballet with Anna Pavlova became a symbol of the destruction of the old world and old art. Since then almost all ballerinas included and still include this miniature in their repertoire. The most famous among them are Galina Ulanova, Maya Plisetskaya, Galina Mezentseva, Lyudmila Semenyaka, and Uliana Lopatkina. Each generation enriches it with new up-to-date content.
Music: Camille Saint-Saëns
Choreographer: Mikhail Fokine
Performer: Anna Nikulina
Grand Pas from the ballet Don Quixote
Music: Ludwig Minkus
Choreographers: Alexander Gorsky, Marius Petipa
Choreographer of New Version: Alexei Fadeyechev
Performers: Elizaveta Kokoreva, Dmitry Smilevsky, Maria Koshkareva, Antonina Chapkina
Accompanied by the National Ballet of China Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Pavel Klinichev
The above information, including performance times, lineups, programmes and ticket prices, are all subject to change without prior notice and for reference only.