From 4 to 6 May, spectators of the southern capital will be presented a rich tour program of "Astana Ballet" theater on the stage of GATOB named after Abay. The tour will be held under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as part of celebration of the 20th anniversary of the country's capital. The scene of Almaty theater will be decorated with the best examples of national and contemporary choreographic art performed by the artists of the capital's theater company.
On the first day, the audience will be presented with the legendary play "Serenade" by George Balanchine and "Zhusan" by domestic choreographer Mukaram Avakhri. "Serenade" adorns the ballet repertoire of any world troupe, which seeks to keep pace with the times. Although the premiere of this ballet took place in 1934, still "Serenade" is spoken of as a perfection, "the absolute of dance musicality, imagery and emotionality", where choreography is inseparable from music. And nowadays "Serenade" is perceived as a benchmark that helps to navigate in the art space, it is a bright milestone in the history of dance, and not only of the twentieth century.
"The result of painstaking work with the foundation of J. Balanchine gave us the right to stage and show a famous masterpiece of modern choreography of the XX century on tour in Kazakhstan. We wanted to work with the Foundation from the very first days, therefore this performance is a certain stage in the life of the theater for us," theater director Valery Kuzembayev said.
"Zhusan" one-act ballet by contemporary choreographer Mukaram Avakhri is permeated with an image of wormwood, which is called "Zhusan" in Kazakh. Wormwood tastes bitter, but the bitterness of its sorrow is defeated with the fragrance that is dear to us as an eternal image of the Motherland. Combination of original choreography with great examples of European, Russian and national music, lighting effects and video installations that help the viewer to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of this journey through the boundless steppe, enveloped in legends and myths give the performance special coloring and mysticism.
May 5, masterpiece by William Forsythe "In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated" will be presented to the public. This performance has flights that cast doubt on the presence of gravity, fantastic rotations, impressive slopes - all together constitute the most complex, extreme technique that can be performed today.
William Forsythe is one of the recognized great choreographers of our time. A kind of revolution in ballet is associated with the name of William Forsythe, American avant-garde choreographer, to a large extent determined the development of ballet at the turn of the century. The year of this revolution is known - 1987, when the ballet "In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated" was first shown on the stage of the Paris Opera.
William Forsythe's ballet is a lack of scenery, ascetic costumes, rhythmic music, special ballet technique and continuous flow of movements to the brink of possibilities of the human body.
On the same day, in the second section, the audience will see the amazing performance of Mukaram Avakhri - "Salome". Choreographically, the ballet was decided in the style of graphic plastics with elements of orientalism, while it used a variety of techniques of performance: dance on pointes and barefoot.
Musical design of the ballet is the violin concert of the modern Turkish composer Fazil Sai, who combines academic traditions with characteristic oriental motifs in many respects. According to the critic Julian Haylock, the result was nothing more than a sensation, "fascinating in the game of seductive sensuality and rhythmic charm."
The young Salome’s dance will be culmination of the performance - an episode of extraordinary popularity thanks to artists, sculptors and composers, who embodied it in their creations.
"The most important thing for me was to make an attempt to plunge into the element of human feelings and desires. I would like to create an aesthetic dance, but born primarily from an inner impulse. Therefore, in addition to the unification of music, movements and emotions, it was necessary to achieve full mutual understanding with the artists, which happened to my delight," the author of choreography Mukaram Avakhri said.
Almaty residents will see a delightful combination of national color, extraordinary beauty and grace, expanses of the Kazakh steppe in the language of choreography in the program "Astana Ballet Gala", which will be presented on the third day of the theater's performance.
The program "Astana Ballet Gala" includes choreographic miniatures and fragments of ballets with a pronounced national color. All compositions are distinguished by the richness of folk traditions, versatility and huge emotional charge. They leave a deep impression due to expressive music and unique artistic images.
Also, the audience will be presented one-act ballet "A fuego lento", which will tell about the first feelings of anxiety and emotional heat when you just discover the power of love. A powerful wave of delight embraces the body, and desires slowly burn from the inside. For everyone the world is concentrated in the beloved person, and the meaning of life is love (music - Lalo Shifrin, Astor Piazzolla, Carlos Gardel, choreography - Ricardo Amarante).
The third section of the evening - "Love Fear Loss", ballet for music about songs of Edith Piaf’s repertoire (choreography by Ricardo Amarante) - inspired by the story of the singer's extraordinary life. Her songs became a hymn of love and conquered the world. This ballet is about feelings of affection and love, loss and fear.
National choreography, traditional classics, neoclassics, modern classics, unconventional experiments of Kazakhstan and foreign choreographers, innovative choreographic language, unexpected director's decisions - all this about the "Astana Ballet" theater.
The theater staff is confident in implementation of the planned goals and the future, because the public interest in its work is growing rapidly. Audience and partners of the theater see the inexhaustible energy and enthusiasm of the whole collective, note the creative atmosphere, which means that "Astana Ballet" will play an important role in formation and actualization of the cultural space.
Recall that "Astana Ballet" theater performed at the most famous venues in Moscow and St. Petersburg (Russia), Beijing (China), Paris (France), Vienna (Austria), Seoul (Korea), Budapest (Hungary), Baku (Azerbaijan), New York (USA), Tokyo (Japan), Warsaw (Poland), Brussels (Belgium). The young team strives to find its own original handwriting, find a unique creative image, preserve all the best from the classical heritage and enrich the plastic language with bright, memorable innovations.