Astana will have a ballet non-stop from June 24 to June 30: the tours of world famous ballet companies, grandiose premiere of the pearl of classic "Giselle" and performance of recognized stars of the world ballet. This year the Eurasian Dance Festival, which won the hearts of fans of choreographic art, will become one of the special and important events of the large-scale celebration of the 20th anniversary of Astana.
The enchanting holiday, organized by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan, will take place on the stage of "Astana Ballet" Theater within the week.
This year, the festival will be attended by the National Ballet Company of China, the legendary Spanish group “Castro Romero”, the National Ballet of Slovenia, the GATOB named after Abay, “Astana Ballet”, as well as the leading soloists of the National Ballet of Portugal and the Netherlands; The Bolshoi Theater (Russia); Stuttgart Ballet and "Astana Opera".
"The ballet world knows Astana as a cultural center of Eurasia, so there was a very high interest in participating in the festival. It is very important for us that the Eurasian Dance Festival will become a solid tradition for the ballet world and a platform for sharing experiences and a significant holiday for art lovers," director of the “Astana Ballet” Theater Valery Kuzembayev says.
According to the organizers, the festival will give spectators and participants another unique opportunity to assess the level of performing skills of artists and show the trend of development of world choreographic art.
The festival program is rich: the premiere of fantastic ballet "Giselle" performed by the troupe of "Astana Ballet" will open golden pages of the holiday. Further, the National Ballet of Slovenia will present the production of "Pastoral Symphony" to the music of L.V. Beethoven in production by Milko Sparemplek and "Five Tango" to the music of A. Piazzolla in choreography by Hans Van Manen. GATOB named after Abay is preparing "Romeo and Juliet" for music by S. Prokofiev in production by Yu. Grigorovich. The recognized performers of flamenco dance from Spain will perform on the fourth day of the festival. "From the Yellow River to the Song of Life" is a symphony ballet performed by artists of the Chinese National Ballet. At closing of the festival, viewers will see the skills of leading ballet artists.
Director of the festival, Russian well-known choreographer Alisher Khasanov, warned viewers to arrive at the grand opening of the festival in advance, as they are expected to have a short presentation on praise of Terpsichore, the dance muse.
The main ballet master of "Astana Ballet" Mukaram Avakhri notes that the play "Giselle" has not lost its magic power to this day.
"Ideally constructed drama, images, music, aesthetics and style are main components of success of this performance. In the production by our guest choreographer Ricardo Amarante, the ballet will acquire some kind of expression, lightness, naturalness. Now there is a detailed development of mise-en-scenes. Scenography and costumes are made in our workshops of the theater under the guidance of invited artist Rene Salazar. Our production of ballet Giselle will serve as a great experience in studying the classical canons of dance," she says.
The program of gala concert of famous ballet masters includes plays of modern choreographers, excerpts from famous ballets of the 20th century, as well as duets and solos, long recognized as pearls of treasures of the world classical choreography.
Executive director of the festival Zhanibek Kayir said that the closing of the festival invited famous ballet stars whose names appear on posters of the best theaters of the world. Lovers of ballet art will see outstanding artists of the leading theaters of the world on the stage of Astana Ballet for the first time: Ivan Vasilyev, the premiere of Mikhailovsky and the Bolshoi Theater, the guest star American Ballet Theater; his partner will be Anastasia Stashkevich, prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater (Russia). Special guests will come from Lisbon - Philippe de Castro and Carlos Pinillos - the premieres of the National Ballet of Portugal, etoiles of the National Ballet of Stuttgart - Friedemann Vogel and Maria Eyhvald, she is a native of Kazakhstan, graduate of Almaty choreographic art, will present the pas de deux "Manon" and "Mona Lisa" to the audience.
National ballet of Holland will be presented by prima ballerina Maya Makhateli. This year she will dance with the leading soloist of "Astana Opera" Bakhtiyar Adamzh pas de deux "Don Quixote" and "Diana and Acteon", the national art will be presented by the leading soloists of "Astana Opera" Madina Baspayeva and Erkin Rakhmatulayev, "Astana Ballet" - Riza Kanatkyzy and Farkhad Buriyev, GATOB named after Abay - Rakhim Dairov and Madina Yelchibayeva.
Also, the organizers said that some productions had been sold out, despite the fact that the opening of the festival would be only in two weeks.
It should be noted that the Eurasian Ballet Festival in Astana has become traditional and attractive both for world ballet stars and for young talents. Modern directions and creative searches of modern choreographers of the world, working in different styles will meet again in our capital and will open new faces of choreographic art.