On October 4 and 5, the evenings of the American ballet was held at the Astana Ballet Theatre, in the framework of which the first premiere of the new season took place - George Balanchine’s one-act ballet “Concerto Barocco”. The production was performed by a student of the maestro himself, Nanette Glushak, who arrived in Nur Sultan three weeks before the premiere. According to the choreographer, it took the artists only four days to master the choreographic text.
“To learn the whole ballet in such a short period is something new. So, as the French say: I take off my hat”, - says Nanette Glushak.
Also, in the second and third parts, one-act ballets from the current theatre repertoire were presented to the public: “Serenade” by George Balanchine and “Love’s Lost Idols” by Nicolo Fonte.
“If we talk about Bach’s music in Concerto Barocco, then literally every note in it sounds in the movements of the dancer. As for the music of Tchaikovsky in the "Serenade", this is a very famous work. In order for the audience not to feel a kind of beatenness, we must emphasize something new in it”, - added conductor Arman Urazgaliyev.
"Concerto Barocco" is called the personification of the famous thesis "see music, hear the dance." Two soloists - Tatyana Ten and Nazerke Aimukhametova, embody the orchestra's solo violins, and eight luminaries accompany their melodies, translating the Bach passages into the intricacies of dance combinations. The only male part in the ballet was performed by Farkhad Buriyev, materializing on the stage a skilled musician in whose hands these "violins" sound.
“On the very first day, I told the artists: at the end of this ballet you will die. Then they danced non-stop and at the end lay on the floor, red and tired. But this is what made them stronger now. And don’t forget, it took less than three weeks! I am very impressed”, - said Nanette Glushak.
According to the choreographer, for all its external simplicity, ballet is very difficult to perform. The scene freed from the scenery is left to the artists who do not leave it for all twenty minutes, being in continuous motion. But the choreography itself does not leave a single chance for an error: in movements, rearrangements, group interactions, ideal purity, synchronism and accuracy are required, which the artists successfully coped with.
The metropolitan audience met a new production with stormy applause. Immediately after the performance, an autograph session was held in the lobby of the theater with the participation of leading soloists of the “Astana Ballet”.
The premiere of "Concerto Barocco" was held in collaboration with the Balanchine Trust, in accordance with the standards of style and technique of the choreographer.