December 22-28, "Astana Ballet" theater together with the Kazakh National Academy of Choreography will present the fairy tale ballet "Nutcracker" by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky for the first time. Over 150 students of the Academy and 40 artists of the theater will take part in the performance. This extremely touching New Year's fairy tale for children and adults will become an indispensable decoration of the pre-New Year's city bustle.
Each new year is accompanied by a magical atmosphere of dreams and desires, the feelings are dressed up in rapturous, airy decorations of fairy-tale changes. Bright street lights, covered with a white veil of nature, ignite the lights of radiant and sweet hopes in hearts. In these delightful pre-New Year days, the capital Theater "Astana Ballet" will present the audience with a real winter fairy tale: the stunning New Year atmosphere of the theater and the ballet-extravaganza "Nutcracker" will not leave anyone indifferent within six days. This was told at a press conference, dedicated to the performance premiere.
According to theater director Valery Kuzembayev, the performance will be presented in the expressive and vivid edition of Vasili Vainonen on the stage of "Astana Ballet". Such a performance adorned the stage of the Mariinsky Theater for many years. Ballet in three acts, the libretto for which was written according to Hoffmann’s story of "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", will be shown in the production of the National Artist of the Russian Federation, head of the Kazakh Academy of Choreography Altynay Asylmuratova.
Assistant director Elena Sherstneva emphasized that the performance is old, it was born in 1934 and has stood several years and is still young, beautiful and amazing.
"It's a pleasure to take part in this performance. A lot of children are involved in the Nutcracker (in the edition of Vasili Vainonen). It is fabulous, childish, kind and gorgeous. For the students of the Academy, the production is an amazing school, knowledge of the profession, which will be a very valuable and useful experience," she said.
Vasili Vainonen staged his version of The Nutcracker ballet in 1934 at the Leningrad Theater named after Kirov (Mariinsky Theater), and at the Grand Theater in 1938. Later the production was moved to the stages of many theaters in the USSR and abroad. This performance is one of the most popular in the world, which has become part of the New Year's ritual in many countries. Wonderful music attracted many choreographers, the ballet experienced a record number of performances.
In the premiere performance, the students of the Academy of Choreography will perform children's scenes of the first act, dance of snowflakes, dancing of puppets from divertissement, and the graduates of the academy will try their strength at leading roles of Masha and Prince along with future theater colleagues. According to ballet-mistress, young and adult artists are doing a long and hard work every day.
"This is a great stage experience that will allow future ballet dancers to reach a higher level of professionalism, feel the spirit of backstage, a real "feel" of preparation for the performance. Children enthusiastically go to daily rehearsals, and their eyes are glowing. They are in high spirits, ready to stay even for the winter holidays. A joyous mood, expectation of a wonderful, fabulous new year and performance, dominates in our academy. Seems like the academy lives this festive and exciting atmosphere," head of the School-College of Professional Education of the Kazakh National Academy of Choreography Svetlana Kukshinova said.
Alima Alikhanova is a student of the Academy of Choreography, she performs on stage for the first time. She does not hide her excitement and enthusiasm:
"This is the first time I'll dance the Nutcracker, it's very exciting. I will try to dance very well, so that the audience will be satisfied. I’ve got a support from my favorite teachers, they believed in me and gave the role of Masha. I'm very worried, but hope, we will succeed," she said.
Scenography of the performance for the theater "Astana Ballet" was developed by the theater's worker, the head of the decoration department Zhandos Omarov. According to him, when developing scenography, he adhered to the concept of the Mariinsky Theater.
"We are becoming a full-cycle theater. Little-known behind-the-scenes work is performed by our masters: more than 200 costumes and props have been sewn and prepared, a titanic work has been done. Original details of the props are produced, which will underline the beauty and magic of the fiesta. Our theater puts a large, full-length canvas for the first time. We hope that the original scenography will turn out to be warm, cozy, homely and will make a unique impression on children and adults," deputy director Duisen Mussabekov said.
Theater director Valery Kuzembayev underlined that Astana provides an opportunity to choose performances of a different character and editorial staff for amateurs and art lovers. This never happened before. For example, if "Astana ballet" represents "The Nutcracker" in the magical and romantic edition of Vasili Vainonen, the theater "Astana Opera" is staged by the outstanding choreographer of modern times Yuri Grigorovich. Tickets are sold out early for all performances of the two capital theaters.
"Such an interest from the public entrusts us with creative responsibility. We will try to make a real bright fiesta for our audiences with the whole team," the theater director said, finishing the press conference.
The story of Masha and the Nutcracker is a story about how true love, friendship and loyalty help overcome many trials, fight with the army of Mouse King and defeat him. This New Year's fairy tale will tell the children and remind adults that only boldly rushing into battle can help you win, and the powerful power of love can defeat any evil charm.