Like any other, this competition is a mixture of explosive emotions. Even sports, with its obvious electronic scoreboards, gives rise to discrepancies, and the art of dance, with its ephemeral nature and rigid connection of technique and artistry, is even more a field for disagreement. But it’s too late to wave our fists: yesterday on the Historical Stage of the Bolshoi Theater, an international jury headed by the Russian ballet icon Yuri Grigorovich announced the list of winners. They say they are not on trial. And discussing the trends of the competition is necessary and even useful - the next one, in a favorable situation, will happen in four years, during which time a lot can be improved in the kingdom.
The festival, which has been running since 1969, is almost ten years younger than its fellow Moscow International Film Festival and the Tchaikovsky Competition, and although the motives for their creation were similar, the owners have always had many reasons to be proud of the ballet. The ballet competition was cutting-edge: in 1969 the jury recognized the luxurious couple from the Grand Opera Francesca Zumbo-Patrice Barthes as the best, and the great Plisetskaya publicly said that there is sex in ballet. IN modern times The competition has lost much of its prestige, and the organizers of the current one have restored it in a radical way, reducing it to two Grand Prix prizes of 200 thousand dollars. And the dates helped: the chairman of the jury, Yuri Grigorovich, reached the milestone of 90 years, and the competition itself became the beginning of the official “Year of Russian Ballet and the 200th anniversary of Marius Petipa.”
What is usual about the competition: young and not so young artists dance either dashingly or precisely. There are, to put it mildly, problems with musicality (I don’t know which of the contestants will cope with Stravinsky in the near future) and with long breathing, which allows the number to be carried out smoothly from beginning to end. About the cantilena dance, when the participant dances and does not glue the gap between advantageous steps, everything is also sad. But there is good news: based on the results of this year junior group turned out to be much more interesting than the older one, which means that in the “Generation I” ballet theater will be interesting, and the digital revolution is not a hindrance to that.
The main trend is not new, it has only been gaining momentum for thirty years now - most of the applicants are dancers from Asia - China, Japan, South Korea and Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, which have joined them. Despite the lamentation about the lack of men in ballet, there are many soloists at the current competition; the podium in the men's solo dance was taken by Marat Sydykov (Kyrgyzstan, 3rd place), Ma Miaoyuan (China, 2nd place), Baktiyar Adamzhan (Kazakhstan, 1st place). The ladies have the same solo hierarchy Liliya Zainigabdinova (Russia, 3rd place) and Evelina Godunova (1st place, Latvia), they decided not to award the second prize. The duet for men, generally not very gallant, was a success for Wang Janfeng (China, 3rd place), Okawa Koya (Japan, 1st place) and Mariinsky Theater artist Ernest Latypov (2nd place), his partner from the same Mariinsky, neat Ekaterina Chebykina, received only a diploma - like the one who became famous for her revelations behind the scenes life American Joy Womack from the Kremlin Ballet. For women in duets, the third prize was shared by a Japanese and a Chinese woman, the first was not awarded, and the second will be taken to Kazan by the explosive Brazilian Amanda Morales Gomez, dancing in the theater there. At the choreography competition, the landscape is monotonous: second place was shared by the Russians Nina Madan and the tireless Andrey Merkuriev, the third and one of the first authors from China, another first place went to the only memorable choreographer, the Chilean with the endless name Zuniga Jimenez Eduardo Andres.
At the end of this year, the younger group turned out to be more interesting than the older group
The younger age group, the reverent ballet people from 14 to 18 years old, was more pleasing. A common favorite was Ivan Sorokin, a native of the city of Syktyvkar and a student at an inconspicuous local gymnasium, for whom, according to rumors, he was already involved behind the scenes there's a battle going on prestigious ballet schools- everyone wants to finish his education and bring him to the theater under his own brand. Another favorite, on the contrary, maintains the honor of the Moscow school - this is the handsome young Denis Zakharov, trained with all care (first prize in a duet). Russian Liza Kokoreva and Korean Park Sunmi shared first place; the jury did not award a second prize. Ekaterina Klyavlina took third place. . Their peers in the solo - the American Elizabeth Beyer, who won first place, the Chinese Syi Li and the embodiment of precision and tenderness Subin Lee from South Korea, make one think that with all the competitive imbalances in the podiums, there is both logic and justice.
Winners of different years
The Moscow competition glorified such stars as Francesca Zumbo and Patrice Barthes, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Eva Evdokimova, Lyudmila Semenyaka and Alexander Godunov, Loipa Araujo and Vladimir Derevyanko, Nina Ananiashvili, Vladimir Malakhov, Maria Alexandrova, Alina Cojocaru, Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev and others . The change of generations in ballet is fast, and several winners of the competition managed to become members of the jury: Vadim Pisarev, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Julio Bocca.
Origins
The origins of the Moscow ballet competition were the legends of Russian ballet Galina Ulanova, Igor Moiseev, Olga Lepeshinskaya. In 1973, the competition was headed by Yuri Grigorovich, who to this day, at 90 years old, remains the chairman of the jury. The jury over the years included Marina Semenova, Galina Ulanova, Maya Plisetskaya, Vladimir Vasiliev. As well as representatives of the world's ballet elite - legends of the French school Yvette Chauvire, Claude Bessy, Charles Jude, Alicia Alonso (Cuba), Birgit Kullberg (Sweden), authoritative critics Arnold Haskell (Great Britain) and Allan Friederichia (Denmark).
Every year prestigious ballet competitions are held around the world, choreographic competitions and professional shows. And the competition of ballet dancers and choreographers, held in Moscow for the 13th time, is rightfully considered one of the most significant. The opening of the international competition will take place on June 11, and to see the gala concert, order tickets to the Competition of Ballet Dancers and Choreographers on our website at attractive prices. In 2017, the tournament comes under the auspices of the “Year of Russian Ballet and the 200th anniversary of Marius Petipa”.
For for many years The competition acquired serious authority and an unshakable creative reputation. It has become part of the world ballet, an event where new names are discovered, promising artists shine and future stars demonstrate their talents. Without much hesitation, we can say that all participants in this event will have a brilliant career and conquer creative heights. More than 200 participants from 15 countries are already ready for intense competition.
Since 1973, Yuri Grigorovich has been a permanent member of the jury. He heads the jury and is also artistic director competition.
There is no doubt that all 10 days of the competition will turn into a holiday for fans of choreography and ballet art. A memorable duel between beginner dancers will be bright and full of unexpected moments. There are 10 busy days ahead, and they need to start with the opening gala concert. Order tickets for XIII International competition for ballet dancers and choreographers on our website right now.
Anyone who has seen the screenings of the first round, to the best of their own discernment, can decipher the heading in the title as both “satisfactory” and “depressing.” Any assessment of the overall level of the ongoing ballet show will be fair. A fairly significant number of contestants without a strong personality and with elementary school gaps do not allow us to give a solid four.
The coveted GRAN PRIX is again unlikely to find an owner. Unless, of course, a miracle happens and someone, having overcome the debut excitement, is able to conquer the jury with brilliant dance technique, artistry and... attractive appearance (there are also problems with this). So far, no one has even come close to the four winners of the main prize - Irek Mukhamedov, Andrei Batalov, Denis Matvienko and the first Grand Dame. Already at their first appearance on stage, the audience took their breath away. It was not clear how, for example, this fragile birdie girl Nadya from Perm acquired real ballerina chic? Where did the culture of her huge step in ““, which amazed everyone, come from, which other ballerinas later transformed from an academic ecarte into a dashing leg-tearing?
If at the second competition the success of a pupil of a provincial ballet school seemed like an accidental exception, then today the entire geography of the country is on the map of the show: Voronezh, Izhevsk, Yoshkar-Ola, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Perm, Syktyvkar, Ufa, Yakutsk and Moscow with St. St. Petersburg. Not all participants will make it to the finals, but the very arrival of envoys from distant regions is visible evidence of the unprecedented popularity of the art of ballet in Russia.
This happens all over the world, as confirmed by participants in more than twenty countries, including those where ballet was not a priority national culture. Therefore, quite interesting representatives from Albania, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan can be called a revelation of the competition. Strong and numerous landings of participants arrived from Brazil and China, Japan and South Korea.
True, the emergence of numerous new ballet schools has given rise to problems with quality training. Firstly, not everywhere teachers have the proper level of training. Secondly, most studio schools exist entirely or partially on private funds, and then the conditions are set by the students. If the children wanted to dance Esmeralda, Kitri or Basil with Actaeon, the teacher agreed, and the mother paid. One is taken aback by observing at the competition the obvious discrepancy between the selected variations and the physical characteristics of the performer and the degree of his mastery of the technique.
However, no one really stands on ceremony with technology; the freedom of replacement is amazing. And when you see three variations in a row of Swanilda from “Coppelia” staged by A. Gorsky, but completely different in choreography, you understand great wisdom Medici.tv will begin live broadcasts of the competition only from the second round. Otherwise, you can completely confuse both spectators and professionals, and, most importantly, you yourself will unwittingly become a promoter of bad examples of classical ballet and bad taste.
There were quite a few fairly weak, C-level, participants in the first round both in the morning, when the younger ones competed (from 14 to 19 years old), and in the evening, where the older ones (from 19 to 27) competed. Although the division took place according to passport data, everything was mixed up on stage. Failures should not be attributed to natural excitement, an unusually sloping stage or floor covering: everyone was on equal terms. And the one who performed better was the one who had not so much stronger nerves, but a better school. And many people have problems with it.
It is assumed that main task young artists of the junior group - to show correct, “school” performance: purity of movements, correct form, musicality, coupled with which a sense of style and artistry can be manifested. Often something else prevailed - untrained feet, raised shoulders, “dirt” in small ground techniques, not to mention disrupted pirouettes and jumps without flight.
The older group has a different problem. Many artists tried to overcome the shortcomings of the school base with spectacular tricks, including unimaginable revolts in the countless “Flames of Paris”, obvious reliance on external impressions, and excessive exaltation of each movement. The Asians especially stood out, as they uncompromisingly, in the spirit of martial arts, entered the element of classical ballet. As a result, I wanted to see beauty and spirituality on stage, but instead there was a whole line of clumsy, short dummies that looked alike - vertuns and jumpers. It’s as if they are not ballet dancers, but circus performers in the arena. True, in the circus they do everything cleaner, they jump higher and spin faster.
The result is logical: out of 127 participants, less than half made it to the second round, and only that. 62 artists will continue to compete for medals.
XIII International Competition of Ballet Dancers and Choreographers. Photo – Igor Zakharkin
This ballet show has been held in Moscow every four years since 1969.
It is held in three rounds of two age groups: younger (up to 18 years old inclusive) and older (19 – 27 years old). Each group competes in solos and duets.
The Moscow competition is quite conservative, primarily focused on ballet traditions, although it does not ignore modernity.
Competitors in the first round are offered a mandatory program (variations or pas de deux from classical ballets), plus a fragment from the classics of their own choice.
In the second round, in addition to classics, participants perform a modern number or a fragment from ballets staged no earlier than 2005. In the third round - again the classics.
The choreography competition only includes numbers specially choreographed for the Moscow show, and in any style of choreography.
This year's awards are very generous: a Grand Prix of $100,000 (for comparison, at the last competition the Grand Prix was valued at 15 thousand and went to no one), and three prizes in each category, from five to thirty thousand. However, any award may not be awarded. Or it can be divided between performers.
Based on the results of the qualifying round (video recording), 126 participants in the “Ballet Dancers” nomination and 30 participants in the “Choreographers” nomination were allowed to participate in the competition. From 27 countries. It would seem that the picture is cloudless. In fact, there are problems that have arisen not for the first time.
Denis Zakharov. Photo – Igor Zakharkin The geography of this international competition largely consists of Asian and CIS countries. Representatives of European ballet powers - France or Denmark, for example - do not come to Moscow. This year a large delegation arrived from Brazil. There are representatives from Ukraine and the USA.
But the Bolshoi Theater, on whose stage the competition is taking place, actually ignored it. A ballet troupe The Mariinsky Theater was not presented at its best.
There are also many organizational shortcomings. Moreover, they are permanent, wandering from competition to competition. For example, constant errors in the announced names of choreographers.
No, the accents are placed correctly. But what was written in the classics by one master was easily attributed to another. If it was about male variations V classical ballets, staged or radically edited during Soviet times.
As a rule, the nineteenth-century classic Marius Petipa, who has long been known in professional circles as a “collective pseudonym,” took the rap for all the authors. A remark under the conditions of the competition (about any of the styles of choreography) often turned sideways: since the jury only cares about the year of creation, and not the characteristics modern dance, which means that competitors can perform the same classics on pointe in a modern routine.
But the most depressing thing - and this is also a tradition - was at the choreography competition. The competition was not without its organizational scandal. Applicant Dmitry Antipov was suddenly removed from the shows, he went on stage to protest, but the protest was drowned out by a radio announcement.
The executive secretary of the jury, Sergei Usanov, announced to the audience that Antipov and two of his colleagues were fired for violating the regulations: their productions had already been shown earlier. This was kindly reported to the organizers by the competitors of the punished.
Formally, awards were distributed to the directors. Moreover, six people received them. But in reality, out of a series of plastically faceless and similar performances, only the gold medalist, a Chilean with sonorous name Andres Eduardo Jimenez Zuniga.
He can both hear music and convey it through movement in a non-trivial way. This was also shown by the number “Dagger”, in which the soloist in black captivatingly balanced between seriousness and parody, to the repeated Spanish words of a sweet love song.
And “Archipelago” - a triumph of the feminine to the music of Schubert, where three modern graces in T-shirts and shorts formed their own inner world. Others, including Russian participants, once again confirmed that the long-term crisis of choreographers in the world continues. Even the second gold laureate choreographer, Wen Xiaochao (China), in the duet number “Through Adversity” did not go beyond illustrating the title.
Ivan Sorokin. Photo – Igor Zakharkin Three tours for the performers brought both good and bad. In the third round he suddenly left the race capable Alexander Omelchenko: he fell on stage and was injured.
The young miracle of the competition, Ivan Sorokin from Syktyvkar, made it to the finals, but was unable to perform because he did not prepare variations for the third round. Why? Because the boy did not believe that he would be able to advance so far!
Since the canonical text classical variations not approved at this competition, many danced whatever they wanted, right down to sets of steps, clearly set by the teacher to the individual abilities of the student. The choice of variations was also more than once puzzling: those who could not spin well were given a spin dance, those who could not jump were noted in the jumping variation. Why?
The understanding of music, even simple ballet music, is also not all thank God: the slowdown in tempo has become a natural competitive disaster. The saddest thing is that many people don’t dance at all, but simply perform individual movements, without much meaning, trying to show off their technique to the detriment of their image. Often the nominees lacked individuality. And at some point the competition began to merge into a kind of stream of more or less professionally dexterous applicants. Only by the third round did the picture, as always, begin to become clearer.
Lee Subin. Photo – Igor Zakharkin Despite her young age, Subin Lee is an accomplished, very outstanding ballet actress. For the author of these lines, she became the undisputed leader.
The very young American Elizabeth Beyer, cutely resembling a long-legged foal, has learned the classical ballet wisdom perfectly, down to the smallest detail. Mark Chino and Denis Zakharov, future prime ministers and princes. A strong Japanese couple, with an understanding of choreographic styles, working in Kazan - Midori Terada and Koya Okawa. And a number of good dancers from China and Brazil.
The list could go on for a long time, but it’s better to look at the names of the laureates. By senior group they were: in duets, women - Amanda Gomez Moraes (Brazil), skillfully twirling triple rounds, took second place (no one was given the first prize), and Midori Terada (Japan) and Ao Dingwen (China), with her excellent stability, became third.
Kaya Okawa and Midori Terada. Photo – Igor Zakharkin For men, Koya Okawa (Japan) took gold, the diligent Ernest Latypov from the Mariinsky Theater received second prize, and Wang Janfeng (China) received third. Among women, Evelina Godunova from Latvia was nominated the best; in the final of the competition, she dashingly danced Kitri from “Don Quixote” with a high jump; second prize was not awarded.
For men, gold went to Baktiyar Adamzhan (Kazakhstan), who skillfully combines artistry with technique, silver went to Ma Miaoyuan (China), bronze went to Marat Sydykov (Kyrgyzstan), a lover of ballet tricks.
According to the youngest group in duets: girls Park Sunmi ( South Korea) and Elizaveta Kokoreva shared the first prize, and the skilled Ekaterina Klyavlina (Russia), who is good at Princess Florina from “Sleeping Beauty,” took third.
Denis Zakharov won the boys' duets, there was no second award, the third place went to the Brazilian Victor Caixet Goncauves. In the girls' solo category, the jury considered Elisabeth Beyer to be the best, and Subin Li received the second award, as did the Chinese Li Siyi.
Among the boys in the “solo” section, the first was Mark Chino, the second was the not so distinguished Igor Pugachev, for whom this place is an advance for the future, and the third was Karlis Cirulis (Latvia), who, frankly speaking, did not particularly impress.
It would take a long time to analyze the merits and demerits of the laureates, as well as the validity of the jury’s decisions. According to the author of these lines, the younger group was much more interesting than the older group, and there were too many awards. It wasn't such an outstanding competition. And the hierarchy of those awarded in some cases is entirely subject to challenge. But it speaks for itself that not all awards found owners. But the Grand Prix was not awarded to anyone.