"Cell". The new girl is Anastasia Stashkevich. Photo – Damir Yusupov
American choreographer Jerome Robbins staged “The Cage” in 1951, and he was inspired by the music of Stravinsky, in which he heard the battle of suppression with submission, human with natural.
In the fourteen-minute opus, a certain female community (either female praying mantises, who are known to kill males after mating, or frenzied Amazons) initiates the New Girl, drawing her into a sinister cult: the ritual murder of men. Or males? You can interpret Robbins's idea literally, but then “The Cage” these days makes a slightly comic impression.
But it can also be in a figurative sense - for example, as a story about the extremes of feminism, covered in hidden irony. Or an analysis of our internal animal aggression, which every now and then strives to get out, breaking through the fragile barriers of the human.
Robbins worked in “The Cage” with classical dancers, specifically focusing on those ballet steps that can be “inflated” to the point of frenzy (for example, sharp batmans - high swings of the legs). And in addition, he filled plastic with all sorts of “ugliness”.
The choreographer spoke about watching “a tiger in a cage, tirelessly lashing its tail”, about the horrors he saw when “arms, hands, fingers turned into claws, tentacles, antennas.”
A group of women (or creatures?) with rearing hair and zigzags in ballet “leotards” walks in spider plastic, opening their mouths in a silent scream, walking with a rustling half-bent step, sticking out their hips and throwing up their sharp elbows. When the heroine, in a “wary” duet, almost fell in love with a sexual enemy, ultimately acts according to the rules of the tribe and breaks her partner’s neck, holding his head between her crossed legs (all this against the backdrop of a colored web) - the picture certainly confirms director's words:
“The Cell” is nothing more than the second act of “Giselle” in a modern representation. Only Giselle, with her all-forgiving love no, only ruthless jeep killers.
Conductor Igor Dronov interpreted Stravinsky's Concerto for string orchestra in D major, as if it were not Stravinsky. Where is the tart union of smoothness and impetuosity, sharpness and smoothness? Where are the accents and syncopations? The rhythmic and tonal changeable richness is mixed into a mush, as if the feet of dancers and ballerinas were stuck in it.
The troupe performed “The Cage” too classically, almost without the dramatic excitement that can be seen - in the recording - in American performers, carriers of the style who danced the “Cage” under Robbins. Even Anastasia Stashkevich (New Girl), who danced intelligently and was approved by representatives of the Robbins Foundation, even “softened” a lot. And she has not yet been able to achieve the effect that the choreographer required: a resemblance to “an awkward young foal that is about to turn into a thoroughbred horse.”
The ballet “Etudes” is of a completely different kind. It is set to the music of Karl Czerny, any student knows this name music school, poring over piano studies.
Created in Denmark in 1948 by choreographer Harald Lander, the ballet does not imply any violation of classical harmony; on the contrary, it emphasizes it in every possible way. “Etudes” – a plotless journey around the world classical dance, with forays into the romantic style, and a guide to the three-hundred-year history of ballet.
The journey begins with a simple up-down musical scale and a lone ballet girl on the proscenium showing the basics - the five basic leg positions in classics and plie (deep squats).
The “Etudes” end with a solemn general apotheosis, when the ballerinas in black and white “tutus” along with their gentlemen line up in columns. Between this are the contrasts of tempos in allegro and adagio. Solos, duets and pas de trois.
Initial movements at the ballet barre in class - and a parade of well-trained pros, equally impressive in big jumps and spins, as well as in subtle ballet minutiae. Demonstration of purity of dance, “steel” toe, proper placement of hands and an unclamped body.
Lander’s academic steps often smack of vaudeville playfulness, but it is also necessary to show mastery of the lyrical palette. The prime minister spins women's fouettés, and ballerinas must have male strength and endurance. The villain Lander, as if in mockery, keeps making more and more combinations. By the end of the ballet, from these furious exercises, the troupe - any one - is suffocating from fatigue.
“Etudes” should be performed in a single impulse, happily combining technical equipment with musicality. This is difficult in general - and doubly difficult for our dancers, who were brought up for the most part on a different repertoire, little or not sufficiently accustomed to fine ballet technique, to all this lace “ligature” with feet (a sign of the Danish school), which the “Etudes” are full of.
In addition, rehearsals in the theater lasted only 20 days, which is less than necessary for such choreography. As a result, the impression is half-hearted. It was clear that both the invited director from Denmark and the head of the Bolshoi Theater ballet troupe, Mahar Vaziev, strictly demanded that the dancers observe turn-out positions, clear poses and well-honed feet. The desperate desire to reproduce everything correctly was written on the faces of many speakers. What can you do if this hellishly difficult, technically “sophisticated” ballet should, in spite of everything, seem like something easy, as if not requiring any noticeable physical effort?
Effortless virtuosity - keywords for performers of “Etudes”. Premiers Olga Smirnova, Ekaterina Krysanova (second cast), Semyon Chudin and Artem Ovcharenko danced, by and large, like a premiere, albeit with some blots.
Things were more complicated for the other soloists. Some people try to fall over while spinning, some people get tired quickly, and this can be seen, some people crook their feet or don’t stretch them, squat incorrectly, or cross their legs in skid jumps, not without “dirt.” Not to mention the imbalance of synchronicity. Small “dissonances” that arose here and there gradually accumulated, threatening the harmony of the overall structure.
Under these circumstances, the idea of broadcasting the premiere in cinemas cannot be called successful. The “raw” parts of the first show turned out to be replicated all over the world. But as the director of the Bolshoi Theater, Vladimir Urin, said, the theater does not always have the opportunity to show in cinema what it would like: the problem with copyright interferes. This is exactly the case here.
The first announcements from Russian cinemas promised a completely different program. It didn't work out. But now ballet troupe The big and ambitious artistic director Vaziev, if they value their reputation, are obliged to bring the technique to mind. A couple of months of hard rehearsals - and everything will probably work out.
Those who buy tickets for an evening of one-act ballets at the Bolshoi Theater “Etudes”, “Russian Seasons”, “Cage” on our website will have an eventful evening.
“The Cage” and “Etudes” are premiere ballets. “The Cage” was prepared by choreographer Jerome Robbins, known for his striking projects on Broadway, in foreign theaters and films.
The performance “Etudes” will tell you how dancers live, what their everyday life consists of, and how much effort they need to put in to achieve greatness and earn the audience’s applause.
The evening will conclude with the ballet “Russian Seasons,” directed by Alexei Ratmansky. An extraordinary production will remind viewers of the roots, traditions and way of life of the Russian people and hint at the preservation national values. The ballet to the music of Leonid Desyatnikov has traveled to many countries and everywhere was highly appreciated by both professional critics and grateful spectators.
Each of the ballets will require high performing skills, fortunately, leading artists will perform in front of the Russian audience, ready to surprise with complex numbers and combine the classics of ballet art with modern techniques.
Join the bright evening, buy tickets in advance for best places You can visit “Etudes, Cage, Russian Seasons” at the Bolshoi Theater on this website.
Russian seasons
Choreographer - Alexey Ratmansky
Conductor-producer: Igor Dronov
Costume designer: Galina Solovyova
Cell
Choreography by Jerome Robbins
Scenography by Jean Rosenthal
Costume Designer - Ruth Sobotka
Sketches
Choreography by Harald Lander
Scenography, costumes, lighting by Harald Lander
The program of the evening of one-act ballets at the Bolshoi Theater is represented by three performances that are completely different in form and content, choreography and design. The daring and frightening “Cage”, inspired by the American D. Robbins by the gloomy music of Stravinsky, “Carmen Suite” staged by A. Alons and the ode to dance in “Etudes” by choreographer H. Lander will not leave the viewer indifferent. In one evening, ballet lovers will be able to experience an incredible range of emotions and take a journey through the history of dance.
Ballet "Carmen Suite"
The ballet in one act “Carmen Suite” has not ceased to attract the attention of the viewer for several decades. Set to music Soviet composer Rodion Shchedrin, he was once glorified by the magnificent ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. Later, other prima ballet stars shone in it.
In the shortened version, the performance of “Carmen Suite” is more understandable to the viewer, and the author of the production can afford his own interpretation classic work. The story of a free and capricious gypsy within the framework of a one-act ballet develops dynamically and rapidly.
Love, jealousy, fate - all this one line passes before the viewer. It is all the more interesting to read images and characters in the dancers’ gestures, facial expressions, and movements. In the ballet, everything that happens is very symbolic and sometimes it seems that Carmen’s fate will change its fatal course. But bullfighting, with its inevitable and traditional ending, brings the viewer back to reality
The premiere of this bright performance, imbued with love passion, took place in the spring of 1967. In 2005, after a long break, it was resumed. Since then, the ballet has been included in the repertoire Bolshoi Theater. I. Nioradze, I. Kuznetsov, D. Matvienko shine in Albert Alonso’s production of “Carmen Suite” 2018.
Ballet "Cage"
The premiere of the play “The Cage” at the Bolshoi was shown in March 2017, but even those who have already had the good fortune to watch and appreciate the choreography of Jerome Robbins’ production are returning this season to see it all again. Bright, grotesque, sometimes strange and incomprehensible, but piercing and impressive - “The Cage” 2018 does not leave anyone indifferent.
What happens on stage does not cultivate the most positive emotion. Spider-like plasticity goes against classical ballet, wild aggressiveness, imbued with feminism and denial of everything that goes beyond female control, causes a strange feeling of rejection, but the magnificent choreography returns everything to its place. The play “The Cage” is a spectacle about which they say: “We ask the faint of heart to leave the hall.”
Robbins was inspired to create the production in 1951 by the music of Stravinsky. In its seventh decade of existence in this performance, it sounds differently in the interpretation of the conductor-producer Igor Dronov. Anastasia Stashkevich, who danced the part of the New Girl, received special praise from representatives of the Robbins Foundation. The play “The Cage” at the Bolshoi Theater lasts only 14 minutes, but remains in the viewer’s mind for a long time, because it takes time to understand it and comprehend what is happening.
Ballet "Etudes"
The play “Etudes” - a journey around the world ballet choreography. It was created to the music of composer Karl Czerny. The classical harmony of this ballet was “written” by choreographer Harald Lander in his first production for the Royal Danish Theater in 1948. This ballet has no plot; in fact, it tells about the 300-year history of dance art.
The production demonstrates ballet steps in order of complexity, starting from the first simple foot positions and ending with a parade of complex rotations and jumps, and sophisticated ballet techniques. By the end of the play “Etudes,” the prima dancers are already performing elements that men can often do, and the latter are performing women’s fouettés. Sometimes it seems that Lander is making fun of everything and everyone, but this is just an illusion; in fact, the Big Dance is on stage.
The premiere of the one-act play “Etudes” at the Bolshoi Theater took place in March 2017. After its performance, many critics noted that for our dancers, accustomed to a radically different school of ballet, Harald Lander’s interpretation is complex and sometimes simply physically unbearable. But to get your own opinion on this matter, you need to see the ballet with your own eyes. In any case, everything that happens on stage is wonderful.
Tickets for one-act ballets “Carmen Suite”, “Cage”, “Etudes”
Last season, one-act ballets were very popular among the audience, which gives reason to believe that “Carmen Suite”, “The Cage”, “Etudes” 2018 will be no less in demand. Our Agency has been working in the field of selling tickets for any events in Moscow for more than 10 years, so we can guarantee the quality of the services provided. On our website you can buy tickets for “Carmen Suite”, “Cage”, “Etudes”, paying for them in any convenient way:
- plastic card;
- bank transfer;
- in cash.
Our managers are ready to provide information support and provide the best seats in the hall at the most reasonable prices. And organizations and companies of 10 or more people can buy tickets for “Carmen Suite”, “Cage”, “Etudes” at a discount.
One-act ballets are a spectacle worthy of true ballet connoisseurs
It’s definitely worth seeing the one-act ballets “Carmen Suite”, “The Cell”, “Etudes” in Moscow. This is a celebration of dance that evokes powerful emotions. This is also confirmed by the fact that after the premiere of “The Cage” no one remained indifferent, and after watching “Etudes” the audience did not let go of the artists, bursting the hall of the Bolshoi Theater with prolonged applause.
The Bolshoi Ballet presented two premieres. The artistic merits of “The Cage”, choreographed by Jerome Robbins, are beyond doubt, but “Etudes” by Harald Lander can be considered a failure of the renowned troupe - both the choice of the performance and its presentation are problematic.
In 1948, Danish choreographer and teacher Harald Lander staged a class that dancers use to keep in shape every day. The director included all stages of ballet training in the performance - from the simplest movements at the barre to the most complex rotations and jumps. The premiere of “Etudes” took place at Lander’s native Royal Danish Ballet, and then the opus traveled to troupes around the world. In 2004 I reached Mariinsky Theater, at that time it was directed by Mahar Vaziev, now the head of the Bolshoi Ballet. “Etudes” is his first big project in his new position.
As you watch, the conviction grows stronger that the director is determined to eliminate the gaps in the education of his charges. And do it in public. This one is distinguished from an ordinary class - some try their best, some fail at something - this one is distinguished by the lighting, ceremonial costumes and the presence of clackers mechanically shouting their “Bravo!” And, of course, music - unlike Lander, the SABT accompanists have good taste. As for Igor Dronov, who stood at the controls of the premiere, he should have offered condolences. There is a suspicion that the maestro has never had to deal with such a weak score.
There can be no complaints about the original author, Karl Czerny. He wrote his exercises for students mastering the basics of piano playing, and did not set any artistic goals for himself. Composer Knudage Riisager, who orchestrated the Etudes, proceeded from the quality of the material and made no effort to refine it - the brass in its presentation rattles, the strings screech, the tutti falls on the innocent listener with the weight of a sledgehammer, individual polytonal moments, apparently introduced , for parody purposes, turn into an indecent cacophony.
Maestro Dronov, it seems, decided to quickly get rid of this nightmare and ran through the score one and a half times faster than the metronome should. The artists did not take up his initiative, but not because they delved into the details of the choreography, but because for the most part their choreography was not danceable. I don’t remember that in any premiere ballet the Bolshoi dancers, including soloists, made so many mistakes.
There are probably many reasons - a small number of rehearsals, and the gulf separating the free Moscow school from the scrupulous Danish one, and the unwillingness to polish the craft directly in auditorium. All this can be corrected over time - the question is, why?
You can become familiar with Danish values in such a masterpiece as La Sylphide: in Goes big directed by Johann Kobborg. If there is a desire to bring a ballet class to the stage, the theater has its own pride - “Class Concert” by Asaf Messerer, resumed by his nephew Mikhail. This apotheosis of the big Soviet style, framed by the festive fanfares of Dmitry Shostakovich, in addition to all its merits, it is also a very musical spectacle.
One can understand the pedagogical reasons of the leader Bolshoi Ballet, but from the point of view of artistic aesthetics, the inclusion of “Etudes” in the repertoire is a more than strange move. A pianist, deciding to show off his technique, will not go out to the public with Czerny, but will play etudes by Chopin, Scriabin or Glass - the same genre, but on a qualitatively different level. The art of ballet also has its own “studies” - inspired hymns to pure mastery not tied to the barre and other phases of training.
Why dancers master Lander when they have Balanchine (sparsely, but represented in the Bolshoi repertoire) and Forsythe (absent from the Bolshoi Theater playbill) is a mystery to the author of these lines. Why, the author.... “I can’t penetrate the nooks and crannies of the ballet mind,” Diaghilev, who seemed to have thoroughly studied ballet and its representatives, complained to Stravinsky.
By the way, about Stravinsky. A small, quarter of an hour performance based on his music became pleasant impression evenings. The title of the opus is “The Cell”. The choreographer is Balanchine's colleague Jerome Robbins, known to a wide audience as the creator of West Side Story. The ballet has long lost its original protest against aggressive feminism, and today its plot - a tribe of Amazon spiders lures male strangers into a web and eats them - can be interpreted as an ironic thriller.
The Bolshoi troupe already has experience in telling stories from the lives of insects. In 2009, British choreographer Wayne McGregor staged Chroma in Moscow. The director, however, insisted that his interpretation of the physical goes back to the impersonal computer graphics, but in fact proved himself to be a born entomologist. However, in that athletic power ballet, the Bolshoi Theater dancers were too academic and fixated on their own beauty. In the elegant, despite the “rigidity,” Robbins’ ballet, these qualities were in demand and fit well with the elegant “sound” of the Basel Concerto for String Orchestra.
Well, the culmination of the evening was “Russian Seasons”, which has been running at the Bolshoi since 2008, by Leonid Desyatnikov and Alexei Ratmansky. The cast has been half renewed, but the pleasure from this musical and choreographic masterpiece is unchanged.
"Cage" is one of greatest ballets Robbins. When the ballet began life in 1951, critics were confounded by its ferocious fury. In Holland, the authorities even banned it at first – as “pornographic”.
J. Homans, "Apollo's Angels"
In the spring of 1951, Robbins returned to the New York City Ballet, and, according to him, applied those purely technical discoveries that he realized in the musical “The King and I” * in his polemical ballet “The Cage”. He himself said that the super-extended Siamese movements and gestures that he used in the Broadway show overflowed and splashed out into the ballet. Set to the somber music of Stravinsky's String Concerto in D major, the ballet is about female insects "raping" and then killing male insects. The program suggested “a competition or a cult” as an explanation. And according to Robbins, the original concept went back to the mythological Amazons. But already at the very first rehearsals it was transformed, so that the “Amazons” turned into insects similar to the praying mantis, indulging in their cult. Robbins took something from spiders, from the unbridled power of the animal world, to create what he himself called a “natural phenomenon.”
The idea of staging “The Cell” first occurred to him when, turning over the record of Stravinsky’s “Apollo Musagete,” he saw on the reverse side the Concerto of 1946. “What a dramatic thing!” - that was his reaction. He described this music as “terribly exciting, overwhelming and subjugating” and imagined the three parts of the concert as a dramatic structure, which later became the basis of his ballet. Robbins layered the dance with an endless number of ideas and images that he found and absorbed throughout the work on the ballet, from the slicked wet hair of Nora Kaye** emerging from the shower, and ending with watching a tiger in a cage, tirelessly whipping with your tail. He also hinted that he was inspired by the special youthful traits - which he carefully observed - in the dance of Tanaquil Le Clerc (he compared her to an awkward young colt who was about to turn into a thoroughbred horse). He himself spoke about this imagist **** process of absorption as follows: “I had a special look, aimed at the material. This “special look” is typical for anyone who works creative work, whether he is an artist, playwright, poet, composer or choreographer. This “look” becomes a kind of Geiger counter that starts to click in the brain or triggers emotions when you get close to some object that may be of value to your work.”
In this case, the subject would probably raise his eyebrows in surprise, since the ballet was deliberately threatening and violent. Summing up everything that happens in it, Robbins said: “This is the story of a tribe, a tribe of women. A young girl, a Convert, must undergo a rite of passage. She does not yet know her duties and powers as a member of the tribe, nor is she aware of her natural instincts. She falls in love with a man and mates with him. But the rules by which the tribe lives require his death. She refuses to kill him, but is again ordered (by the Tribal Queen) to do her duty. And when his blood is actually shed, animal instincts take over. She herself rushes forward to complete the sacrifice. Her feelings follow the instincts of her tribe."
And indeed, under the leadership of the Tribal Queen (Yvonne Munsey), two Outsiders (Nicholas Magallanes, Michael Maul) were killed one by one by the furious blows of women's hands and feet. If “Free as Air”***** expanded the classical “syllable” with a combination of pirouettes and somersaults, then “The Cage” with its grotesque manner was supposed to push the boundaries set by the classical form even further. “I should not have limited myself exclusively to human movements, that is, movements made in the manner that we consider inherent in man, Robbins recalled. “In the way their fingers worked, in the tilt of the body to the ground or the lunge of the arm, I had the opportunity to see what I wanted to compose. Sometimes arms, hands, fingers turned into claws, tentacles, antennas.”<…>
The ballet premiered at the City Center on June 4, 1951. Designer Jean Rosenthal illuminated the empty, web-like structure of intertwined ropes, and Ruth Sobotka dressed the performers in provocative “spider” outfits. At the beginning of the ballet, the rope net hanging from above becomes eerily tense, a detail that Robbins added as if to warn of what was about to happen. But this performance, less than fourteen minutes long, instantly crushes all the audience's assumptions.<…>
The critical response was very loud, but mostly in favor of Robbins. John Martin****** wrote: “This is an angry, piecey and merciless work, decadent in its obsession with misogyny and contempt for reproduction. He cannot avoid questions, but sharp and with strong blows it penetrates to the very core of the problem. The characters are insects, without heart or conscience, and their opinion of the human race is not very high. But despite all the power of denial, it is a great little thing, marked with the stamp of genius.” In the Herald Tribune, Walter Terry concludes that "Robbins has created a startling, hard-hitting, but altogether fascinating piece."<…>
Clive Barnes later described "The Cage" as "a repulsive piece of ill-expressed genius." As if defending Robbins from accusations of misogyny, Lincoln Kernstein ******* called it “a manifesto for the women’s liberation movement, written twenty years before it began.” At that time, Robbins was greatly hurt by such a harsh reaction and even issued a “denial”: “I don’t understand why anyone is so shocked by The Cage.” If you look closely, it will become clear to you that it is nothing more than the second act of Giselle in a modern representation.” And although he later explained that his statement was meant to be ironic, he was constantly “reminded” of the Wilis, the vengeful spirits in female form who brutally attacked Hilarion and Albert in the famous cemetery scene. But in “The Cage” there is no hint of the all-consuming power of love that helps Giselle save her unfaithful prince. Robbins made his ballet endlessly dark and merciless: both of his Outsiders had to die without waiting for any sign of human emotion from their killers. Which was in keeping with the advice of Balanchine, who, according to biographer Bernard Taper, told Robbins after the run-through, "Leave him clinically soulless."
Excerpt from the book “Dancing with Demons: The Life of Jerome Robbins” by H. Lawrence
Translation by N. Shadrina
* “The King and I” is a musical based on the novel “Anna and the King of Siam”, staged by J. Robbins on Broadway in 1951.
** Nora Kay is the first performer of the role of the Convert.
*** Tanaquil Le Clerc is a ballerina of the New York City Ballet troupe, who soon after the events described became the wife of J. Balanchine.
**** imagist – inherent in imagism ( literary direction in English-speaking countries).
***** “Free as Air” is one of the most famous ballets J. Robbins (1944).
****** John Martin, Walter Terry, Clive Barnes are the greatest American ballet critics.
******* Lincoln Kerstein is a philanthropist, arts connoisseur, writer, impresario, and co-founder of the New York City Ballet.