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| | Arts Calendar / May 18 / Ballet |
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 12:00, 19:00. Ballet in Ballet in three acts to music by Alexander Glazunov. 180 min (with two intervals). Libretto by Yuri Grigorovich after scenario by Lidia Pashkova, based on medieval knight`s legends. Choreographer: Yuri Grigorovich (version of 2003). Scenes in choreography by Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky. Designer: Simon Virsaladze. Marius Petipa created Raymonda when he was in his eightieth year, and it was one of his late grand ballets. Its simple story, based on a medieval chivalrous legend, brought together everything that was the best of the best that Petipa had done in the course of his long career as a choreographer in Russia. Here there is a ballet and detective plot including dreams, kidnappings and joyous releases, a complex and varied ballerina role and a conflict between the male roles – the refined and classical Jean de Brienne and the passionate and pointedly typical oriental Abderakhman, the vast number of characters, meaning a similar number of dancers engaged in the ballet, the colourful character dances and, arguably, Petipa's main pride and glory – the fully-developed dance scenes of classical ensembles. The conflict is based on the contrast of two different worlds: the serene and knightly noble idyll of Raymonda's medieval castle meets the Barbarian world of ungovernable passions embodied by Abderakhman and his suite. The choreographer resolved the musical contrast by juxtaposing the expressive nature of Abderakhman's gestures, the temperamental character dances of his suite and the classical dance of Raymonda's world.
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