PERFORMANCE GUIDE
Cuesheet
MARIINSKY BALLET WORKING REHEARSAL
Choreography by Mikhail Fokine Valery Gergiev, Artistic Director Yuri Fateev, Deputy Director of The Ballet Company
During this working rehearsal, you will see Les Saisons Russes (“The Russian Seasons”), a collection of three one-act ballets by choreographer Mikhail Fokine (pronounced me-KYLE fo-KEEN) including Chopiniana, Scheherazade, and The Firebird.
PHOTO BY NATASHA RAZINA
PHOTO BY NATASHA RAZINA
In 1909, Fokine re-choreographed Chopiniana calling it Les Sylphides. Today, the ballet is known by both names.
ABOUT THE WORKING REHEARSAL Chopiniana Choreographed in 1907 Music by Frédéric Chopin Fokine was inspired to choreograph Chopiniana after seeing American modern dancer Isadora Duncan perform to music by European composer Chopin. For Duncan, dance was the body expressing pure emotion—letting the flow and rhythm of the music influence her performance. Fokine similarly wanted to create a sense of atmosphere or mood in Chopiniana, rather than to tell a story. In fact, Chopiniana was the first ballet to be virtually plotless. After Fokine, other ballet choreographers were inspired to create works that were primarily about the spirit or mood of the music.
Notice the way the ensemble in The Firebird adds to the ballet’s dramatic intensity. Fokine wanted their movement to have a purpose, and not just frame the action of the principal dancers.
What to Watch for: n
A young poet dancing in the moonlight with sylphs, or magical beings of the air, like fairies
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Simple arm movements that are soft and fluid (like Isadora Duncan)
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The way the corps (group of women dancers) constantly melt from one formation into another to complement the movements of the male and female soloists
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The lack of jumps and turns and other ballet “tricks” (Fokine was against using such elements unless they were necessary for the ballet’s theme.)
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The Firebird
What to Watch and Listen for:
Choreographed in 1910 Music by Igor Stravinsky
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The way the firebird moves that shows she is a magical creature, not a human. Notice her curved arms and bent body.
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Stravinsky’s famous music for The Firebird was his first ballet score. Listen for the up-tempo musical theme that announces the arrival of the magical bird.
In contrast to Chopiniana, The Firebird is a ballet with a story based on a combination of two Russian folk tales. The ballet has three scenes: Scene 1: In the enchanted garden of the evil sorcerer Kastchei, a high fence protects his golden fruit and keeps in his 13 captured princesses. One day, a lovely magical firebird appears and attempts to eat an apple, but is captured by Prince Ivan who has followed the bird into the garden. The firebird gives the prince a feather in exchange for her freedom and agrees to help him. Scene 2: Prince Ivan falls in love with one of the princesses. When he follows her into the garden, monsters appear and Kastchei threatens to turn Ivan to stone. Ivan waves the firebird feather and she appears, making the monsters dance until they collapse. She tells the prince the secret to killing Kastchei—his soul is hidden in an egg. The prince finds the egg, breaks it, and Kastchei dies. Scene 3: Prince Ivan marries his princess, and everyone celebrates. The firebird flies away.
Scheherezade Choreographed in 1910 Music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Fokine borrows from the story Arabian Nights for the ballet Scheherezade. Shahriyar is a sultan (king) of Ancient Persia. He has many slaves and wives and suspects that his favorite wife, Zobeide, might be unfaithful to him. To learn the truth, he pretends to go hunting with his brother. While he is gone, the wives unlock the slaves and romance ensues. At the moment Zobeide and the Golden Slave passionately embrace, Shahriyar returns. In his rage, Shahriyar puts everyone to death, saving Zobeide for last. What to Watch and Listen for: n
The vibrant colors of the set and costumes. When the ballet was first performed in Paris, the bright blues, greens, and purples inspired both interior decorators and fashion designers.
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The low, grim notes in the music that represent Sultan Shahrivar
PHOTO BY NATASHA RAZINA
Zobeide, the Sultan’s wife, begs for forgiveness then stabs herself, dying at his feet.
David M. Rubenstein Chairman Michael M. Kaiser President Darrell M. Ayers Vice President, Education PHOTO BY NATASHA RAZINA
THE MARIINSKY BALLET The Mariinsky Ballet is a classical ballet company based at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. The theater was established in 1783, but the ballet company is even older, founded in the 1740s as the first Russian dance school. The ballet company name was changed to Kirov Ballet during communist times, but several years ago they changed it back to Mariinsky. It has produced many famous dancers and choreographers (including George Balanchine) and is one of the largest ballet companies in the world, with more than 200 dancers.
About Mikhail Fokine (1880–1842) Mikhail Fokine knew the Mariinsky Theatre well. At age nine, he was accepted as a student at their Imperial School of Ballet and later became a teacher and choreographer for the company. In 1909, Fokine moved from St. Petersburg to Paris to choreograph for a new troupe called the Ballet Russes. There, he would try out his reformist ideas such as creating short one-act works instead of the usual three acts and question traditional ballet conventions, including turn out and body positions. Fokine moved to the United States in 1919.
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