by Catherine Blanch.
Moscow Ballet La Classique is bringing back to Australia one of ballet’s most loved fairytales,Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece Sleeping Beauty. Formed by Artistic Director Elik Melikov in 1990, the company have forged a reputation for producing visually spectacular shows filled with lavish costumes and amazing stage sets.
It was 2013 when Moscow Ballet La Classique were last in Adelaide with The Nutcracker, and now they areexcited to return with another Russian ballet favourite.
Elik Melikov is in London as we speak with the assistance of a translator. With so many amazing classical pieces from Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Cinderella, Giselle and, of course, Sleeping Beauty, we ask if he has a particular personal favourite?
“Although my answer will sound strange to those who know many of the classical ballets, but my absolute personal favourite of all is Don Quixote by composer Ludwig Minkus,” Elik says. “But we know that on a whole, the public favourite seems to be the so-called Tchaikovsky’s Trio: Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.”
For people who have never attended a ballet performance, will they be able to understand the story and do you feel that this is a production that anyone could enjoy?
“Although the ballet has no words, both children and adults can easily understand everything,” he replies. “That’s why this ballet is so popular all over the world, because with no words there is no language barrier. Everything is understood though the music and the gesture of movement.
“Australian dance lovers are famous all over the world because there are many theatres and ballet schools around Australia, so people are already quite prepared to understand. In particular, Adelaide has The Pavlova School of Russian Ballet founded by Valentina Pavlova, who is a former dancer with our company. We are looking forward to her coming to the show with her pupils to see our performances.
“So, even though there are many people who already understand the ballet,” Elik adds, “those that are coming for the first time will understand that Sleeping Beauty is a favourite children’s fairytale; everyone will come and find something that they will like most of all for themselves; some will like the story, others will like the music and others again will like the ballet art.”
How many dancers are touring for Sleeping Beauty?
“This particular production will be travelling with a group of about 50 people. This will include dancers, choreographers and behind-the-scenes staff. We will also be travelling with a strong crew of Australian technicians as well as working alongside the stage workers and staff of each venue we perform in.
“There are three prime female dancers who will perform the role of our main character of the show Aurora, on a rotating basis,” Eliz says. “They are all very nice ballerinas and each of them toured with us to Australia back in 2013; Nadegda Ivanova, Ekaterina Shaliapina and a very young but promising ballerina Idaliya Nazmutdinova. The role of Prince Charming will be performed by Serge Kuptsav, Aleksandr Tarasow and Dmitriy Smirnov.”
Will the ballet be performed to a live orchestra?
“Unfortunately, not this time,” he replies, “but we hope that on our next time coming to Australia we can perform with the local symphony orchestras. For now, this also keeps ticket prices down and therefore making our show accessible to everyone to come and enjoy the ballet. By no means will the recorded music take away any of the quality of the performance.”
The Sleeping Beauty was originally written to be performed in three Acts, although the Moscow Ballet La Classique production will be presented in two Acts.
“At the end of the 19th Century when the ballet was composed and staged, people would come to the theatre to spend the whole day there,” Elik explains. “For example, Tchaikovsky wrote music for this ballet that covered five hours. Today, things are different and we don’t spend five, six or seven hours sitting in the theatre watching a performance. So over time, Tchaikovsky’s ballets have become more compressed.
“In Moscow, just as the Bolshoi Ballet does, we still perform Sleeping Beauty in three acts, but on tour, we perform in only two acts so as not to make the spectators tired. Of course, this does not take away anything from the music or the performance, but the audience are more accustomed to two acts with an interval in between.”
Elik imparts that he is very excited to be returning to Australia to present Sleeping Beauty and is hoping that people of all ages, whether they have seen a ballet before or not, will come along and enjoy the show.
Moscow Ballet La Classique performs Sleeping Beauty at Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre, from 7.30pm on Sat 9 May.
Book at BASS on 131 246 and www.bass.net.au. Click HERE to purchase your tickets.
Images courtesy of Nadya Pyastolova
