Impressing the Czar is an award-winning[1] ballet choreographed by William Forsythe with music by Thom Willems, Leslie Stuck, Eva Crossman-Hecht, and Ludwig van Beethoven. It was premiered in its full-length version in 1988 in Frankfurt am Main by the Ballet Frankfurt.[2]
The work's title is a reference to the Czar Nicholas II's lukewarm reception of Marius Petipa's lavish production of The Sleeping Beauty. The three-act work has five sections titled "Potemkin's Signature," "In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated," "La Masion de Mezzo Prezzo," "Bongo Bongo Nageela," and "Mr PNut Goes to the Big Top." Though the work has no continuous narrative theme, the ballet comments ironically and often humorously on the history of Western civilization and its economies of culture.
"In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated," was originally created in 1987 for the Paris Opera Ballet, where it was danced by soloists Isabelle Guérin, Sylvie Guillem, Laurent Hilaire, and Manuel Legris. The title of this section refers to two cherries which hang suspended over the stage. One of Forsythe's most famous creations, this work is in the repertory of numerous ballet companies around the world. In 1992, its performance by England's Royal Ballet received the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.
Impressing the Czar was performed by the Ballet Frankfurt from 1988 to 1995, when the piece's lifespan was assumed to have expired. In 2006, Kathryn Bennetts, director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders and Forsythe's former ballet mistress in Frankfurt, requested it for her company's repertory. The Flanders ensemble has since performed Impressing the Czar worldwide. In 2009, their production received the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.