| The Moscow Ballet | |
|---|---|
| General Information | |
| Name | The Moscow Ballet |
| Year Founded | 1993 |
| Founders | Akiva Talmi (AKA Clifford Fields) |
| Principal venue | Moscow Ballet 27 E Housatonic St. Pittsfield, MA 01201 |
| Website | www.nutcracker.com |
| Other | |
| Parent Company | SMI Inc |
The Moscow Ballet is an American owned ballet company with dancers based in Moscow and the Ukraine that has produced ballet tours in the United States during the holiday season since 1993. Stanislav Vlasov, a former principal artist of the Bolshoi Ballet, was the company's first artistic director in 1993. Vlasov's debut in the United States was at Carnegie Hall in 1957.
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The company evolved out of the 1989-92 “Glasnost Festival” created by Boston-born theatrical producer Akiva Talmi.[1][2]
From 1994 to 1996 the Moscow Ballet engaged in a partnership with the Moscow Musical Theater for Children, founded by Natalya Sats. The latter theatre is renowned as the birth place of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and for its dedication to the cultural education of children. Moscow Ballet toured with the full orchestra of the Sats Theater, conducted by Andre Yakovlev.
In 1996 a full length production of Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker was performed at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. This was the culmination of Moscow Ballet's relationship with the Sats Theater and was documented by South Carolina Educational Television. The performance was sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
From 1997 to the present, Anatoly Emelionov, formerly a soloist of the Sats Theater, has been one of the artistic directors of the Moscow Ballet. A graduate of Perm State Choreographic School, Emelionov's has given the Moscow Ballet's modern staging of The Nutcracker a unique feel.
The modern set was designed by Valentin Fedorov, who studied at the Moscow Artistic Academic Theatre under the legendary Valery Leventhal of the Bolshoi Ballet. Since 1988, he has been the artistic director at the Chuvashia State Theatre of Opera and Ballet and has designed more than 40 productions for opera and ballet. In 1991, his "Blackberry Along the Fence" won the Best Performances of Russia Festival. He was given the title Honored Artist of Chuvashia.
Moscow Ballet's current staging of the Great Russian Nutcracker does not follow the libretto commonly used in America. The Moscow Ballet's story the first act maintains the classical tradition. In the second act, however, Clara and her Prince travel to the Land Of Peace and Harmony instead of visiting the Sugar Plum Fairy. This is in agreement with the company's long standing theme of international and cultural unity.
"It is the annual Christmas Eve party at the Staulbaum home. The adults dance exquisitely as presents are given to the children. Uncle Drosselmeyer arrives with a magical Nutcracker for Masha. Her brother Fritz soon becomes jealous of Masha and he races raucously around her, breaking the wondrous toy. Masha is distraught and buries her face in a pillow until she eventually falls asleep. When she finally lifts her head, all is quiet and the house is empty. Out of the silent shadows the Rat King emerges, followed by a swarm of mice that threaten Masha. Without warning, the blazing red figure of the Nutcracker strides forth to defend her. The fight is fierce and the Nutcracker is wounded! Masha throws a slipper into the fray, knocking the Rat King unconscious! The mice recede into the shadows as their leader is defeated. Uncle Drosselmeyer appears, and with a wave of his wand the Nutcracker Doll is transformed. In its place, a dashing Prince rises. Masha and her Prince travel to the Snow Forest where they are greeted by the Snow Queen and her court. They are escorted to the realm of Peace & Harmony. Emissaries from around the world dance for the couple, honoring them. The flowers themselves seem to dance for Masha and the Prince! After the celebration, the couple perform a love duet, and the cheers rebound throughout the "Land of Peace & Harmony." [3]
Over the years, the Moscow Ballet has had many prima ballerinas, includin Svetlana Smirnova, Predenia and Marina Alexandrova. The stars of the 2009 production are Cristina Terentieva and her husband Alexei Terentiev, as well as Akzhol Mussakhanov and Ekaterina Bortyakova (Terentieva won the Gold Medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition in 2008.)
The company has performed across the United States in theaters including the Orpheum in Minneapolis, the Majestic in Dallas, the Majestic in San Antonio, the Rosemont in Chicago and the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore.
The Moscow Ballet's production of "The Great Russian Nutcracker" has come under criticism from ballet critics, professional dancers and the general public. Writing in the Washington Post in December 2011, Rachel Ritzel called the performance a "shell of a show" and the Moscow Ballet "a pickup company of third-rate Russian dancers". The production values of the performance, which features pre-recorded music, came under fire from Jay Cronley of Tulsa World, who lamented, that, instead of sets, the staging features "a few scrims, backdrops, which appeared to have been used to cover plants and trees when a freeze was expected."
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