Russian Ballet Returns To French Deauville 106 Years On

Leading artists of Russia's Bolshoi Theater, Mariinsky Theater and Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Academic Music Theater will present a unique program dedicated to Sergei Dyagilev

DEAUVILLE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th August, 2018) Leading artists of Russia's Bolshoi Theater, Mariinsky Theater and Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Academic Music Theater will present a unique program dedicated to Sergei Dyagilev, a prominent art patron who made Russian ballet recognized all over the world, at the Festival of Russian Art in the French city of Deauville, Sergei Filin, the author of the program, said on Friday.

Over 100 years ago, in August 1912, Deauville, located in northwestern France's Normandy region, became the first city where Dyagilev's company Ballets Russes performed following an astonishing success in the country's capital of Paris. Now Deauville will witness the return of the Russian ballet, as the festival will be held on August 18-19.

"We're very glad that we finally have the opportunity to arrive here, to this legendary stage. We start the festival with a ballet gala concert dedicated to Dyagilev's creativity and the Russian Seasons. For this purpose, we have invited real celebrities of international ballet. These are the leading artists of Russian theaters," Sergei Filin, former ballet director of the Bolshoi Theater and the author of the program, told journalists.

DEDICATION TO DYAGILEV AND DEAUVILLE'S SPECTATORS

On Saturday, leading artists of Russian prominent theaters will come on the stage of Deauville's theater Casino Barriere. The spectators will enjoy the performance of Olga Smirnova, Denis Rodkin, Artem Ovcharenko, Anna Tikhomirova, Vyacheslav Lopatin, Anastasia Stashkevich, Natalia Filina, Tatiana Tkachenko, Ivan Oscorbin, Innokentiy Yuldashev, Elena Solomyanko, and US choreographer Garrett Smith who currently collaborates with the Bolshoi Theater.

"We have prepared a very interesting program that consists of two parts. The first act is a tribute to Dyagilev's creativity. We present fragments of the ballets and the shows that were staged in the course of Dyagilev's creative life. There are also two special pieces that we have prepared for Deauville's spectators.

The first piece is a Russian dance - the way we believe it could be like if it was staged in the Russian Seasons epoch. This is a solo piece performed by a Bolshoi Theater's ballerina. The second piece was created by Garrett Smith, this is a dedication, his fragment from the Narcisse ballet, which was produced many years ago here in Deauville," Filin said.

According to him, the second act includes pieces created especially for the festival as well.

"It was very important for us to showcase how far the art of ballet has already gone regarding its technical capacities," he added.

The organizers of the event are going to gain insight into the needs of the local audience in order to hold new editions of the festival afterwards.

"If we are going to hold [new editions of the festival], then only in Deauville and only on this stage, as the location and the history itself have inspired us to create the festival ... We haven't prepared the program for the next year yet, and now we want to study the audience's reaction, to see what we can do on this stage. This is currently a test run, but I hope that we'll be able to show much more then. The festival can be more ambitious," festival's producer Veronika Bogatyreva said.

She admitted that the organizers were not expecting to obtain any commercial benefit.

"It's already clear that this is a charity, volunteer project, although the tickets' price is unusual [high] for Deauville - the point is that the price comprises the expensive transfer and the accommodation for our whole big group. We've brought here very many people, a lot of equipment. But this is a totally volunteer story for each of us," Bogatyreva said.

Dyagilev's Ballets Russes performed in Europe and the United States from 1909 to 1929. Its sensational productions resulted from a collaboration of talented choreographers, composers, designers and dancers.