Celebrate Nureyev, the lord of the dance
The programme will pay tribute to the greatest male dancer of the 20th Century, Rudolf Nureyev.
STARS of the Ballet Russia will be coming to South Africa in August with a programme paying tribute to arguably the greatest male dancer of the 20th Century, Rudolf Nureyev, which comes to Durban for two shows only on Saturday, 19 August 19 at 2pm and at 6pm in the Playhouse Opera.
Nureyev is best remembered for his technical prowess and his innovative choreography – in which he re-interpreted traditional ballet classics for a new generation.
The dancers are from the Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theatre and the company choreographer is Lyudmila Vasilevna Shapkina.
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The programme honouring Rudolf Nureyev is in three parts: starting with a short 10-minute documentary film about the life of Nureyev to contextualise the dancer, his work and times, and original footage of him dancing solo and with prima ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn.
The film is followed by a one-act ballet: Walpurgisnacht from Charles Gounod’s opera, Faust. The action of Walpurgisnacht takes place in Mephistopheles’s estate. The performance unfolding onstage is full of joy, festivity and symbolises the power of nature and truefeelings.
The second act, entitled “Divertissement from Ballets” sees a re-enactment of 10 of the greatest moments in Russian ballet for which Nureyev is remembered, including excerpts from Johann Strauss’s ballet, The Blue Danube; Charles-Camille Saint-Saens’s choreographic miniature The Swan; Adolphe Adam’s pas de deux from the ballet Le Corsaire; Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s choreographic miniature A Russian and the grand pas from the ballet Don Quixote.
Stars of the Ballet Russia is presented by Edouard Miasnikov Agency whose objective remains to widen cultural exchange and sharing between Russia and South Africa: www.russianartists.co.za.
Booking is through www.computicket.com or call 0861 915 8000 /Shoprite Checkers Money Market Counters.
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