Only performance in Guayaquil of ‘The ballet of the Russian tsars’, an opportunity to see the apotheosis of the classics of the genre

As part of the reactivation of presence for the performing arts, the company El Ballet de los Tsars de Russia will visit Guayaquil to present the highlights of the genre by experienced and outstanding dancers from that country.

Doing a bit of history, ballet began in the late 17th century and early 18th century to distract the Russian imperial court. The Russian czars or emperors spared no money to import the most important musicians, architects, dancers and choreographers from France, the country where ballet originated. to make the most opulent corps de ballet called the Imperial Russian Ballet, a name that it kept until the beginning of the 20th century.

Since then, the legacy has been beautiful and lavish theaters, real palaces built with marble with the finest granites, adorned with gold and many with precious stones and gigantic lamps made of the finest crystals.

“This project is called The ballet of the Russian Tsars because dancers have been invited, who from the age of 8 have been trained in these palaces. To be a dancer in Russia you have to start at that age; In the case of the city of Saint Petersburg, the Vagánova academy is entered, considered the most important in the world because it is attached to the ballet of the old Imperial Theater, that is, the Mariinsky Ballet. Dancers are trained there until they are 18 years old, those who are chosen remain there and become part of the Mariinsnki. The rest of the dancers become part of the other theaters in Russia ”, says Ocsana Kordiaka, the spokesperson for this project, who spoke from Colombia to talk about the presentation in Guayaquil.

This tour features stars from the Mariinsky Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet -which means great theater- and the Kiev Ballet, who come from other venues around the world such as the Sydney Opera House, the Paris Opera, the Frankfurt Opera and the Rome Opera, “which have become true czars for the amount of medals and recognitions around the world.”

The project began ten years ago to perform performances around the world with important figures from the main Russian ballets and from other countries. “In the project, the dancers have participated in galas in dozens of countries on five continents. There are more than 100 figures that make up the ballet. Galas differ from the usual ballet performances because stars come together to dance the epic moments of each title without the corps de ballet. If we put it in terms of filmmakers, it would be like a reunion of protagonists in a single film with no extras, that is practically never seen and it is the analogy applied to ballet that we will see in this show ”, says Kordiaka.

For the presentation in Guayaquil there will be 8 dancers, among them: “Ivan Sitnikov, leading international star for 9 years of the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Ballet, now a leading international dancer; Kiril Safin, also star of the Mariinsky for 8 years, now consecrated as a star and international ballet teacher with only 33 years of age; Elizabeta Barkalova, prima ballerina of the Donets Ballet, a region (west of Ukraine) currently at war. His presence on this tour is proof that art surpasses those obstacles that human beings have created such as politics and wars; María Tomilova, prima ballerina of the Grigorovich Ballet, bears the name of the legendary director of the Bolshoi who after more than four decades has directed it and, ten years ago, founded her own ballet, ”says the Russian spokeswoman.

These Russian ballet czars seek to preserve the rigor of the old school of Russian classical dance with a large set of classical music and powerful choreography for all kinds of audiences. “The average age of this group of stars is 32 years old, so they all have 15 years of experience in the main stages of the world ”.

The artistic and scenic director of the project is Alexander Volchkov, principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow.

At the Centro de Arte Theater we will appreciate the peak moments of Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, The Corsair, The Sylph, among others. “We are currently on an international tour. Now we are in Colombia, then we go to Ecuador, then Peru and Argentina ”.

Presentations in Ecuador

Swan Lake by Piotr Tchaikovsky. The quintessential work of universal classical ballet and the highest expression of the Russian school of dance. It is the work that every ballet dancer should have in her repertoire. On this occasion, a suite, which is a summary of the play, which in its original version has four acts, and lasts approximately three hours. In a suite the libretto is respected, the whole story is told, but some dances are drawn, without affecting the original script. These versions began to be used in the eighteenth century to reach a much wider audience, the teachers decided to make these summaries.

Grand Pas from The Nutcracker. It means great step and is the apotheosis of ballet. It is an adaptation of Alexander Dumas (father) of the story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, although the plot was greatly simplified for ballet. In 1881, Ivan Vsevolozhsky was appointed director of the Imperial Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg and under his direction great classical ballet masterpieces were created, including those that were the result of the collaboration of the choreographies of Marius Petipa and the music of Tchaikosvsky. It is a representation with fragments of the best ballets that occupy the first most represented places in humanity.

The ballet of the Russian Tsars It will be presented in Guayaquil on Friday, November 12, at 7:30 p.m.. It will also be in Cuenca on November 11 at the Carlos Cueva Tamariz theater, in Ibarra on November 15 at the Gran Colombia theater and in Manta, on November 16 at the La Trinchera theater.

Event: Gala The ballet of the Russian Tsars

Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes

Place: Art Center Theater (Av. Del Bombero)

Date: Friday, November 12

Hour: 19:30

Tickets: $ 41.25, $ 61.25 and $ 81.25, on sale at TicketShow and the TCA box office. (I)