9 February 2016. Molodost Dagestana… Dancing from the Kavkaz

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A Multimedia Presentation. RIA Novosti Presents… The Brightest Moments of the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi (Part Two)

The second part of the show introduced viewers to Russian history and culture. This tableau is from the time of Tsar Pyotr Veliki.

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The main character in the presentation, the girl Lyubov (“Love”), participated in a folk performance with onion domes, amongst which were the stylised colourful domes of St Basil Cathedral. In one of the highlights of the show, the domes soared into the air and almost lined up in the order, along with the world-famous church on Red Square, which is one of the best-known symbols of Moscow. 

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Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev watched the ceremony in the company of figure skating coach Tatiana Tarasova.

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A ballet production based on the novel War and Peace by Lev Tolstoy was one of the most spectacular scenes.The dancers portrayed the first ball of Natasha Rostova to the music of Yevgeni Doga from the movie Мой ласковый и нежный зверь (My Affectionate and Tender Beast). Featured were prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova of the Bolshoi Theatre and the famous choreographer Vladimir Vasiliev. 

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The ceremony needed 3,000 performers and 2,000 volunteers, who used 6,000 costumes. The total number of people involved in the ceremony was more than 9,200.

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The historical presentation continued; the romantic sublimity of the 19th century segued into the uncompromising 20th century… red tones heralded the revolutionary era and symbolised the epoch of constructivism. The model of a giant locomotive appeared under the dome of the stadium to the music of Sviridov‘s theme for Время, вперёд! (Time, Forward!).

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A scene portrayed the USSR‘s reconstruction after the VOV, with workers, slogans, and appeals of the Stalinist skyscaper era, accompanied by the Muslim Magomaev song Москва (Moscow).

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Young couples with prams and toddlers symbolised the Soviet baby boom, which occurred during 1981-83, that is, immediately after the 1980 Olympics.

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Famous ballerina Diana Vishnyova danced to the music of the ballet Swan Lake.

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World-renowned opera singer Anna Netrebko sang the Olympic hymn.

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Dancers during the pageant at the opening ceremony of 22nd Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

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Famous tennis star Mariya Sharapova brought the Olympic flame into the stadium.

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Sharapova gave the torch to Yelena Isinbayeva, who passed it to Aleksandr Karelin, who gave it to Alina Kabaeva, who then handed over the torch to Irina Rodnina. Vladislav Tretyak solemnly took the torch from the hands of the famous figure skater. 

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Vladislav Tretiak and Irina Rodnina jointly lit the Olympic flame with a torch that had been in the International Space Station.

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Fireworks from 3,500 volleys capped the opening ceremony.

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8 February 2014

RIA-Novosti

http://ria.ru/sochi2014_news/20140208/993754184_993749410.html

 

Maestro Valery Gergiev Fetes His 60th Birthday with Carnegie Hall Concerts

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Entertainment media reported that maestro Valery Gergiev would celebrate his 60th birthday at Carnegie Hall in New York this October with three concerts featuring music of Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and Rachmaninoff. Broadway World.com reported on Monday that Gergiev, who’s also marking his 25th year with the legendary Mariinsky Orchestra, will conduct an all-Stravinsky program on 10 October, featuring the composer’s famous ballet music from L’oiseau de feu (The Firebird), Pétrouchka, and Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring). On 11 October, Gergiev will conduct a performance of a Shostakovich concerto and the composer’s Symphony No. 8 in C minor, opus 65, followed by the Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, opus 45 and a piano concerto on 15 October. The Mariinsky is one of the oldest orchestras in Russia, having premièred works by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich, just to name a few. Gergiev first conducted the orchestra in 1978; since becoming Artistic and General Director in 1996, he’s toured with the ensemble to more than 45 countries. winning acclaim for widely expanding its repertoire.

27 August 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130827/182998034/Gergiev-Fetes-60th-Birthday-With-Carnegie-Concerts.html

25 December 2012. Some of My Favourite Things. Swan Lake (complete) as Danced in 1990 by the Kirov Ballet of Leningrad

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In this 1990 production of Swan Lake, Yuliya Makhalina danced the role of Odette/Odile whilst Igor Zelensky danced the part of Prince Siegfried. This Kirov production includes the familiar happy ending in the final act where Siegfried fights and ultimately defeats the evil magician von Rothbart and is reunited with Odette at dawn.

As everyone knows, Russia has led world ballet since the time of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov in the late tsarist Silver Age. Russia has set the standard, and the Bolshoi and Mariinsky/Kirov have been the leading dance troupes in the world. This was so in the Empire, it was so in the USSR, it’s so now in the transitional period of the Russian Federation, and it shall remain so with the re-emergence of a reunited Eurasian state.

Russian Ballet lived, Russian Ballet lives, and Russian Ballet shall live!

BMD