Chopin: Dances for Piano
Company:
BAM Brooklyn & the Mariinsky Ballet
Part of 2015 Winter/Spring Season
BAM and the Mariinsky present
Chopin: Dances for Piano
Music by Frédéric Chopin
Choreography by Michel Fokine, Benjamin Millepied, and Jerome Robbins
Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg
Musical direction by Valery Gergiev
Frédéric Chopin (1810—49) composed some of Western history’s most intimately romantic music, exquisite works that have served as the inspiration for countless choreographers. In this mixed program, the Mariinsky Ballet convenes three dances from distinct eras set to his piano music, performed live.
Michel Fokine’s ethereal Chopiniana (1908), one of the oldest works in the Mariinsky repertory, embodies the soul of classical ballet. Jerome Robbins’ ballet In the Night (1970), set to a slate of nocturnes, captures three couples in varying emotional states. And Benjamin Millepied (L.A. Dance Project, 2014 Next Wave)—inspired by his early exposure to Chopin’s preludes and études as a young dancer—expresses the music’s timelessness and passion in Without (2011), performed by 10 dancers.
Principal casting (Jan 24) : Oxana Skorik/Timur Askerov (Chopiniana), Anastasia Matvienko /Vladimir Shkliarov, Yekaterina Kondaurova/Yevgeny Ivanchenko, Ulyana Lopatkina/Yuri Smekalov (In the Night), Anastasia Matvienko/Konstantin Zverev, Kristina Shapran/Andrey Ermakov, Viktoria Krasnokutskaya/Filipp Stepin, Nadezhda Batoeva/Alexi Popov, Margarita Frolova/Xander Parish (Without)
Piano: Alexandra Zhilina (Chopiniana), Liudmila Sveshnikova (In the Night), Philipp Kopachevsky (Without)
Principal casting (Jan 25): Oxana Skorik/Timur Askerov (Chopiniana), Anastasia Matvienko/Vladimir Shklyarov, Yekaterina Kondaurova /Yevgeny Ivanchenko, Uliana Lopatkina / Andrey Yermakov (In the Night), Anastasia Matvienko / Konstantin Zverev, Kristina Shapran / Andrei Ermakov, Yana Selina / Filipp Stepin, Tatiana Tiliguzova/ Ernest Latypov, Margarita Frolova / Xander Parish (Without)
Piano: Alexandra Zhilina (Chopiniana), Liudmila Sveshnikova (In the Night), Philipp Kopachevsky (Without)
Made possible by:
Leadership support for the Mariinsky Residency at BAM provided by:
Frederick Iseman
Chopiniana (1908)
Music by Frédéric Chopin
Choreography by Michel Fokine
Revised version by Agrippina Vaganova
Set design by Vladimir Dementiev and Alexei Popov
Based on original sketches by Orest Allegri
In The Night (1970)
Music by Frédéric Chopin
Choreography by Jerome Robbins
Staged by Ben Huys
Costumes by Anthony Dowell
Lighting by Jennifer Tipton
Recreated by Nicole Pearce
