In anticipation of World Dance Day, which is traditionally celebrated on April 29 all over the world, in the Vuk Theater on April 28, 2024, starting at 20:00 the ballet PAQUITA/POLOVTSIAN CAMP will be premiered, choreographed by Prof. Aleksandra Ilić and Milica Bezmarević and performed by students of the Belgrade Dance Institute and participants of the Ballet Youth.
Paquita
Until now, our audience had the opportunity to see Paquita’s ballet to the music of Ludwig Minkus only during the visits of large ballet ensembles from abroad, until the premiere at the National Theater in Belgrade in 1999. That is why certain information about this work, which had its premiere in 1846 in Paris, is important.
Composer Ludwig Minkus (1827–1917), born in Vienna, was the official imperial composer in Tsarist Russia. From 1861 he was engaged as a conductor at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, and from 1872 he became a ballet composer at the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg. He never achieved the fame of Tchaikovsky or Prokofiev, but his works are solid and his ballets have a very harmonious form.
The choreographer of Minkus’s ballet Pahit is Marius Petipa (1827-1910), born in Marseille. He is one of the most significant founders of Russian ballet academic art. He created for many years in the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg. The premiere of the ballet Pahit was in 1846 in Paris, and to this day only its second act is performed, while the first has been left to oblivion. The plot is based on a love story during the Franco-Spanish war in which a French officer falls in love with a beautiful gypsy woman. It turns out, however, that she belongs to the nobility, that she is actually a baroness, and then nothing stands in the way of their happiness. The second act is a sumptuous celebration of their wedding, where a playful divertissement takes place inspired by popular Spanish folk dances, Polish mazurkas and Russian folk dances. This is an opportunity to set variations, duets and group dances not only as a formal sequence of classical ballet numbers without any theatrical form, but to pay special attention to the choreographic structure of this ballet. Respecting Petipa’s original setting, preserved in the Leningrad Archive, choreographers Aleksandar Ilić and Milica Bezmarević consider Paquita one of the most modern ballets with academic technique.
Polovtsian camp
The Polovtsian Dance are one of the most famous parts of the opera Prince Igor. The premiere of Prince Igor was on October 23, 1890. in the Marin Theater. The choreographer was Lav Ivanov. 1909. In 2010, Diaghilev’s troupe also performed the Polovtsian camp choreographed by M. Fokin, which had no similarities with the choreography from the Mariinsky Theater. In this part, ballet plays an extremely important role. The performance of the Polovtsian Dance takes place in the Polovtsian camp, where relations between the Russian prisoners and the Polovtsy are broken.
The Polovtsian Dances and the Polovtsian March from this opera are also performed as a concert suite. The work has exceptional musical moments, rich and sumptuous melodies, especially in connection with the musical sphere of Polovtsy.
This scene goes from the moments of joy and happiness of the girls in the Polovtsian camp to the moment when the Russian prisoners arrive, including Prince Igor and Prince Vladimir. In this context, ballet is not only an artistic expression of joy, but also a powerful part of the story that conveys the richness of Polovtsian culture.
As emphasized, this scene transitions to the search for peace and alliance between the Polovtsy and the Russian prisoners, which is an interest that is conveyed in this opera through the ballet. Ballet in this context serves to depict various aspects of the relationship between characters, cultures and political forces within the opera, contributing to the richness and depth of the world presented.
The practice of the world’s largest theaters is that these two one-act plays are performed together in one evening.
Choreography by:
„Paquita“ Doc. Milica Bezmarević
„Polovtsian camp“ Prof. Aleksandar Ilić
Assistant choreographer: Mila Stijak
Music associate: Ana Spremić
List of participants: