Source: CCTV.com

11-01-2007 10:39

Five of the world's top ballet dancers are in Moscow working on a program that strives to elevate the power of the male dance. As "Kings of the Dance" prepares to captivate the Bolshoi, Moscow balletomanes await a rare opportunity to savour and compare performances by five of the world's best.

The project has its origins in the United States. In 2006, it brought together Ethan Stiefel and Angel Corella of the American Ballet Theatre; Johan Kobborg of The Royal Ballet, and the Bolshoi's Nikolai Tsiskaridze. These four now are joined by another of Bolshoi's principal dancers, Sergei Filin, who participates in only part of the programme.

Stiefel and Corello provide the principal creative force.

Ethan Stiefel, principla dancer of The American Ballet Theatre, said, "It's quite simple: the three tenors of opera is quite popular and successful so although we are in quite a different art form the idea and concept basically come a little bit from there though we are not just doing solo after solo or aria after aria, we are actually performing in actual ballets and things that were newly created specifically for this program."

Bolshoi principal dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze believes the "Kings of the Dance" has proven mutually beneficial for all participants, giving each a fresh competitive edge.

The programme includes a ballet "For 4" specially choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. Each dancer chooses his own solo parts. The presentation also draws from Flemming Flindt's 1963 choreographic interpretation of the Eugene Ionesco erotic thriller "The Lesson". Each dancer, by turns, takes the role of "king:" the maniac dance teacher in Ionesco's story.

Organizers say the project not only gives wider scope to the male dance, it also demonstrates the differences between the four major stylistic schools of the ballet.

 

Editor:Liu Fang