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Stone Flower. Musical Theater named after. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. Press about the performance

Kommersant, December 15, 2008

petrified flower

Yuri Grigorovich remembered his first ballet

At the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater, Yuri Grigorovich staged his first performance - 50 years ago, “The Stone Flower” by Sergei Prokofiev. Ballet, which began the Grigorovich era of Soviet choreography, was studied by TATYANA KUZNETSOVA.

Thirty-year-old dancer of the Kirov Theater Yuri Grigorovich staged “The Stone Flower” on his native Leningrad stage in 1957. The ideologically sound performance based on Bazhov’s tales received universal recognition; art critics proclaimed it “a new stage in the main direction of the development of our ballet.” Two years later, “The Stone Flower” moved to the Bolshoi, and five years later Yuri Grigorovich became the main choreographer of this theater. And for the next 40 years, his performances truly determined the “development of our ballet” - not only in Moscow, but throughout the country.

Meanwhile, the first-born of Yuri Grigorovich eventually found himself on the margins of the process: he quietly eked out his days in the “barn” of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, and in 1994 he ingloriously disappeared. Already in the new century, Yuri Grigorovich staged “The Stone Flower” in his Krasnodar troupe. The phenomenon of rarity in Moscow was facilitated by the director of the Muztheater, Vladimir Urin, who reasoned that half a century is enough time for a well-forgotten old thing to turn into a novelty of the season.

The novelty turned out to be not old enough - in 50 years, Russian ballet has not advanced so far that “The Stone Flower” acquired the charm of ancient exoticism. The first act, given to positive characters from the people, looked especially boring. The endless “engagement” dances of Danila and Katerina - all these round dances, streams, entwining lovers with ribbons - last so long that it seems it’s time to celebrate their golden wedding. Duets of lovers also do not indulge in variety: entirely arabesques, outlines with a bashfully tucked ballerina’s leg and upper supports. Leading soloists of “Stasik” Natalya Krapivina and Georgi Smilevski failed to revive these dull steps, although they tried, like first-graders reading poetry with expression in a literature lesson.

Yuri Grigorovich based his two gigantic dance suites “The Underground Kingdom” on academic classics - so banal that the jumping stone soloists look like elements of a ballet lesson, and the five stone soloists seem to have jumped out of some “Sleeping Beauty”. However, the traditional steps here are complicated by acrobatics, which entered the ballet in the 1920s through the efforts of Grigorovich’s teacher Fyodor Lopukhov. All these wheels, twines, “rings”, upturned legs of soloists sitting on the shoulders of gentlemen, coupled with tight-fitting overalls, looked clearly progressive half a century ago. And today’s artists are mastering the achievements of that era as a new word in choreography.

The part of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain belongs to the same “innovative” series. Flexible Olga Sizykh honestly spread her fingers and froze in decorative poses, depicting either a lizard, or the mistress of the earth's bowels, or a woman in love. In the guise of a woman and a lady, the conscientious girl was unconvincing, especially since Mr. Smilevski turned out to be not a particularly reliable partner: he performed upper lifts on the verge of a foul.

The liveliest scene in the play was the most archaic one - “The Fair”. In it, the progressive choreographer Grigorovich used proven genres of the old ballet: he mixed the mise-en-scène of “Petrushka”, gypsy and Russian stage dances into a riotous mess - the entire Muztheater troupe, led by the frantic villain Severyan (Anton Domashev), falls into a fairground frenzy with the delight of neophytes. After this massive outburst of temperament, the sparsely attended denouement looks like just a formal appendage, necessary for the plot, but exhausted choreographically.

The scenery, based on the sketches of Simon Virsaladze, honestly reproduces the gloomy “severe” style of half a century ago. The gigantic malachite box at the back of the stage, whose front wall rises to reveal another scene of action, looks as relevant today as a polished Czech sideboard. Particularly depressing are the “precious” crystals of the underground kingdom, which look like pencils from the Sacco and Vanzetti factory.

The aesthetics of The Stone Flower, typical of Soviet ballet, today seem so bland and unambiguous that it is difficult to imagine why this ballet amazed everyone 50 years ago. It's even harder to understand why today's public is delighted. Most likely, this first-born of Grigorovich exhaustively formulated his style - which fully corresponds to the expectations of the public brought up with the same style. As for boredom, many viewers consider it an essential element of high cultural leisure.

Izvestia, December 15, 2008

Svetlana Naborshchikova

Even Grigorovich’s stones bloom. And they dance

In the center of Moscow, the Ural gems came to life: the ballet “The Stone Flower” staged by Yuri Grigorovich was presented Musical Theatre them. K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko.

For the first time, a performance based on the Ural fairy tales of Pavel Bazhov was released in 1957 on the stage of the Leningrad Theater. Kirov, today's Mariinsky Theater. The last ballet by Sergei Prokofiev became the first major work of the young soloist of the troupe, Yuri Grigorovich. Soon "Stone Flower" blossomed on stage Bolshoi Theater, in Novosibirsk, Tallinn, Stockholm and Sofia. Last time the master staged it four years ago in his Kuban fiefdom - at the Krasnodar Ballet Theater.

Grigorovich approached his brainchild like master Danila approached his favorite flower - he sharpened it, removing the excess. Having lost several pantomime scenes and Bazhov’s beloved Ognevushka-Jumping, the current version has become more compact, more dynamic, and with the advent of a waltz, borrowed from Prokofiev’s Seventh Symphony, more danceable. As for the main milestones of the adventurous plot, they remained intact.

The action begins with dancing in a hut, where the peasant woman Katerina and the stone cutter Danila celebrate their engagement. In a prominent place stands a stone flower, which the groom periodically casts a critical glance at. The dancing of brave guys and flirty girls is interrupted by the appearance of the clerk Severyan - a kind of local Rasputin. The villain encroaches on both the flower (Danila presses it to his chest like a beloved child) and Katerina (the hero, occupied with the flower, protects his beloved with coolness). The offended bride leaves, and Danila, having broken the disgusted flower, goes for a new one.

The next picture reveals the magnificent creation of the artist Suliko Virsaladze - the shimmering dungeon of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. There are dances there again, but this time not folklore ones - with stomping and stepping - but the most classical ones. Stones were danced in ballet before Grigorovich - just remember Marius Petipa’s jewelry exercises in The Sleeping Beauty. However, Grigorovich invented his own cut. His gems, combining the classics with acrobatic tricks and groups a la the pyramid of the Blue Blouse, show Danila the treasured stone flower. Danila, having danced with the stones (solo breakthroughs to the front of the stage symbolize flashes of inspiration), switches to the Mistress. An exotic half-girl, half-lizard in a tight green leotard is the complete opposite of the rustic Katerina, whose charms are hidden by a baggy sundress.

Meanwhile, lonely Katerina is being harassed by the lover Severyan. He acts with the grace of a bear, shamelessly pawing at the heroine everywhere. The proud girl pushes away the offender and runs to look for the intercessor Danila. Her search leads her to a fair, where traders and other people dance as only drunk Russians can dance, that is, until they drop. Desperate Katerina wanders among the crowd, not noticing strange woman in black. This is the Mistress in disguise, who has come to restore order in human world. She carries away the main disturber of harmony, Severyan, and drowns him in the depths of stone. The creepy scene where the villain, continuously crossing himself, falls underground is impressive even in the age of bloodthirsty thrillers.

By eliminating negative character, Grigorovich allows the heroes to sort things out among themselves. Katerina, having made her way into the stone thickets, discovers the captive Danila. He is a creative nature, demanding constant update- both the kingdom and the Mistress are already tired. He rushes to the abandoned bride like a son to his mother. The hostess first tries to separate them, but then nobly steps aside, letting the lovers go upstairs to the foot of the Ural mountains. She has no doubt that Danila, having decided to create another flower, will return to her.

In 1957, when the country was enjoying Khrushchev's thaw, the story of going into the depths of the earth, agonizing wait and safe return probably made social sense. Now only the artistic one remains. And it lies in the fact that Grigorovich’s ballets are like collection wines. They don't age. And, like a good wine, they leave a long aftertaste. Namely, the image of the performance: elusive, flickering, but united in the organic combination of music, choreography and scenery and costume design. This product has such high consumer properties that it can be accepted in any design. As in the case of “Stasik”, who served “Flower”, alas, not in an ideal way.

The first theater dancers coped with the dance component of their roles, but had serious problems in the acting part. Georgi Smilevski - Danila, instead of the life-hardened Ural artisan, portrayed a sophisticated ballet premiere. Natalya Krapivina in the role of a strong woman Katerina could not part with the role of ingenue. The owner of Copper Mountain, Olga Sizykh, and Severyan’s clerk, Anton Domashev, were let down by the invoice. For such large (in terms of dramatic significance) characters, they are too small. But these artists were noticeably lacking the charisma and energy necessary to overcome the errors of nature. But the small corps de ballet had enough enthusiasm. The guys worked tirelessly through grueling “stones” and a fervent “fair”.

The public, naturally, was waiting for Grigorovich himself and received him at the final bows. According to tradition, there was mass standing, choral chanting of toasts and armfuls of flowers that resembled sheaves. The master looked unsmiling and tired. It looks like he's been tired of this incense for a long time. And what could be a better reward than another performance staged in the ninth decade of life?

NG, December 15, 2008

Natalia Zvenigorodskaya

Yuri Grigorovich danced himself

The ballet troupe of the K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater turned to one of the iconic ballets of the 20th century

The program of the anniversary, 90th season of the Musical Theater named after. K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko began the premiere of the comedy “Hamlet”, an opera written Russian composer Vladimir Kobekin. The next festive “step” was the ballet premiere danced on Friday and Saturday – “The Stone Flower” staged by Yuri Grigorovich himself. Since last season, Grigorovich has been a full-time choreographer at the neighboring Bolshoi Theater.

Like master Danila from Bazhov’s Ural tales, our ballet theater did not immediately comprehend the secret of “The Stone Flower”. Sergei Prokofiev wrote his last ballet in 1950. The first stage version was presented four years later on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater by Leonid Lavrovsky. The performance was lucky. And not only because Galina Ulanova danced Katerina. In the image of Severyan, perhaps the brightest genius of the era, Alexei Ermolaev, appeared on stage. He was created for these types of roles. Namely roles, and not purely dance parts. As the drama ballet genre implied. However, in the desire for everyday pantomime and a necessarily motivated gesture, by the beginning of the 50s, dance was paradoxically forced out of the ballet stage. Only such a powerful acting talent as Ermolaev’s could create masterpieces under these conditions. But overall, this did not change the essence of the matter. Our ballet theater is at a dead end. It was then that a young innovator appeared, boldly reminding us that the art of ballet is, first of all, the art of dance. In 1957, the soloist of the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater named after S.M. Kirov Yuri Grigorovich showed his version of “The Stone Flower”. In 1959, the successful performance was transferred to the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, where it lived for several decades. Grigorovich conveyed plot collisions, emotions, climaxes and denouements exclusively through dance. His forgotten universalism amazed everyone so much that “The Stone Flower” has since become a symbol of a new stage in the history of Russian ballet.

And now, when there is again a crisis of choreographic thought in our country, they decided to try their luck at MAMT. Grigorovich's ballets have never been performed here. Scale and pathos were considered alien to the unofficial Moscow theater. But close to his democratic style are a fairy-tale plot, a combination of classics and folklore, picturesque paintings folk festivals, it was believed, promised success. Just like the fact that Grigorovich’s total danceability in no way cancels out the dramatic character.

But the miracle did not happen. “The Stone Flower” is 50. And no amount of circular braces can hide his age. This is a completely recognizable, but still a beginner Grigorovich, who has not yet reached the heights of “The Legend of Love” or “Spartacus”. Even in the shortened version created specifically for the Musical Theatre, the ballet seemed drawn out, the choreography too straightforward and not very expressive. This is especially obvious in the paintings representing the possessions of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. If we take into account the global context (and the theater clearly does not think of itself outside of it), then it is impossible not to remember Balanchine’s “Jewels”. Next to the “Emeralds”, “Rubies” and “Diamonds” that dazzled the world ten years after the Leningrad premiere of “The Stone Flower”, today its modest Ural gems do not even look semi-precious. The performers of the roles of Katerina and Danila, Natalia Krapivina and Georgi Smilevski, did not shine either, depriving their heroes of any individual traits. Perhaps only Anton Domashev in the role of clerk Severyan supported the theater brand. Only such an inexperienced child as young Katerina could prefer the candy-pathetic Danila to him, and even then only under pressure from the director. In Domashev’s interpretation, the villain Severyan is like a tree twisted from birth: both ugly and alive.

However, as for liveliness, a remarkable event happened that evening. In the foyer of the theater, the New Birth of Art Foundation presented the project “Dancing Grigorovich.” This is a photo exhibition of unique works by Leonid Zhdanov and documentary Leonid Bolotin. For many years they filmed the choreographer at rehearsals and shows. The impression is truly, as one young viewer put it, amazing. What to hide, when he was a ballet dancer, Grigorovich did not have enough stars from the sky. But it turned out that best performer his own compositions can not found. Such sensitivity in conveying character, such infectious power could be the envy of the biggest stars in the ballet firmament. And let time take its toll. The real Grigorovich is there, in these photographs and films.

Vremya Novostei, December 16, 2008

Anna Gordeeva

A dilapidated legend

“Stone Flower” by Yuri Grigorovich at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater

Legends must be handled with care: stored in a cool, dry place, and not taken out into the light again. Because as soon as you pull it out, you will find that it crumbles in your hands, nothing remains of the legend. Here at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater they did not spare “The Stone Flower”, danced the legendary ballet again - and that’s it, one less Soviet myth.

This myth arose in 1957 - then the young choreographer Yuri Grigorovich composed this performance at the Kirov Theater. The public rushed to watch, the critics were delighted: the era of “drama ballet” was ending, containing both significant works (Romeo and Juliet by Leonid Lavrovsky, for example), and completely wretched ones (like Zakharov’s The Bronze Horseman). Ballet fashion (like any fashion) comes in waves: either the dancing people fight against pantomime in the theater, wanting to give more and more power to dance, then they proclaim a return to the art of acting and non-dance acting on stage; then there was a wave of the first type. Grigorovich became the leader and banner of this movement - and indeed, there was always a lot of dancing in his performances.

That is, his “Stone Flower” was certainly a relative innovation. As for absolute innovation, in 1957 George Balanchine staged, for example, “Agon”, and next to the dances of “The Stone Flower” it looks Japanese by high speed train, whistling past a bulky steam locomotive. "Symphonic Dance", for which Soviet years It was customary to extol Grigorovich, while Balanchine began a couple of decades earlier - and with much greater success. At the premiere in Kirovsky they were also happy about the slightly greater erotic openness of Grigorovich’s dances (not in those words, of course, when talking about it), but only in comparison with the “dram ballet” wrapped in a hundred clothes did the women in tights look defiant. But Bejar was already working hard behind the Iron Curtain - and ours were also losing the competition in erotica.

Another thing is that they didn’t know about this competition. Without access to the “patent base” of world ballet, ours diligently reinvented the wheel and for many years were happy riding it. For very long years - in fact, until the era when borders simultaneously opened and ballet videos became available on the market; Then there was some enlightenment in the minds and all the Soviet idols were neatly inserted into the general range of world choreography. Some in this row are no longer noticeable.

But the legend of the “Stone Flower” lived on. About the innovation of the choreographer, about the amazing scenography of Simon Virsaladze, about the thunderous energy of the performance. Apparently, this legend prompted the management of the Musical Theater to call Yuri Grigorovich and his team of tutors to work. Musical is now diligently building an exclusive playbill - this season they have promised “Naples” by Augustus Bournonville and the premiere of Nacho Duato’s one-acts (a venerable, virtuoso Danish classic and today's Spaniard, one of the most daring choreographers of our time). They probably decided that Soviet classics were also needed, especially since there was already experience of successfully resurrecting an old performance: the glorious “Snow Maiden” by Vladimir Burmeister, a choreographer who in his time staged a lot for the theater on Malaya Dmitrovka and a writer no worse than Grigorovich.

“The Stone Flower” has been shortened (there were three acts, now two), it now runs for two and a half hours, but this is also becoming a test. The production may be of interest to ballet historians: it is interesting to watch how in 1957 the moves that the choreographer would develop in his subsequent works were outlined (here Danila the master dances with two flowers in his hands - and Spartacus with two swords appears in memory; the villain-clerk Severyan will then be reborn as Ivan the Terrible). One can discover that the “stones” stage was built according to the precepts of Marius Ivanovich Petipa, and only the audience, who at one time were completely confused by ballets about collective farmers and fishermen, could have imagined its extraordinary innovation. “Fair,” a huge scene in the second act that stops the action and allows the Russian people and the Gypsy people to dance, also appeals to ballet antiquity, to characteristic divertissements. But this is a joy for learned balletomanes; the average viewer will fall asleep by the middle of the first act.

Because the duets of Katerina (Natalia Krapivina) and Danila (Georgi Smilevski) are distilled, purified of the slightest feeling. These are almost ritual dances, and the ritual affirms not belonging to each other, but belonging to the Russian dance tradition. And quite classical artists, who are in good shape, diligently indicate the movements of Russian folk dance. It was probably intended to look touching, but it looks ridiculous. The Mistress of the Copper Mountain (Olga Sizykh) diligently pricks her fingers, raises her elbows and tries to be stunning and seductive at the same time; the girl dances excellently, but the drawing of the part itself is most reminiscent of the erotic dream of Semyon Semenovich Gorbunkov in “The Diamond Arm.” The scenery and costumes, the praises of which only the lazy did not sing at the end of the fifties, evoke measured melancholy: in the depths of the stage there is a giant malachite box, the front wall of which opens and closes, and inside it turns out to be the interior of a hut, then a forest thicket, or boulders of stone. Traveling through time - to a place where no one has heard the word “design”. The “stone” suits are all in blue and purple tones and have that Soviet specific decent cut: under the miniskirts they wear the same colored tights, so that no one, God forbid, would think that their legs are bare.

The orchestra, led by Felix Korobov, works wonderfully - before our eyes, a conductor has grown up in Moscow, capable of playing Prokofiev’s music without insulting the memory of the composer, and getting along with the ballet, with their conveniences and quirks. (The rarest case is when a high-class conductor seems to truly love the restless art of dance.) There are no serious complaints about the performers - Georgi Smilevski even clearly improved the quality of his work: his characters are always somewhat relaxed and imposing, here Danila the master seriously suffered from -for the failed stone flower and cut through the stage with decisive energy. But still... You can’t take children to this performance. Firstly, it is still quite conventional, and it will be necessary to constantly explain to the child who this aunt is and who that uncle is. Secondly, at the beginning of the second act, the clerk Severyan (Anton Domashov) diligently harasses Katerina, and you will have to figure out why this girl wants to walk him with a sickle on... well, in general, you shouldn’t take children. Send elderly relatives? Yes, perhaps - if they are from the provinces. They still appreciate it there.

Vedomosti, December 15, 2008

Anna Galayda

Fossil

Yuri Grigorovich staged his debut ballet “The Stone Flower” at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater. The famous painting of a bygone era is still difficult for the troupe

Grigorovich's first ballet was created on a wave of thaw enthusiasm. A 30-year-old dancer from the Kirov Theater offered the artists free time stage the ballet on your own. The success was such that “The Stone Flower” was not only included in the official repertoire of the theater, but also transferred to the Bolshoi. Then Grigorovich took root there for thirty years and forced the whole country to stage and dance in own style, but the “Stone Flower” remained a symbol of flight, joy, and the feeling of the limitlessness of one’s own powers.

The Ural tale about the stone cutter Danil, torn between his love for the peasant woman Katerina and the call of the mysterious Mistress of the Copper Mountain, turned into a parable about an artist making a choice between learning the secrets of great art and serving people. The imagery of the performance, found with the help of artist Simon Virsaladze, and its style looked revolutionary: despite the detailed plot and literary style, difficult relationships characters were conveyed exclusively through dance.

Dance ideas Grigorovich demanded virtuosity and endurance from performers, sometimes at the expense of academics, courage instead of sophistication, persuasiveness rather than acting nuances. Only a huge, well-trained company can adequately embody this style. “Stanislavsky” was never one of the troupes that encroached on this task; on the contrary, even during the years of Grigorovich’s absolute hegemony, they continued to cultivate exactly the style that fell under the onslaught of “The Stone Flower”: they remained faithful to drama ballet with its focus on actor’s expressiveness and love for details, dance, although not virtuosic, but pleasing to the eye with a variety of plastic possibilities. Only the tragic loss of long-term leader Dmitry Bryantsev, which coincided with the homeless wanderings of the troupe during reconstruction and the change of generations, changed the situation - the company lost its own identity.

Now “Stanislavsky” is drifting towards the European standard, which involves mastering the classics of the 19th and 20th centuries. The work with Grigorovich turned out to be second in this series after the year before last “The Seagull” by John Neumeier. And just as in the case of the German classic, the theater managed to lure the choreographer to go through almost the entire stage of preparing the performance with the troupe. And this is the main achievement of the current premiere.

The motley corps de ballet, assembled from provincial schools and private Moscow schools, although did not achieve ideal lines, but for the first time in last years got an idea of ​​the standard unity of actions. He's not very expressive yet folk dances- where previously Stanislavsky’s dancers were unsurpassed, but one can already feel their scope and prowess.

The weakest link of the premiere turned out to be the performers of the main roles, dancing “Stone Flower” with “swan” frostbite. But even this only testifies to the desire to jump in over one's head. Danil’s flower came out of Stanislavsky, but it’s still made of stone.

New news, December 15, 2008

Maya Krylova

Malachite in a kokoshnik

Yuri Grigorovich restored a half-century-old ballet

The Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater hosted the premiere of the ballet “The Stone Flower”. More than half a century ago, a performance to the music of Sergei Prokofiev was staged by the novice choreographer Yuri Grigorovich. Now the living classic has personally revived his long-running production.

The libretto of the ballet, based on Bazhov's tales, tells the story of the Ural master Danil, torn between creativity and passion for his bride Katerina. The main negative character, Severyan, also “knocks out wedges” to beautiful girl. The story is equipped with a fairytale element in the form of the empress of the subsoil - the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. This green snake falls in love with Danila and lures him with the beauty of minerals, but the hero, in the end, refuses to live in the kingdom of dead stone and returns to earth. And Severyan - by the will of the Mistress - on the contrary, falls into the ground because he pestered Katerina.

The ballet “The Tale of the Stone Flower” was first staged in 1954 by choreographer Leonid Lavrovsky. Grigorovich’s version arose in a controversy with Lavrovsky, who professed the official aesthetics of “drama ballet”. According to it, ballet was proclaimed “a play without words” and they demanded from it “the truth of life,” which was expressed in an abundance of everydayisms and belittling the role of dance as such. Grigorovich's performance resisted this to a certain extent, changing the proportion in the opposite direction. The choreographer's co-author, artist Simon Virsaladze, created a huge malachite box, from which either peasants with merchants, or gypsies with a bear, or dancing minerals in kokoshniks emerge.

As a result, “old-regime” reviewers were violently indignant at the performance, while young people and some of the “advanced” critics were delighted. The main thing is that Grigorovich was given credit for refusing the boring retelling of the plot, which Lavrovsky was accused of. He, for example, had dances at his engagement party, while Grigorovich, as one of his apologists noted, has an “engagement in dance,” that is, an artistic generalization.

Author doing new edition performance, increased the dynamics of the action, reducing the ballet from three acts to two. Otherwise, despite the fact that more than half a century has passed since the premiere, almost nothing has changed. But the fight against Stalin’s “drama ballet” is irrelevant today. And in general, what is revolutionary in art in one era becomes too simple and drearily serious in another. The current “Flower” reports that coveting other people’s brides is bad, but creating is good. As for the notorious dance “generalizations”, main pride director, they no longer work in this capacity: the engagement scenes in the hut and the peasant fair in the village, as well as the dances of minerals in the kingdom of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, look simply like big ballet divertissements. It is not the merits, but the shortcomings of the production that come to the surface, although the artists of the Musical Theatre, managing to quickly change costumes during the action, courageously cope with the “densely populated” performance, and the performers of the main roles Georgy Smilevsky, Natalya Krapivina and Olga Sizykh are doing everything possible to maintain their reputation ballet

Now in The Stone Flower it is not the richness of the vocabulary that is noticeable (the dance is just meager, moreover, very similar to Grigorovich’s other ballets), but the signs of an exemplary Soviet performance. There is the image of a “man of the people” with spiritual needs, class oppression of the working people in the person of the lordly clerk Severyan. There is “truthfulness to life” - for example, blouses with sundresses or a vase in the shape of a stone flower, which is hit with a hammer, imitating the creativity of a stone cutter. There is “nationality” - classical steps with elements of Russian dance, swan girls, falcon boys, a corps de ballet in the form of a carousel, round dances and bows, bast shoes on the performers’ feet are adjacent to pointe shoes. By the standards of our days, the dance is too illustrative: for crystals there are angular jumps with a bit of sportiness, meaning the edges of stones, for the clerk’s associates there are “crawling” and “drunk” steps. There is also a blunt presentation of “ideological content” - Danila, suffering from the torments of creativity, is endowed with “calling forward” jumps and raised arms, but at the same time he looks like a leader from a production play.

It is clear that there is a problem with choreographers in our country, and Yuri Nikolaevich Grigorovich is a master. How not to invite him to the production? But it is a pity that in his youth the choreographer sensitively grasped the needs of the time, and now he has lost this quality. However, if you are a fan of Valentina Tolkunova and the Pyatnitsky Choir, you will probably like “The Stone Flower”.

Culture, December 18, 2008

Elena Fedorenko

Half a century later

"The Stone Flower" is the last ballet by Sergei Prokofiev and the first by Yuri Grigorovich

With its appeal to “The Stone Flower”, the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater set several difficult tasks. Master new choreography for the troupe (the troupe has never danced Yuri Grigorovich’s ballets before). To return to the stage a performance whose age has passed its half-century anniversary and whose historical meaning impossible to overestimate. In addition, the theater seems to have decided to collect rarities: its own (recently revived "The Snow Maiden"), modern Western ones ("The Seagull"), ancient ones ("Naples"). And he finally decided to reconcile two camps: devout fans of Grigorovich’s theater (not so long ago Grigorovich’s Krasnodar Ballet showed “Ivan the Terrible” on this stage, and the ovation given to the choreographer shook the walls) and his irreconcilable opponents.

The ballet was staged by Yuri Grigorovich at the Kirov Theater in 1957 (in Big performance appeared two years later), and among the masterpieces of the Thaw period in various types and genres of art, it turned out to be perhaps the most revolutionary. The performance based on Bazhov's Ural tales was immediately loved by everyone, except for those whose efforts in the field of ballet he overthrew. We consider one of the main merits of the current premiere to be the opportunity to see the “fact of history” and, accordingly, draw our own conclusions.

It became absolutely clear how the “drama ballet” - once a very useful direction, which, having fulfilled its mission, had to give way to “The Stone Flower” and all subsequent performances, received a crushing blow at one time. At one moment, all the drama ballet principles collapsed: no collisions are explained with the help of gestures in the exaggerated ballet specificity of the Moscow Art Theater authenticity - only dance and exclusively dance; instead of the pomp and decorative pathos of the design, the metaphorical nature of the scenography (Simon Virsaladze, co-director of the director, came up with a malachite box at the back of the stage, its open side shows either the upper room of the hut, or the carousel in the square, or the rich possessions of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain); instead of heavy historical attire - sundresses and blouses, tutus - tight-fitting overalls.

And it also turned out that real art is born in a single cultural and historical context, as if the director of the mass dances of “The Stone Flower” extended his hand to Marius Petipa, because those who are thinner settle scores, those who determine the paths of development converge. The roots of their corps de ballet formations are clearly intertwined with plastic themes, voices and echoes, but the crown of Grigorovich’s opuses blossomed with flourishes graphic drawings and acrobatic freedom - signs of new times.

And one more thing - as a consequence: Yuri Grigorovich, like no one else, was followed by numerous epigones; in the vastness of the Soviet state, circulations of dances “under Grigorovich” began to multiply, which, by the way, partly prevented the perception of the first act of the ballet of the current premiere. Russian girls in sundresses and guys in bast shoes walking at the engagement party of Danila and Katerina looked hot commodity, and the clear simplicity and groovy temperament of rural Rus' turned out to be incomprehensible to modern artists. Especially the leading actors. Georgi Smilevski is handsome, like a prince from an academic ballet, and dances correctly, but his Danila lacks the inquisitive peasant mind and that Russianness that emerges at random. Natalya Krapivina is also good, the fabulous Alyonushka, a gentle and submissive creature - to the point of losing her individuality; Olga Sizykh (Mistress of the Copper Mountain) bends like a lizard, her soft hands sing, freezing in exquisite poses, but, alas, I would like to add charisma. Only Anton Domashev has enough acting energy, whose scoundrel Severyan - an image both grotesque and parodic - becomes the central character.

It's time to remind the plot: Severyan is a clerk, and the peasant girl Katerina, the beloved of the Ural guy Danila, is sweet to him. But Danila himself disappeared in the kingdom of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, blinded by her untold wealth. The Mistress is not indifferent to Danila, and she opens her treasures to him, but the blindness passes, and he rushes to earth. The hostess shows nobility - not only releases her captive, but also punishes his enemy Severyan, an undoubtedly negative hero. Not only in his actions: even if he is boorish, he has every right to fall in love, and how to achieve his beloved - it happens in different ways. The meaning of the performance, I think, is different. In the eternal clash of creative freedom (Danila) and the power of power (Severyan). IN in this case the artistic victory is won by Severyan, for whom creative impulses are an empty phrase, that is, rampant lawlessness. And this - at a time (without actual allusions!), when libraries are closing and museums are doomed to extinction - has set lively accents. The forces of evil are much brighter today than high creativity with his reflections, doubts, torments. So the plot turns into a plot - new and modern.

While the performers of the main roles need to gain energy, the crowd scenes are performed emotionally. The “Underground Kingdom” suites with “Amethysts” and “Gems” are danced diligently and with understanding, and “Fair” is unrestrained, simple-minded and touching. The performance turned out to be man-intensive, there are at least a hundred performers on stage, and everyone dances with such fervent dedication that there is no doubt about the interest of the ensemble. Merchants, gypsies, fair people - their fiery dances look like a tangle of destinies. It was danced technically, played richly by each artist, in my opinion, everyone, without exception, feels happiness from participating in this spectacular feast, from collective sincerity. And this general joy, splashing over the edge, is supported by both the orchestra conducted by Felix Korobov and the audience, wheezing with enthusiastic screams at the finale.

But another story happened this evening. The first person to greet the audience was Yuri Nikolaevich Grigorovich. Focused, profound, inspired, crafty, happy - he looks differently from the wonderful photographs of Leonid Zhdanov, which made up the exhibition of the project "Dancing Grigorovich", deployed in the foyer of the theater. And the documentary film of the same name by Leonid Bolotin, which was shown in the Atrium before the start of the performance and during the intermission, showed the choreographer at work on performances, at rehearsals with those who are marked today with the aura of legend. Nostalgia gave the event a poignant force. “Look: Natasha, Katya, Volodya, Misha,” they whispered from all sides. And all this - amazing story from past life, without which there is no today.

Ballet Stone Flower is legendary Ural tales, embodied in dance. He talks about how the Ural master Danila wants to convey the beauty of fresh flowers using stone. But will the Mistress of the Copper Mountain allow him to do this? And how will his story with his beloved turn out?

It is easy to understand that this production was created on the basis of quite famous work famous Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. It was written by him in 1950. When creating his masterpiece, the great maestro used famous stories“Ural Tales” by the famous Russian writer Pavel Bazhov. In his hands, these stories became even more enchanting and romantic. Many of the maestro's musical decisions turned out to be innovative. But at the same time, the work also used unique elements of native musical folklore. In addition, as everyone who wished to order tickets for the ballet The Stone Flower in 1954 noticed, it also became innovative in terms of choreography for Russian art. The production turned out to be realistic and romantic. It combines classical art in an incredible way with amazing folk heritage. The famous performance was created by the famous domestic choreographer Yuri Grigorovich. For many years his work enjoyed notable success in our country. She was also able to gain international fame. In this wonderful performance different years Many outstanding masters of Russian ballet took part, including the brilliant Maya Plisetskaya. But in 1994, the popular performance unexpectedly left the capital's stage for various reasons. In addition, it is not so often possible to see it in other Russian cities. But the public's interest in this magical and romantic story, embodied in beautiful dance, even after that did not decrease at all.

The resumption of this wonderful choreographic performance in the Russian capital took place only in 2008. Its premiere then turned out to be long-awaited and noticeable. And now the production takes important place in the theater repertoire. It is distinguished by colorful design and interesting choreographic solutions. This action can well be called a new word in the history of Russian ballet.

“Stone Flower” is the revolver with which Yuri Grigorovich, young and early, burst into the sanctuary of Soviet ballet, in the middle of which the almost motionless “dram ballet” lay like a carcass, put the barrel in the monster’s ear and fired. As you can imagine, the hardest part was daring to enter.

It was 1957, the ice was cracking due to the thaw, the choreographer-reformer was already expected as a messiah, but they were still worried about what would happen to him. And then the ballerinas’ skirts were taken off. Instead of scenery, they installed giant panels in malachite stains - the best ballet set designer of the USSR, Simon Virsaladze, with the unscrupulousness of a genius, created “Flower”, after decades of decorating lush drama ballets with ruffles. In the Soviet Union, “Western art” arrived for one evening, as it was imagined by artists who had not yet begun to tour abroad. Although the libretto is domestic Bazhov, the Urals and all that.

When I first saw “Flower”, I was struck by how... ummm... calm it was. You expect more passion from the manifesto. For a manifesto, he has too steady a pulse and an almost zero level of aggression. This is how people behave in their right - it is not known whether this calmness was feigned (so that the theatrical hyenas would not tear it to pieces ahead of time) or whether Grigorovich really believed in his star.

At the same time, his calmness is very understandable: Grigorovich was setting up a large “classical” performance, with arches and buttresses, and tried not to let his hand tremble. A strange idea, considering that the natural modernist format is one-act (and all were one-act important texts 1960s - from the ballets of Balanchine to the illegitimate Soviet masterpieces of Igor Belsky and Leonid Yakobson). But Grigorovich upped the ante, because the “drama ballet” also worked in a large format. Yes, of course, at the same time he enlarged the target for enemy fire. However, the risk paid off; the star did not deceive, eventually becoming the star of the laureate of everything that was in the USSR.

This game with high stakes reflected on “The Stone Flower”, like the alcoholism of parents (or, without judgment, like their lifestyle) - on children. The impression it leaves is some kind of flickering, as if someone is burning matches in the wind. Flash: a deafening fair scene. Then, smoothly empty, like the tundra, and the same cold dances of gems. Then there’s a flash again... But what can you do! Of all the spectacles, Soviet ballet lovers preferred a big fire in the taste of “drama ballet,” and Grigorovich tried very hard to please them.

Perhaps this is what made “The Stone Flower” Grigorovich’s most controversial masterpiece. In any case, the least popular. It eats up a hell of a lot of human energy from the theater and performers, but returns much less in the form of simple-minded audience feedback. And, apparently, that’s why there is nowhere else to see Grigorovich’s “Stone Flower” except at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater. He definitely has plenty of energy.

In general, in ballet there is a very developed sense of who is in charge. Ballet is hierarchical in nature. Everyone clearly knows who the boss is and keeps an equal footing. This instinct must be what helps ballet people keep the line in their dance, like migrating geese keeping a strict wedge even in a storm over the Himalayas. In the 19th century, the authorities sympathetically understood this: in each of the capitals there was only one ballet theater. And in Soviet times were very surprised when, having stuck the empire ballet theaters, soon discovered a plot of pale copies of the toadstools of the Bolshoi or Mariinsky Theater. I’m explaining from afar so that you understand how fantastic what the Stanislavsky Theater is doing today is. Either he stages “The Seagull” by Neumeier, or he revives the old Soviet “Snow Maiden”. Here it is - “Stone”. In connection with the reconstruction of the main building (with horses on the roof), the Bolshoi stands with “Stas” now, in general, on the same street, on Dmitrovka - the longer the shadow it casts on its younger brother. So this “Flower” only appears to be made of stone. To grow this fragile little thing in the middle of Moscow required the courage of imagination and faith in one’s individuality, worthy of the gardeners of Israel with their drip irrigation of the desert. Incredible.

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This is a return to the big stage of the legendary production by Yuri Grigorovich, which first saw the light back in 1957 at the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Theater.

Ballet "Stone Flower", based on the Ural fairy tales of Pavel Bazhov to the music of Sergei Prokofiev, became the personification of a new stage in the development of Russian ballet art. The “choreographic drama” was replaced by a new innovative direction, which reflected the avant-garde acrobatic discoveries of the 20s, the St. Petersburg classical school and the principles of “symphonic dance” developed by Fyodor Lopukhov.

Ballet "Stone Flower" became the first work of the new era, which later served as a guide for musical theater directors in our country. This production began a long-term collaboration between Yuri Grigorovich and the wonderful theater artist Simon Virsaladze.

In “The Stone Flower” Simon Virsaladze was the first to apply the principle of a “single installation”, in which the entire semantic space is concentrated in one scenery that changes during the course of the action. In the depths of the scene there is a malachite box and its open side turns into a carousel, the upper room of a hut or the possession of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain.

In 1957, audiences were surprised by the boldness of the original concept, but this approach was later developed by musical theater artists and became the main one in Russian scenography in the second half of the last century.

Two years later, in 1959, the production was moved to Moscow, to the stage

Bolshoi Theater. At various times, almost all the stars of Russian ballet danced in the “Stone Flower”: Irina Kolpakova, Maya Plisetskaya, Alla Osipenko, Ekaterina Maksimova, Yuri Vladimirov, Vladimir Vasiliev and many others.

For many years, until the early 90s, ballet "Stone Flower" was successfully performed on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, and in St. Petersburg it still remains in the repertoire of the Mariinsky Theater.

In 2008, the legendary production returned, and Moscow audiences had the opportunity to see the updated ballet, now on the stage of the Musical Theater. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko.

After 50 years, Yuri Grigorovich returned to his first production and, together with the theater troupe, revived ballet "Stone Flower" which caused real delight among the capital's public. At the premiere of the living classic of Russian ballet, there was a standing ovation and a standing ovation.

Today in “The Stone Flower” Natalya Somova (Katerina) and Sergei Manuilov (Danila) brilliantly perform their parts, Olga Sizykh (Mistress of the Copper Mountain) and Victor Dick (Severyan) perform the most complex acrobatic performances.

Ballet “Stone Flower” at the Musical Theater named after. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko- this is a new meeting with the legendary production of Yuri Grigorovich, which is decorated with magnificent scenography, an orchestra conducted by the talented Felix Korobov and the high skill of the performers.

Tickets to ballet "Stone Flower" You can purchase it right now on the TicketService website by filling out the order form or by calling our operators.