Encyclopedia of the Chelyabinsk region. The ballet troupe of the opera house was headed by the legendary choreographer Konstantin Uralsky Konstantin Uralsky choreographer biography

The new artistic director of the ballet troupe, the chief choreographer of the opera and ballet theater, is a personality of great magnitude. Konstantin Uralsky is the winner of the state prize of the Government of the Russian Federation for achievements in the field of culture, a laureate of international competitions. He is known in professional circles not only as a professional in restoring the classical ballet heritage, but also as an innovative choreographer. A true cosmopolitan, Konstantin Uralsky knows no boundaries for his creativity, successfully working on productions both in Russia and abroad.
Today he was invited to Astrakhan personally by Governor A. Zhilkin. The task set by the management for the choreographer is wonderful and great. Create a team and repertoire of an academic ballet theater for the Opera and Ballet Theater. The status of the theater has grown by several orders of magnitude, and it’s time for the artists to live up to it.

MIRACLE TICKET: Konstantin Semenovich, with your arrival in Astrakhan, many new ballet dancers have appeared in our troupe. Did you know each other before?
Konstantin Uralsky: I have actually already worked with some of them. These are soloist Alexander Zverev from Yoshkar-Ola, leading ballet dancer from Samara Daria Klimova, Ulyana Batluk from Novosibirsk and Vladislav Borisov from Moscow. Many artists will come to Astrakhan from different cities and ballet schools across the country. So soon the composition of the theater’s ballet troupe will at least double. Imagine, in the ballet “Swan Lake” 32 white swans are dancing, i.e. This production requires approximately 35 women and the same number of men.

MIRACLE TICKET: Ideally, how do you see the “Ural Ballet” that you are currently working on?
Konstantin Uralsky: The durability of what will ultimately be created depends on the correctness of my choice today. A new Theater is being born, and we are all standing at its origins. This is a historical moment both for Astrakhan and for me personally. It is important to understand that the Theater is created where there are creative leaders and a cohesive team, and not where there is a big new building and far-reaching plans.
I very carefully select artists for my troupe. In my creative team, everyone feels their need and the shoulder of a friend, and there is nothing that is considered ballast.

MIRACLE TICKET: Will new numbers be added to the ballet productions already familiar to Astrakhan residents, or will the repertoire of the ballet troupe be completely updated?
Konstantin Uralsky: As for repertoire policy, of course, it will soon undergo big changes. First of all, ballet productions from the classical heritage will be performed on the Astrakhan stage (“Don Quixote”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Swan Lake”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Giselle” - in a new edition). In addition, I plan to show my original performances in Astrakhan (for example, “Waltz of the White Orchids”).
The first big work of our troupe at the Opera and Ballet Theater will be “Swan Lake”. For the New Year we are preparing a one-act performance for children, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” and in 2012 we will expand it into a full-length performance.

MIRACLE TICKET: Tell me, are there any completely new productions that will be staged for the first time in Astrakhan?
Konstantin Uralsky: Yes, I plan to stage new world ballet premieres on the stage of the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater. I love surprising the audience! But for now I won’t reveal the secret of what productions I’m talking about now.
In addition, I will invite non-resident choreographers to the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater to perform original productions.

MIRACLE TICKET: Is the path from concept to production of a new ballet performance long?
Konstantin Uralsky: Very long. For example, 16 years passed from the birth of the idea to the staging of my play “Waltz of the White Orchids”. On average, 2-3 years pass from the date of conception to the birth of the performance. After the Idea has crystallized in the brain of the choreographer, the theater is involved in the project, acting as a producer. The development of a script plan begins, the composer’s work on the scores, the work of costume designers, and set designers. The time calculation of all these creative processes takes years.
But those premieres, the name of which I cannot disclose now, will be staged on the Astrakhan stage, most likely, in a year. By the time I received a job offer in your city, these performances were already in the final stages of preparation.

MIRACLE TICKET: Astrakhan is called the Caspian capital of Russia. Are you planning to organize, for example, a large-scale ballet festival here?
Konstantin Uralsky: We are already carrying out such developments. Together with the artistic director and chief conductor of the theater, Valery Voronin, we decided to combine two types of art in one big festival. This will be an original project for Astrakhan. But let me remind you that the primary task now is to create a new ballet troupe and a new repertoire for it.

MIRACLE TICKET: Governor of the Astrakhan region Alexander Zhilkin has repeatedly voiced information about the opening of a ballet school in Astrakhan on the basis of the Opera and Ballet Theater. Tell me, when will this event happen?
Konstantin Uralsky: The decision on its creation will be made in the near future, since the opening of a professional ballet school-college is a very pressing issue today. The ballet theater must become a serious part of the new opera and ballet theater troupe, and for this it needs to be provided with professional personnel. The college will be needed both for training personnel and for popularizing ballet in the city.
In the future, I would like to see a choreography department appear in Astrakhan on the basis of the Astrakhan Conservatory, for example. I would love to teach future ballet masters and choreographers.

MIRACLE TICKET: Konstantin Semenovich, and finally, please explain once again the situation with the distribution of the repertoire between the old and new venues of the Opera and Ballet Theatre?
Konstantin Uralsky: In November and December, theater artists will work at two venues simultaneously. Opera performances and children's subscriptions, for which tickets are sold, will be performed on the old stage in Arcadia Park. And on the new stage of the Opera and Ballet Theater, all creative troupes take part in a series of charity concerts. Tickets are not sold for these concerts; admission is by invitation only.
Already on November 26, we will show a new ballet repertoire at the “Ballet Evening” in two parts, tickets for which are already completely sold out. Our premiere will take place on the new stage of the Opera and Ballet Theater.

short biography

The creative life of Konstantin Uralsky began at the Bolshoi Theater, on whose stage he danced after graduating from the Moscow Choreographic School. Having chosen the path of a choreographer for himself, he entered the choreographer’s department of GITIS on the course of Professor Olga Tarasova. Then he took a desperate step - he left the Bolshoi troupe and went to the West (Germany, USA) to learn the forms of modern dance, echoes of which reached Moscow, but which was not taught in the USSR. In America, he was offered to lead the Iowa Ballet troupe as Artistic Director.

In 1991-1996. K. Uralsky directs the Iowa Ballet. He focuses on strengthening the ballet school and restoring a large number of classical ballets. Uralsky staged 15 original performances at the Iowa Ballet that aroused great critical interest, including “The Birds”, “My Reverie”, “Carmen Suite”, “More Than Two to Tango”, “Macbeth”, “Reflecting on Petrushka”, “Music of Albinoni”, “Doctor Zhivago”, etc. These works brought him fame in the USA.

In 1998 Konstantin Uralsky headed the ballet school in New York. He continues to engage in production activities and becomes the Artistic Director of the New York Ballet troupe. New productions “Moonlight”, “Silent Night”, “Wanderers on the Road” and others are being created for this group.

In 2006-2007 Konstantin Uralsky created for the Chelyabinsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after M.I. Glinka S. Prokofiev’s ballet “Romeo and Juliet” and the world premiere of the ballet “El Mundo de Goya”, about the life of the Spanish artist Francisco Goya to the music of composer Valeria Besedina. Both performances aroused great interest among the public and professionals. The ballet “El Mundo de Goya” received five prizes at the Scene 2007 festival, including the prize for Best Choreography of the Year.

Since April 2008 K. Uralsky becomes the Artistic Director of the ballet of the Chelyabinsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after M.I. Glinka.

In 2008 K. Uralsky was awarded the state prize of the Government of the Russian Federation for achievements in the field of culture. The prize was awarded for the production of the ballet “El Mundo de Goya”.

Today K. Uralsky continues to stage performances in different countries of the world. His latest works are the premiere of the new ballet “Faces of the Russian Seasons” in Italy, at the National Academy of Dance in Rome, and the play “More Than two to Tango” at the National Theater of the Republic of Kosovo.

In 2010 Konstantin Uralsky staged a new ballet performance “Chekhov. Reflections” for the 150th anniversary of A.P. Chekhov.

Awards and achievements

Laureate of the Russian Government Prize

Laureate of International competitions

Chief choreographer of the Astrakhan State Opera and Ballet Theater about experiments, life in the USA and search

Russian ballet is a brand that has developed over many years and is known throughout the world. Respect for Russian dancers was born thanks to strong technique and deep psychologism. Konstantin Uralsky, artistic director of the ballet and chief choreographer of the Astrakhan State Opera and Ballet Theater, spoke about experiments, life in the USA and search.

Photo from the personal archive of K. Uralsky

Do as you feel

I think that we do not decide our fate, only sometimes, out of stupidity, we miss the right “turns”. It happens that you are walking along the path of life, suddenly there is a crossroads, you don’t pay attention to it, you move on. And he takes it and comes across you again. Now you're starting to think about it. I had many different moments when fate seemed to guide me. At one point, when I succumbed to the will of fate, I found myself on an internship in the USA.

I was an aspiring choreographer then. When I arrived, I discovered a completely new world. The emotions are unforgettable. There are wonderful lines in the memoirs of the Russian dancer-choreographer, participant of the Diaghilev Seasons, Leonid Myasine. He describes how he sailed to New York from Europe on a ship. And an avalanche of freedom of thought literally fell on him. An avalanche is an accurate description of what I experienced at first. In American culture, “freedom” is a key word. Do as you feel, as you see.

However, in order to invent, you need to have a good foundation. If there is no good knowledge, then there is nothing to build on. Any innovation can only be based on a good school. If we talk about choreography, then only having a very strong conservative school behind you (and many European ballet schools are quite conservative) can you develop and break out of the framework.

I spent many years of my life in the USA. The formation of my language was influenced by the study of modern dance schools: jazz dance and modern dance. But I remain a classical ballet choreographer. And, of course, the people around me.

With virtually no experience, I headed the Iowa Ballet. We had various productions, but we did everything quickly and clearly. The economy of the capitalist world does not allow spending years on rehearsals; everything needs to be done at a pace. You also need to be able to present yourself and promote yourself. In the states, all cultural projects are supported by sponsorship funds, which can only be obtained by proving that your product is better than others. For this reason, I even went to school for marketing and PR. In general, I am always ready to learn.

I'm always looking for a middle ground. Working at Ballet Iowa, first of all, I learned how to communicate with people. There was simply no such thing as “they owe me.” It was necessary to act only with convictions; it was necessary to interest and inspire people. This law still applies in my work today. Each artist in my troupe is an individual.

Small troupes are rare in Russian theaters. Often, large numbers of people are used to create scale. But try to create a crowd if you only have 20 people on stage? Here you already need to compose, come up with diagrams, draw the arrangement of compositions in which a feeling of mass character will be born. I searched and staged compositions, remembering the experience of my teachers. The ability to work with small numbers of people is very valuable, so today I teach my students how to put 15-17 people on stage and make the audience believe that there was a crowd.

The path to your own style

Once, in one of the residential areas of New York, I came across a luxurious ballet hall, which was left from a Russian teacher. The room was empty. And I didn’t miss this “turn” - I took over the hall, recruited a team and everything started to roll. This is how my dance school appeared in New York. Russian ballet is highly respected all over the world, so there were no problems finding students. For me it was one of the most interesting periods of my life.

In this hall I composed my famous productions - “Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto”, “Waltz of the White Orchids”. An interesting feature of the place was that there was a residential apartment above the ballet hall. I lived in it, so I had the opportunity to go down and work at any time of the day. By the way, returning to Massine’s memoirs, I’ll make a small remark: in his book he says that he had a long-standing dream of having a house with a ballet hall so he could practice whenever he wanted. Over time, this dream of his came true - he had a large house with a hall on Long Island. So, my hall with an apartment upstairs was also on Long Island.

In the states, I really missed a large repertory theater with a large hall and orchestra. I missed the “Russian dancer” and really hoped that my experience would help him develop. Today I can say that I was not mistaken. And an example of this is the Astrakhan ballet troupe that I assembled. My message was not to “poach” experienced artists from other theaters, but to make my own team of young dancers. Therefore, I invited graduates of leading ballet educational institutions: from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan, Perm, Novosibirsk, Ufa. From them the basis of our ballet troupe was created. Of course, I had to work a lot with beginning artists, but I love working with young people. This troupe is unique in its own way, the artists are about the same age. Over six years of work, we have raised strong dancers and developed our own style. The assistant choreographers who came to Astrakhan at my invitation helped me a lot with this. I am especially grateful to the former dancer of the Bolshoi Theater, a wonderful teacher Yuri Romashko.

Astrakhan is my city

It’s hard for me to say which of my productions is the best. Each has its own charm and its own difficulties. Each one is loved in its own way.

I don't like the word "innovation". Because art is a constant search. If there is no search in the artistic concept (it doesn’t matter whether you are an artist, composer, director, choreographer), then your entire idea is a stillborn child. For me, every performance is life. This is the world into which I plunge myself and into which I try to immerse the artists, and then the audience. For example, in Waltz of the White Orchids we see Paris at a certain period in history. To create the right atmosphere, it was necessary to use everything - music, language, literature. It was necessary to live in that era.

I spent days listening to French music of that time, getting used to the paintings painted by artists of this period. Before the production, I made a special trip to Paris. I remember asking my wife to leave me alone. I stood on the bridge for a long time and smoked. I tried to remember every detail, to absorb the world around me in order to convey it to the viewer. I am sure that dance technique is only part of a big job.

Interestingly, an exhibition dedicated to the “Waltz of the White Orchids” was recently held. It is located in the creative space “TeleLeto”. I feel very good about such places. In a sense, this is even symbolic for me - in New York I often visited the SoHo district (former industrial zones), where today creative spaces are being created, developing thanks to young people. So, the dominant style of premises there is just a loft. In Astrakhan, I love walking along Fioletova Street, where all the old buildings are now finding new life.

For me, this is a signal: usually such changes are associated with young people, with creative people. I liked the reaction of the audience to the exhibition of the play, and I hope that it is not the last. Vaulted ceilings evoke thoughts of the Middle Ages. Maybe we’ll do something unusual based on the theme of the play “Andrei Rublev”...

I love Astrakhan very much. I came here with the mindset that this might be the point where I would want to stay and live. And so it happened. I like that this is an old Russian city with incredible architecture and a combination of styles. From the window of my office I see both the Kazan Church and the domes of the Assumption Cathedral. It is very expensive for me. I love multinational culture and am glad that I am surrounded by different, different people. My youngest daughter, for example, has three best friends, and they are all of different nationalities. How great it is to celebrate national holidays with friends. I am sure that Astrakhan is my city.

Konstantin Uralsky, after graduating from the Moscow Choreographic School (now the Moscow State Academy of Arts) in 1978, was accepted into the Bolshoi Theater of Russia.

In 1990 he graduated from GITIS (RATI) with a specialization in choreography (course of Professor O.G. Tarasova). In parallel with his studies at GITIS, Uralsky studied modern trends in choreography in Germany and the USA.

In 1991, he accepted an invitation to lead the Iowa Ballet, USA. Konstantin Uralsky has been directing the Iowa Ballet for 6 years, during which time he has been restoring a large number of ballets from the classical repertoire and creating 15 original performances that have aroused great interest among viewers and critics. Among them are “Birds”, “My Reverie”, “Carmen Suite”, “More Than Two toTango”, “Macbeth”, “Thinking about Petrushka”, “Music of Albinoni”, “Doctor Zhivago”, etc.

in 1998, Konstantin Uralsky became the Artistic Director of the chamber ballet "New York Ballet". At the same time, in 1998, he opened his own ballet school in New York. Productions of “Moonlight”, “Christmas Dances”, “Wanderers on the Road”, etc. are being created for the new group.

In 2006, he was invited to the Chelyabinsk State Opera and Ballet Theater to stage S. Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet. After the success of the performance, he received a second invitation, and together with composer V. Besedina, in 2007 he created the world premiere of the ballet “E lMundo de Goya” about the life of the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. The performance aroused great interest among the public and professionals. The ballet “El Mundo de Goya” received five prizes at the Scene 2007 festival, including the prize for best choreography of the year.

Since April 2008, Konstantin Uralsky has become the artistic director of the ballet of the Chelyabinsk Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after Glinka.

In 2008, for the Ballet "El Mundo de Goya" Konstantin Uralsky was awarded the State Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation for achievements in the field of culture.

Among the performances staged at the Chelyabinsk Theater are the striking works “Firebird”

I. Stravinsky, "Chekhov. Reflections" to the music of P. I. Tchaikovsky.

In September 2011, he received an invitation from the government of the Astrakhan region to head the ballet troupe of the opening Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater. Konstantin Uralsky becomes the artistic director of the ballet and the main choreographer of the theater.

In December 2012, the new ballet troupe of the Astrakhan State Opera Ballet Theater opened with the premiere of the ballet “Swan Lake” in a new production by Konstantin Uralsky.

In recent years, Uralsky has staged a ballet to the music of Sergei Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto and the ballet "Waltz of the White Orchids" based on the works of E.M. Remarque to the music of M. Ravel and French chanson, a new edition of the ballet "Don Quixote", original performances of "Carmina Burana" ", "Piaf. I don't regret anything" and a major world premiere - the ballet "Andrei Rublev".

Among the productions: in the USA: “The Birds”, “My Reverie”, “Carmen Suite”, “More Than Two to Tango”, “Macbeth”, “Thinking about Petrushka”, “The Music of Albinoni”, “Doctor Zhivago”, “ Moonlight”, “Silent Night”, “Wanderers on the Way”, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, “The Nutcracker”, “Rachmaninov second”, etc.

In Russia: “Waltz of the White Orchids”, “Romeo and Juliet” by S. Prokofiev, ballet “El Mundo de Goya”, “Chekhov. Reflections”, “Firebird”, “Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto”, “The Nutcracker”, “Don Quixote” by L. Minkus and others.

Konstantin Uralsky staged the performances “Little Night Serenade”, “Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto” (Ukraine), “Doctor Zhivago” (Bulgaria), “Faces of the Russian Seasons” (National Academy of Dance in Rome), “More Than Two to Tango” ( National Theater of the Republic of Kosovo), “Rhythms of the Sun” (Bolivia). He continues to stage performances in different countries of the world, working equally successfully with both classical material and modern works.