The great Bolshoi Ballet returns to Herod Atticus
The history of world ballet has been marked by the Bolshoi Ballet, the Russian company which is coming to Athens this week for three consecutive performances. Part of the events of the Hellenic Festival, the company presents Aram Khachaturian’s heroic «Spartacus» tonight and Wednesday, and Adolphe Adam’s romantic «Giselle» tomorrow. Ever since it was founded in 1770 by an enlightened judge, Prince Urusov, who was in turn aided by entrepeneur Michael Maddox, the Bolshoi State Academic Theater of Russia has striven for excellence. Initially supported by Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, by the second half of the 20th century the theater numbered 900 artists, including opera, ballet, choral song and mime artists. All of ballet’s great works have been performed by the company, while composers such as Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Khachaturian have entered its ranks. Following World War II, Soviet ballet was defined by the Bolshoi, and during the company’s first appearance at Covent Garden with «Giselle» the British audience stood up to applaud the Wilis’s dance right in the middle of the second act. The company made it first Greek appearance 25 years ago, at the Athens Festival, performing the same ballets it presents this week. At the Herod Atticus theater tonight and Wednesday, «Spartacus» is the fearless leader of a slave and gladiator uprising in 1st-century AD Rome. The ballet is based on the renowned 1968 choreography by Yuri Grigorovich, with sets by Simon Virsaladze and with soloists Yuri Klevtsov, Dmitry Belogolovtsev, Anna Antonicheva, Elina Pashina, Vladimir Neporozhniy, Dmitry Rykhlov, Nadezhda Gracheva and Maria Allash. Legendary dancer and choreography Vladimir Vasiliev, on the other hand, is responsible for the revival and overall production of «Giselle,» which will be performed tomorrow. The ballet, which premiered for the first time in June 1841, at the Paris Opera, follows the love story between a village girl and Albrecht, Duke of Silesia. Based on choreographies by Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot, Marius Petipa, Aleksandr Gorsky, Leonid Lavrovsky and Vasiliev, the cast is led by Nadezhda Gracheva, Anna Antonicheva, Andrei Uvarov and Vladimir Neporozhniy. The Bolshoi Theater Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Aleksandr Sotnikov. The Bolshoi Ballet at the Herod Atticus Theater, Dionysiou Areopagitou, Acropolis, tel 010.323.2771, 010.323.5582. Ticket and credit card reservations can be made at the festival’s central box office which is located within the arcade on 39 Panepistimiou, tel 010.322.1459, today-Friday 8.30 a.m. -4 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. -2.30 p.m.
