Boris Eifman Theatre: repertoire and reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

St. Petersburg Academic Ballet Theater of Boris Eifman - that's the official name of the phenomenon that was born in 1977 and became a unique phenomenon at that time. However, there were also difficulties. The author's theater of one choreographer, just like the author's cinema, could hardly exist in Soviet reality. However, it arose in spite of all obstacles. And from that moment began the history of the new ballet art. With no permanent rehearsal space and props, with a small troupe of enthusiasts, which at first was called simply the ballet ensemble, Eifman managed with the very first performance to achieve what recognized directors took many years to achieve.

The ballet "Two-Part" is still remembered in the theatrical environment as a real shock. This was followed by other productions aimed at a youth audience. Bold choreographic solutions, free from cliches, were accompanied by the music of Pink Floyd, D. McLaughlin, Gershwin, Schnittke, which led to a dissident halo around the figure of the choreographer. And this attracted the broad masses to the theater of Boris Eifmanspectators previously indifferent to the art of ballet.

Features of Eifman's choreography

Thanks to an innate sense of movement and an instinct for writing, Boris Eifman created a completely new dance style, which was repeatedly called “the ballet of the future” in the foreign press. The combination of avant-garde plastic techniques with the traditions of Russian classics, on which the choreographer grew up, causes a resounding success. This is not just a ballet - it is a mix of free dance, classics and Dionysian mysteries, history and modernity…

The theater for Eifman is not just a place of work. This is the main business of his life, to which the director treats with appropriate seriousness. “This is my earthly destiny,” says Boris Eifman.

Plots and ideas

Recognizable plots are the hallmark that the Boris Eifman Theater has managed to acquire over the years. Most of his productions have a plot, and literary works and biographies of artists often become the basis of the ballet. Eifman interprets familiar stories in a new way, and they open up to the viewer from a completely unexpected side. "Anna Karenina", "Eugene Onegin", "Don Quixote", "The Brothers Karamazov" (ballet "On the Other Side of Sin") - the artist explodes the framework of works familiar from the school bench, breaking into the realm of the unknown, turning the textbook plot into a modernist work of art. His ballets are about today, not about the past.

Choreographer-psychoanalyst

With his characteristic psychologism, Eifman takes up the interpretation of biographiesbrilliant creators and simply outstanding historical figures. Ballets based on the life of Tchaikovsky, Rodin, ballerina Olga Spesivtseva (Red Giselle), Pavel the First were staged. The archetypal traits of heroes are pulled out and often elevated to the absolute.

The artist explores the problems of power and humanity, struggle and submission, conducts surrealistic experiments that elevate the elements of everyday life to the rank of high art. Each time Eifman turns in his ballets to the flow of life itself - the concept of "art for art's sake" is alien to him. Boris Eifman is called a choreographer-philosopher and even a choreographer-psychoanalyst - so precisely he dissects the impulses of the human soul, transforming them into body movements.

Repertoire

Over the years of its existence, the Boris Eifman Ballet Theater has presented more than forty productions to the public. It is worth talking about some of them, which have become the most significant steps in the artist's creative development.

• 1997 - "Red Giselle" - a ballet that immortalized the tragic story of the Russian ballerina Olga Spesivtseva, who was dragged into the whirlpool of revolutionary terror and passed through the loneliness of emigration. The production is distinguished by unusually expressive plasticity. Eifman notes the importance of this ballet in his creative ascent.
• 1998 - "My Jerusalem" - a theatrical performance that touches on the eternal themes of human existence. Unlike most Eifman productions, the ballet does not have a clear storyline. The viewer notesthat its peculiarity is that it uses modern techno music (Jewish, Christian, Muslim religious), as well as ethno music and excerpts from Mozart.
• 2005 - "Anna Karenina" to the music of Tchaikovsky. The ballet is focused on only one storyline of the novel - a love triangle, which, according to theatergoers, allowed Eifman to achieve maximum psychologism and powerful emotional impact.

• 2011 - "Rodin" - a large-scale statement about the tragedy of the fate of geniuses, about what was sacrificed for the sake of creating great masterpieces. Again and again, Eifman turns to the struggle, despair and madness that still awaits many artists. Animated stone, petrified flesh - everything mixed up on the stage of the theater.
• 2014 - "Requiem" (music by Mozart and Shostakovich). This is another atypical ballet for a choreographer, created in two stages. One act was staged in 1991. It was a philosophical reflection on human life to the music of Mozart. But twenty-three years later, Eifman returned to ballet, adding one more act to it - a dedication to A. A. Akhmatova. The premiere of the updated ballet was timed to coincide with the celebration of the anniversary of the liberation of Leningrad, a holiday marking the victory of life over death.
• 2015 - Up & Down - plastic interpretation of F. S. Fitzgerald's novel Tender is the Night. It was in this production that Eifman's psychoanalytic talent reached its peak. Original surrealistic solutions pull out from the depths of the subconscious of the characters their fears andmania, and all this against the backdrop of brilliant jazz arrangements.
• 2016 - Tchaikovsky. PRO et CONTRA” is the result of many years of creative reflection on the personality of the composer. The complex storyline of the story conveys Tchaikovsky's dying memories, his whole life flashes before the viewer's eyes.

Reviews

Everyone who had the good fortune to attend Eifman's ballet is simply delighted with him. Viewers note that "Red Giselle" (updated version of 2015) is something completely new and never seen before. The plastic interpretation of the tragedy and revolutionary terror is amazing, the characters are incredibly alive, they can be loved and hated all the time until the performance is over and the lights are turned on in the hall.

No one who has been to Eifman's ballet will remain indifferent to it, as vividly evidenced by the reviews in the press and the impressions of many spectators.

Tours

The rich repertoire of the Boris Eifman Theater is by no means limited to these productions. In St. Petersburg, at the Alexandrinsky Theatre, as well as in many cities around the world, productions of previous years are repeated many times, without losing the power of psychological impact. The language of body plastics is international. Eifman's innovative productions were duly appreciated outside of Russia. The troupe spends a significant part of the year on tour abroad. The day when the theater of Boris Eifman returns to the city becomes a holiday for the theater-goers of St. Petersburg. Reviews aboutproductions are attended by the most enthusiastic, and tickets are sold out long before the day of the performance.

Dance Academy

The lanes of the Petrograd side hide a real treasure from prying eyes - inside a small modest building is the Boris Eifman Dance Academy, an educational institution that comprehensively trains professional ballet dancers. Students say that this is not just a school - it is a creative laboratory that implements the concept of Eifman's modern dance.

In the course of the author's training, young talents undergo not only physical, but also spiritual training. The result is not just an excellent dancer, but also a comprehensively developed harmonious personality capable of original creative solutions. Many of the former students continue their work with the master, settling in the Boris Eifman Theater, which they speak of only in a positive way. It should be noted that children from the age of seven are admitted to the academy, education is free of charge.

Dance of the future

Now the ballet theater under the direction of Boris Eifman is recognized not only in the artistic environment, it is rightfully revered by everyone. Eifman is a brilliant artist of our time. Who knows, maybe in the future he himself will take a worthy place in a series of great creators, and another brilliant choreographer will stage a ballet about his creative path in this wonderful world.