Bolshoi Premiere of Ratmansky's The Art of Fugue Postponed

[MaddieRose]

Per the Bolshoi Theatre's Instagram, the premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's The Art of Fugue has been postponed. It will be replaced with performances of Don Quixote. 
 

[Sabine0308]

I found out about this via an Instagram story posted by Christian Spuck. He posted this link to an article with a bit more info:

https://247newsbulletin.com/entertainment/137287.html

[Jeannette]

Related -

Has the premiere of Ratmansky’s recon of Petipa’s Pharaoh’s Daughter (at Mariinsky) also been cancelled? No opening date was ever announced, although I last heard that it would premiere during summer 2022 White Nights. Guess not? 😢 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by Jeannette

[MaddieRose]

59 minutes ago, Jeannette said:

Related -

Has the premiere of Ratmansky’s recon of Petipa’s Pharaoh’s Daughter (at Mariinsky) also been cancelled? No opening date was ever announced, although I last heard that it would premiere during summer 2022 White Nights. Guess not? 😢 

 

There's a tweet here that implies it won't go ahead (and a reply says it's been cancelled but they don't cite a source):

 

In Russian I found an article (https://mvkursk.ru/culture/horeograf-ratmanskij-pokinul-rossiyu-iz-za-ukrainy-premera-v-bolshom-pod-voprosom.html). I'm not fluent in Russian but I think it's the exact same article as the article linked by Sabine above, just in Russian. All it says is that it can be expected that they'll announce the cancellation, and that May 14th was a possible premiere date. The few articles I could find in Russian all say the same, and none of them are an official source. 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by MaddieRose

[FionaM]

In the LBC interview with Ratmansky he says he’s received communication from the Mariinsky that they will go ahead with The Pharoah’s Daughter.  
 

He says he’d created about 2 hours so that’s close to completion.  
 

The ballet was due to be premiered in May 2022.  
 

According to this Mariinsky video much had been created by October 2021.  
 

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by FionaE

[Ballet448]

I saw Ratmansky on BBC's Hard Talk with Stephen Sackur yesterday.  He said that he had asked the companies in Russia who have his works in their repertoire not to perform them for the time being (i.e. as long as the war is going on), but that since they have contractual rights to do so, he cannot stop them, he can only ask.  He added that initially the companies had respected his wishes but that it seemed they were now starting to perform some of his work again.  Presumably the new Pharoah's Daughter is one of the ballets concerned. 

 

The full interview (done in London in the context of the Ukrainian group Giselle performances) doesn't seem to be available on line, but there is a clip here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001cr2w

 

[FionaM]

Yes legally he cannot stop Russian (or any companies) from performing his ballets that he created for them.  
 

The Bolshoi are currently performing Ratmansky’s Romeo and Juliet …

Krysanova & Lantratov today 1.10.22

Stashkevich & Lopatin tomorrow 2.10.22

 

And they’ve a new website which is easy to get around at first glance (ROH could learn a lot)

[Emeralds]

The Hard Talk interview with Stephen Sackur speaking to Alexei Ratmansky on the BBC News channel or late night on BBC One (I think, or sometimes BBC 2), which is also broadcast worldwide on their world news channel, is now available in full on BBC iPlayer- a worthwhile watch even if you think you’ve seen umpteen clips interviewing him about UUB and his Giselle. I won’t give the spoilers away but it’s not a typical Hard Talk in the usual format (which has seen presidents, prime ministers and controversial politicians being grilled by Sackur) as Sackur obviously has great sympathy for the victims of war, yet there are some interesting questions with unexpected and illuminating answers, eg about his abrupt departure from Moscow in February. Go watch it if you haven’t seen it- really interesting indeed.

 

It’s very intriguing that the Mariinsky and Bolshoi should be wanting to go ahead with presenting Ratmansky’s ballets. I would have thought that with the current situation, their government would be keen to “cancel Ratmansky”, so to speak. His very public campaigning against the war is pretty evident to anyone with Internet access should they happen to search his name, and even considering any clamp downs or blocking of Facebook, Instagram or Twitter in that country, it’s not difficult for various reposts, interviews and discussions to get into Russia and Ratmansky’s viewpoints shared. Which would be great. It’s a really fascinating situation, who knows.....as the saying goes, all publicity is good publicity, and as ballet is so influential in Russia, I wouldn’t be too worried about these companies apparently “disobeying” his request.... 

Edited October 2, 2022 by Emeralds