On June 6, 2024, the entire country and the Russian-speaking world celebrates the 225th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Pushkin.
On 7 June of the same year, People's Artist of Russia Natalia Dmitrievna Kasatkina, the permanent director of the Classical Ballet Theatre, was to celebrate her 90th birthday. Unfortunately, she has recently passed away, leaving behind one more performance.
At the end of July, in honor of both heroes of the day, the premiere of a new version of the ballet Pushkin, Dreams after Life will take place. First, the performance will be shown in St. Petersburg on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre, and then in Moscow on the stage of the Bolshoi.
Now many people already know that Natalia Dmitrievna was not only a choreographer, but also a poet. She received the State Prize together with her husband Vladimir Vasilyev for the poetic libretto of the opera Peter the Great. And about Pushkin, Natalia Dmitrievna knew almost everything that is available to our contemporaries. She could recite Pushkin’s poems by heart for hours without stopping.
Back in 1981, when he and Vasilev were preparing for a production of Andrei Petrov’s ballet at the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Theatre Pushkin, reflections on the poet, serious scientific work was carried out on the study of primary sources.
The ballet turned out to be completely different from a biographical study. This is a lively, emotional look at the life of an amazing person, in whom Russian and African blood, calm wisdom and hot-tempered madness, the most tender love for his wife and numerous hobbies merged in an incomprehensible way. That is why at the balls such characters as the imp, the madman and the rebel Emelyan Pugachev, the antagonist of the emperor, appear next to Pushkin.
But the main thing that amazes us about Pushkin is his amazing ability to feel and convey the harmony of the universe. It was this ability that the great melodist Andrei Pavlovich Petrov managed to embody in music. During the famous trio, where the Poet says goodbye to his wife and muse, the soul of all spectators mysteriously soars to heaven along with the sounds of the harp and violins.
In St. Petersburg, Pushkin’s poems were read in a play by Oleg Basilashvili, and in Moscow by Evgeny Mironov. But in the new version of the ballet, we will surprise the viewer with the fact that Pushkin’s words will be spoken by a woman. Yes, a new character appears in the ballet. Daughter of Dantes. Leonia-Charlotte Dantes de Heckern. She fell madly in love with Alexander Sergeevich and hated her father for his murder.
