Bolshoi Ballet in Auckland

Press, 7 August 1985, Page 18

Bolshoi Ballet in Auckland

Among the luggage the famous Bolshoi Ballet will bring to Auckland next month are 2000 pairs of pointe shoes. The Russian ballet company is making its first tour of Australia and New Zealand. The troup is being brought to New Zealand by Michael . Edgley International. For 20 years the Australian entrepreneur has being trying to arrange a tour for the ballet company. The company will dance a short season in Auckland, beginning on September 18. During the season the Auckland Regional Orchestra will perform in the St James Theatre for the season. More than 75 members will be in the company, led by artistic director, Yuri Grigorovich. The stars in-

elude Natalia Bessmertnova, Nadia Pavlova, Vyatcheslav Gordeyev, Ludmila Semenyaka, Nina Semisorova, Andris Leipa and Erek Mukhamedev. The company will perform Act II of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” “Chopiana” and “Grande Divertissemente.” Yuri Grigorovich has led the ballet company for 20 years. He choreographs many of the company’s works, including “Spartacus,” “The Golden Age,” “Legend of Love” and “Swan Lake.” Nadia Pavlova won the gold medal and grand prize at the 1972 Moscow Ballet Competition, as an unknown from the Perm Ballet Company. The Perm company grew from the Kirov Ballet which was evacuated to that

city during World War 11. Pavlova, no relation to Anna Pavlova, immediately joined the Bolshoi company and became one of its leading principals. At 32 she is one of Russia’s most travelled dancers. With her husband Vyatcheslav Gordeyev she has appeared as a guest artist in Paris, Rome, and Germany. In 1976 she visited Australia for Michael Edgley International. Andris Leipa is the son of one of the Bolshoi Ballet’s greatest dancers, Maris Leipa. He graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet School only three years ago but is already a star of the company. The Bolshoi Ballet theatre has been on its present site for 200 years, although the

present building was rebuilt after a fire in the 1800 s. There are three theatres in the building which is in Karl Marx Square in Moscow. In a year about 75 performances are given by the ballet in the theatre. Opera, choirs and occasionally visiting groups use the theatre. Depending on the repertoire the Bolshoi Ballet on tour can number as many as 160 people — dancers, managers, stage technicians, even a shoe maker. An average day on tour starts at 10 a.m. for the dancers and after rehearsal and exercise classes and performance, will end about 11 p.m. The company will dance 50 performances on its Australasian tour.