APPROXIMATE SONATA | BALLET IMPERIAL | LA BAYADERE | CHOPINIANA | DIANA AND ACTEON | DON QUIXOTE | ETUDES | JEWELS | IN THE MIDDLE, SOMEWHAT ELEVATED | LE SPECTRE DE LA ROSE | PAQUITA | PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2 | RAYMONDA | SCHEHEREZADE | SERENADE | STEPTEXT | LE CORSAIRE-LE JARDIN ANIMEE
THE DYING SWAN | THE VERTIGINOUS THRILL OF EXACTITUDE

PAQUITA grand PaS

Music by LUDWIG MINKUS
Choreography by MARIUS PETIPA (1881)
Revival consultants:
PYOTR GUSEV, LIDIA TIUNTINA, GEORGY KONISHCHEV
Set design by GENNADY SOTNIKOV
Costume design by IRINA PRESS

World premiere (Act III from the ballet Paquita):27 January 1881, Mariinsky Theatre
Premiere of the revival: 29 June 1978, Kirov Theatre, Leningrad

In the dim and distant past, Paquita was a grand ballet with gypsies, smugglers, a bottle of poison, a hiding place in the fireplace, a kidnapped nobleman, a cherished locket, Spanish cloaks, daggers, weddings, diamonds and dances. The new sensation of Paris came to the St. Petersburg stage in 1847.In 1881, Marius Petipa added an extra act to the ballet consisting of one dramatic Grand pas from beginning to the end. After the Imperial   Mariinsky Theatre become Soviet, and Paquita itself disappeared from repertoire, Grand pas appeared on theatre posters with capital letters and took on a life its own. There remain, however, even today, hints of former   Imperial times. The entrée of the dancers reflects the official hierarchy of the baler company: corps de ballet, coryphée, soloists then the prima ballerina. This hierarchy in turn mirrors the pomp of the Imperial Court. The brilliance of dancers entrechats rivaled that of the diamonds worn by ladies in the boxes. Balletomanes, just as they did over the hundred years ago, fervently observe the competitive sequence of the soloists, each, one after, dancing a specially selected variation.

 

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