Le Corsaire – the gem of musical classics. A new version of the ballet by Adolphe Adam premiered at the Abai Kazakh State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater. The Italian artist William Orlandi developed scenography for the play, which tells the life story of corsairs. According to Orlandi’s vision, decorations come into motion during the action. This gives the performance a new sense of stage space and dynamics. Another highlight of the new version of Le Corsaire is the video projections, which were added to the play. The audience, undoubtedly, will enjoy the choreography, and especially its dynamics.
“There are some fragments that were not staged in the old version. For example, coda in a lively garden or dance mise-en-scene. In general, the drama of the play is structured differently. We added the scene of the imprisonment of one of the main characters, Lankendem. Main characters perform a small adagio, the date in the grotto, as we call it. We composed our own music to make the performance more dynamic, to have a lot of dance mise-en-scenes. I think the play has become more dynamic. I wanted to have the continuity of action, so that our audience wouldn’t get bored,” said Gulzhan Tutkibayeva, Choreographer and People’s Artist of Kazakhstan.
The staging of the new version of Le Corsaire, which has been popular globally for over 160 years, has become a great joy for the ballet troupe’s soloists. The new interpretation implies new music, new costumes created by the People’s Artist of Russia Vyacheslav Okunev. A principal dancer Rakhim Dairov is particularly inspired by his role.
“This role is very interesting and vivid, despite all the savagery of the pirates and their free life. I play Conrad. The role is romantic and dramatic. As a leader, he must unite the pirates. In this play, he falls in love with Medora. My character should be romantic in this part. The role is versatile and interesting,” shared Rakhim Dairov, Principal Dancer of Abai State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater.
The ballet Le Corsaire represents the golden fund of the world ballet repertoire and is based on the libretto of Byron’s poem the Corsair.
Photo: kt.kz
