Concerts in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Gzhel Choreographic School were held in Moscow

The Moscow Choreographic School at the Gzhel Dance Theater celebrates its anniversary this year. For its 20th anniversary, the educational institution showed a series of concerts at various stages in Moscow. The jubilee event was crowned by a collective concert, which took place in the musical theater of Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. And the most unusual of the four was the one where graduates of different years performed.

Each of the concerts was compiled by the artistic director of the school, People’s Artist of the USSR Boris Akimov, in such a way as to take into account all areas of dance in which students are trained at this school. And Gzhel differs from other Moscow choreographic schools precisely in that, in addition to classical, there are departments of folk and modern dance. Therefore, the concert program entitled “Ballet… Soul… Flight and Inspiration” with the participation of former graduates, and now well-known artists of Russian ballet theaters, is extensive and diverse: variations and pas de deux from the ballets of Petipa, the Legat brothers, Fokin, Vainonen, Grigorovich, Eifman, and in addition, modern and folk compositions fit into a program of 26 numbers.

Already the second graduation of the people’s department – these are 14 girls and boys who came to the school 5 years ago and graduated this year in the class of Dmitry Tolmasov. The energy of the dance, captivating the auditorium like an avalanche, a surge of emotions, brilliant technique – all this was demonstrated by the Oberek number by the artistic director of the dance theater Valentina Slykhanova, and the final part of the first part of the Russian Dance (choreography by Mikhail Chernyshov, revised by Dmitry Tolmasov). Brilliant prospects for the people’s department for the next year: sophomore Nikita Grigoriev allows, at least, to hope for this. At the exam, this extraordinarily gifted young man performed incredible technical tricks and demonstrated a dance full of Russian prowess and enthusiasm.

The modern department, opened two years ago, was also interestingly presented. Choreographer and teacher Diana Shalaeva showed her first successes with her students – the number “Rose. Exupery” and “Vocalise” to the music of Rachmaninov. But the emphasis in the concert was on the classics, which remain the foundation of the foundations of ballet education. Pas de trois from the ballet “The Doll Fairy” by the Legat brothers was perfectly danced by fifth-grader Victoria Sokolova and two graduates of this year – Egor Verin and Grigory Gorbenko. Both students of Alexei Borzov. Grigory Gorbenko, who received an invitation to the Kremlin Ballet, is especially well equipped technically.

The second graduation of the school teacher Bogdana Lapina was also quite successful – her pupil Sofia Metelichenko was invited to an internship in the youth program of the Bolshoi Theater. At the evening, a capable student and her partner Daniil Grishin appeared in Nikolai Androsov’s interesting number “Ondine”, which became the highest lyrical point of the first part of the evening. Teachers Aleksey Borzov and Bogdana Lapina selected such material for their wards that could reveal their outstanding data from the best side.

Bogdana Lapina also experimented with the role of her sophomore student Daria Platonova, who appeared at the concert as an airy and flirtatious sylph. She was supported in this pas de deux by the Danish classic August Bournonville, one of the most promising soloists of the Bolshoi Theater Mark Chino. The same excellent artist danced in the second part of the pas de deux from the ballet The Nutcracker with another brilliant student of Bogdana Lapina, Ekaterina Klyavlina, who now dances at the Bolshoi Theater.

Actually, the performance in the second part of the former students, who have now become famous artists, became the highlight of the evening. Among the former graduates who danced at the concert, there were especially many artists of the Bolshoi Theater. Denis Rodkin is the most successful of them. After graduating from college in 2009 in the class of Andrey Evdokimov, six years later he received the highest title in the table of ranks of ballet theater artists: in 2015 he became the premiere of the Bolshoi Theater. Together with the prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Anastasia Stashkevich, the former student performed an adagio from the III act of the ballet “Spartacus”, and on the tiny stage of the Gzhel Theater, where the concert was held, he looked very unusual, striking with the gladiatorial power of his figure, which is still somewhat hidden by the giant stage Big. Miniature Anastasia Stashkevich in strong hands and confident acrobatic support of the dancer looked like a real feather, and Yuri Grigorovich’s choreography in their performance received the strength and scale it was supposed to.

Another high-profile Gzhel graduate, Artem Lepkov, represented the Eifman Theatre. He also achieved the highest premier rank in this world famous company, and his performance in tandem with Maria Abashova was the highlight of the evening. The stars of the Eifman Theater danced the farewell duet of Anna and Vronsky from the ballet Anna Karenina, and this was the very case when you unquestioningly believe a fictional story with artists playing on stage, immerse yourself in the action, afraid to move or miss something.

Looking at the dance of two star dancers, I recalled their own performances, only many years ago, at the graduation concerts of the Gzhel school. Denis Rodkin’s talent in the pas de deux from the ballet “La Sylphide”, which he performed at his reporting concert 15 years ago, was immediately guessed. Artyom Lepkov’s brilliant future in dance was less obvious in 2014, but his artistic, then grotesque, abilities manifested themselves in Leonid Yakobson’s famous performance “Village Don Juan”. The fact that he will be on stage a handsome and heroic note was also indicated by his completely outstanding texture and exterior, which he demonstrated at the reporting concert in 2014 in the pas de deux from Balanchine’s “Diamonds”, which I noted in my review in MK. The founder of the school, as well as the Gzhel Theater, Vladimir Mikhailovich Zakharov, was also able to see the first steps of these two future stars on the ballet stage.

The current artistic director of the Gzhel school, Boris Akimov, being the director of the concert, decided not only to show a film created on the basis of archival records stored at the school, he wrote poems dedicated to the significant event: “The road / Difficult road leads to the heights of the Gzhel dance, 20 years long…” began one of them.

– When directing this performance and beginning the first act, I, of course, paid tribute to Vladimir Mikhailovich Zakharov, the founder of the school, because it all started with him. And after the film, when I went on stage, I read poems dedicated to him. It’s as if Vladimir Mikhailovich is with us, sitting in an armchair… I wanted to dedicate this to him,” Boris Borisovich tells me after the end of the evening. – I wanted to make such a directorial through action, link it with poetry, so that we get a concert performance.

And this concert really turned out! It is important to note that the author’s heritage of Vladimir Zakharov is preserved in the school very carefully. His numbers are always performed in concert programs. Actually, the jubilee concert ended with his famous number “Eternal Russia”, which was brilliantly performed in honor of its founder and long-term artistic director by the Moscow State Academic Dance Theater “Gzhel”.