The Moscow Academy of Choreography showed the premiere of Eifman’s ballet “Musaget”

The leader of the muses took the Bolshoi without a fight

The Moscow State Academy of Choreography turned 250 this year! The main celebrations are yet to come, but already now, in the process of preparation, the Moscow State Academy of Arts has presented the Musaget ballet, a classic of Russian choreography by Boris Eifman.

This is the second time, after John Neumeier’s ballet The Four Seasons to music by Glazunov in 2016, when the great choreographer donates his significant work to schoolchildren, and the importance of this project for the development of an educational institution can hardly be overestimated.

Musaget in Greek means “leader of the muses” – this is one of the names of the god Apollo. The ballet was staged by Eifman in New York for the New York City Ballet for the 100th anniversary of the company’s founder, George Balanchine, in 2004. In the performance, as is customary with Eifman, there is no specific narrative story, there are no names of the characters, just a choreographer and his muses. The ballet was set to music from the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Georgian chants (here the choreographer pays tribute to the Georgian roots of the American choreographer, whose real name and surname is George Balanchivadze).

This is a generalized reflection on the fate of the choreographer with many references to his work. And the first of them is the image of a jester with a hoop that appears before the eyes of a dying artist. Before his death, the choreographer recalls his beginning, the serene days of childhood and youth, and one of the first roles in his life: a jester in the “Dance of the Buffons” in the ballet “The Nutcracker” (still choreographed by Lev Ivanov and Alexander Shiryaev), in which he appeared, being a pupil Imperial School.

There are many references to the great ballet symphonies of Balanchine in Eifman’s ballet, but again, not specific, but very distant and changed. Although such ballets as “Jewels” (“Diamonds”) or “Symphony in C” are guessed. But these are not quotes, but rather images of Mr. B’s ballets, inspired by his choreography. Eifman and Balanchine are very different artists, and their creative method also differs. It is rather Eifman’s vision of Balanchine’s ballets and, in general, the work of the founder of American ballet in general. And the name of the entire ballet refers to one of Balanchine’s earliest and most famous works, still of the Diaghilev period, Apollo Musagete, staged in 1928.

Apollo and the Three Muses in Eifman’s ballet Musagete is just a paraphrase of this ballet. Three Muses appear to Apollo, who are simply three beloved choreographers. Here Eifman almost literally repeats the famous poses from Mr. B’s ballet – “wheelbarrow”, “chariot”, “rays of the sun”. There are no specific names behind the muses of the choreographer either. The first one is the cat. Before us is a girl, but rather a vamp with feline habits, who caresses the choreographer, but only seeks to subdue the man. And it’s also a reference to Balanchine’s ballet of the same name. Behind this image, in reality, is either Shura Danilova, on whom Diaghilev staged this ballet, but rather Vera Zorina – a German American ballerina who performed on Broadway and starred in Hollywood, one of Balanchine’s wives.

The second muse, which Eifman’s artists call the Bud, is also very remotely similar to Balanchine’s last wife, Tanakil Leclerc. During the tour, this ballerina lost her legs, and then she was completely paralyzed. Here Eifman, without going into details, creates a generalized image, first of a lovely girl, whom, like Aurora, the young choreographer wakes up with a kiss, making her a ballerina, and then the lovers are separated by the death of a dancer.

The third muse is the last love of the hero, behind which the ups and downs of the complex relationship between Balanchine and Susan Farrell are vaguely guessed. In the last period of his life, Balanchine was madly in love with this ballerina, whom he called “the alabaster princess.” But she did not reciprocate. Again, Eifman does not have any biographical details: it is only shown how the dancer, kneeling down on the hand of the muse, seeks to lift her in support, but she slides down the back of her partner. Georgian chants accompany the death of the hero, and then his immortality. Immortality in his work, in his ballets.

In addition to the New York City Ballet, the Musaget ballet was staged for some time at Eifman’s own theater, and then the choreographer gave the performance to the Academy at his own theater. Now he was shown at the Moscow Academy and, I must say, turned out to be very useful to her. Mass scenes allow all students to be involved in the performance, and the dancers chosen for the role of choreographer and music correspond to the parts they perform. All three muses – Taisiya Konovalova, Maria Polunina, Deimante Taranda – were at their best. The soloist of the Bolshoi Theater Klim Efimov, who acted as a choreographer, managed to create an unexpectedly bright acting work here. Makar Mikhalkin was also effective as a dancer. So the performance showed an impressive portrait of the Moscow school of the 2023 model, which makes it possible to present not only the technical, but also the acting abilities of students.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29072 dated July 18, 2023

Newspaper headline:
The leader of the muses took the Bolshoi without a fight