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The other holiday classic

From Russia, a sumptuous alternative to The Nutcracker
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By Brooke Edge
For The Prague Post
December 5th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
The company is noted for colorful productions featuring elaborate costumes and sets.
Cinderella

Russian State Ballet of Siberia
When: Sunday, Dec. 9, at 8
Where: Congress Center
Tickets: 890–1,990 Kč through Ticketportal, Ticketstream and
Ticket-Art

At the arts academy where I trained years ago, the students performed a full-length ballet every December. It was never The Nutcracker. Our dance mistress would go crazy if she had to hear that music one more time, she said, after performing it for 20 holiday seasons in her professional career. Plus, she believed audiences were already on Nutcracker overload themselves, with at least 10 different schools and companies in our midsize city mounting their own Nutcracker productions.  
So every year she chose a different crowd-pleaser that would stand out among the Tchaikovsky white noise. One of the favorites for both the dancers and the audience was Cinderella.
The production company Pragokoncert is betting local audiences will have the same reaction to a one-night performance by the Russian State Ballet of Siberia at the Congress Center. The event marks a bit of a departure for the firm. “It will be our first time doing ballet in a long time,” says Pragokoncert’s Jiří Daron. But, he adds, the company performing Cinderella fits Pragokoncert’s practice of bringing high-quality shows to Czech audiences. “At the agency, we are always looking for shows that are very successful in Europe,” he says.
Daron saw the Russian State Ballet of Siberia perform Swan Lake in Bratislava last year, and was impressed both with the production value and the response it got. “It was performed two times and two times it sold out, with excellent reviews,” he recalls. “It is absolutely the highest quality of performance.”
The first images that spring to mind when one hears of a ballet company from Siberia are probably snow, ice and depressingly low temperatures. Perhaps in direct response to these dreary winter scenarios, the troupe has developed a reputation throughout Europe for creating over-the-top, brightly colored worlds for its productions of the classics, delighting audiences with dazzling sets and costumes.
These Technicolor qualities may not be entirely appropriate for standard classics like Swan Lake or Giselle. But they are perfect for fairy-tale ballets such as Cinderella, The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty.
Cinderella, or Popelka in Czech, is the latest addition to the Russian State Ballet of Siberia repertoire. It premiered in St. Petersburg at the end of September and will be touring Europe for the next few months. This version was choreographed by company director Sergei Bobrov, a former soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet, and is set to the Cinderella ballet score by Sergei Prokofiev.
The company is large, traveling with 50 dancers culled from classical ballet academies across Russia, and relatively young. This may lead to inexperienced deviations from corps regiment at times, but it also brings a youthful energy to performances.
The company’s sumptuous production elements — extravagant sets, candy-colored costumes and gravity-defying hair designs — match up especially well with a ballet that includes fairy godmothers, ugly stepsisters, magic makeovers and crystal slippers (or, in this case, rhinestone-speckled pointe shoes).
“This is the kind of performance that has huge stage equipment. … It’s very beautiful,” Daron says. “It’s a very colorful performance.”
While the ballet may not be particularly innovative, neither is The Nutcracker. Both are simply outstanding examples of why ballet captivates so many childhood devotees — the art form’s spellbinding ability to tell a story through music, movement and what looks like magic.
So if you’re looking for all the color and fun of a holiday season ballet without the Sugar Plum Fairy, Cinderella could be the ticket. But get yours early. Daron said he’s sure the performance will sell out, and that “everyone will love it.”

Brooke Edge can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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Reader's comments:

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[13:14 18/06/2008] : Prague is a very cultural place.
There are so many concerts and performance in theaters, operas and ballets.
My family and I visited Prague not a long time ago. We stayed at the Ibis City hotel. The hotel made all the standards. It was clean, quiet, good value for money and the staff was very courteous, friendly and helpful.
Moreover, the service from the company via we booked was perfect, the transfer was on time and the taxi driver made us feel very welcome.
We didn't feel there were any problems with the municipal transportation, we just used a taxi from the airport to the hotel and back.
Kirsty Connell
Birmingham
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