The Innopraktika and Russian Seasons School choreographic session at the Boris Eifman Dance Academy has finished. The young dancers and choreographers will present the results of their training at the II Global Values Summer Festival on July 23 and 24 at the Alexandrinsky Theater.
This year St. Petersburg hosted the second choreographic session in the School's history. 15 students from 12 countries, including Italy, Northern Macedonia, Romania, Mexico, China, India, Philippines, Argentina, and others, came to the cultural capital for three weeks to learn new skills and show their achievements at Global Values – the 2nd summer festival of the Innopraktika and Russian Seasons School.
"Another educational session in St. Petersburg has come to an end. It is paramount for us that our program brings together not only representatives of different cultures but also advocates of different creative and dance styles. The session is open to ballet dancers and dancers of other genres to improve their skills. This program's flexibility makes it possible to discover many innovations in the process. The culmination of the choreographic session - the summer festival - is an opportunity to learn what constitutes the joint creativity of the best representatives of dance art from around the world," saidAlexei Lebedev, director of the Russian Seasons project .
The Global Values Festival is a unique opportunity to discover the dance art of different national schools, the rich artistic traditions of different cultures, and the unique creative world of talented choreographers and dancers from around the world. Foreign and Russian dancers and choreographers perfected their art daily for three weeks as part of the session, which was a kind of preparation for the festival.
"The educational program included classes in classical dance, contemporary, and work on productions. The unique experience that the participants gained in the dance and choreographic laboratories of Innopraktika and Russian Seasons School will be embodied in new artistic solutions and content ideas, and the communication of foreign dancers with the masters of Boris Eifman Academy will be the key to the success of the future theater premiers, corresponding to the main mission of the project - transmission of global values through artistic images", - saidNatalia Popova, the first deputy of Innopraktika Company.
"Dance is the universal language of spiritual communication, overcoming all contradictions, all barriers and boundaries. Today we need to widely use the unifying potential of ballet as a means of cultural diplomacy,"said Boris Eifman, People's Artist of Russia, Artistic Director of the St. Petersburg State Academic Ballet Theater and President of the Academy of Dance.
The festival program consists of two parts. The first one is an evening of contemporary choreography , featuring premiere performances by students of the Boris Eifman Dance Academy and graduates of the Innopraktika and Russian Seasons School - brilliant dancers from around the world, winners of prestigious international awards. Great masters and winners of numerous prestigious awards will represent Russia: Konstantin Keikhel, Olga Vasilyeva, Ernest Nurgali, Alexander Chelidze, and Konstantin Matulevsky.
Foreign choreographers have addressed numerous social dilemmas that arise in contemporary realities in their productions. Daniela Delerci (Italy/UK) will present "Infinite Mirror," a work that will force the audience to think about how social media influence the formation of self-perception and identity. The "Duality" Dance, created by Allen Chunhui Xing (China/USA), is a work about being true to yourself and your beliefs. "Out-fit", by Adrian Marcelo Saenz (Mexico), immerses viewers in a world of ideas, values, and stereotypes through clothing as a metaphor. "In My Mind" is a choreography that explores the profound psychological impact that the mass use of social media has on humans. Ivana Balabanova (North Macedonia) will show images of repressed emotions and the burden people carry as they constantly have to keep up with society. Balázs Barányi, a choreographer of Hungarian origin, will present his work Love is a Devil's Agony.
St. Petersburg Eifman Ballet will present an exclusive gala program in the second part. It includes excerpts from selected productions by the internationally renowned choreographer and "theater wizard," revealing the many years of his personal and creative development: "Russian Hamlet," "On the Other Side of Sin," "Passion According to Moliere, or The Mask of Don Juan," "Eugene Onegin," "Rodin, Her Eternal Idol," "Anna Karenina," "The Seagull. A Ballet Story" (premiering in 2022) and "The Pygmalion Effect."
For more information , visit the School section of the Russian Seasons website https://www.russianseasons.org/ru/school/ .