Ballet History Quiz 3 (Imperial Russian Ballet)

St Petersburg Ballet School

First Russian ballet school founded by Jean-Baptiste Landé in 1738

Moscow Orphanage

Started training dancers to perform in the Petrovsky Theatre in 1754

Russian Theaters

State sponsored theaters

Russian Tsar

Russian monarch figure that appointed the directors for ballet companies in Russia

Definitive Culture of the Curtain Call

Tradition where dancers bowed to the Tsar, Director, and finally the general public, in that order (out of respect)

Name Change order for ballet company in St Petersburg Russia

Imperial Russian Ballet → Mariinsky → Soviet Ballet → Kirov → Mariinsky

Name Change order for ballet company in Moscow Russia

Petrovsky Theater → Bolshoi (big) Theater

Marius Petipa

Very influential dancer and choreographer in Russian Ballet era

Studied with August Vestris for two months in 1840 (great impact in Petipa)

Moved to Russian in 1847 (first hired as a dancer)

Daughter of Pharaoh

Premiered at the Mariinsky Theater in 1862

Choreographed by Marius Petipa

Petipa’s first major success

Ballet Basic Formula (Petipa)

Each act would have its pas d’action, a pas de deux for the principles and the whole ballet would end in a grand dance for the whole company

Little Humpbacked Horse

Choreographed by: Arthur Saint - Léon

Music by: Cesare Pugni

First ballet created based on Russian Themes

Petipa’s Choreographic Characteristics

Good triumphs over evil

Music specific to the telling of each scene

Use of Props for scenic enhancement

Narrative stretched out over three or four acts

Near the end of the ballet was a divertissment - Sparkling suite of dances that in no way advanced the plot, just to “divert“

Also near the end: Grand pas de deux: entrée, adagio, variations, coda

Mime

Classical and Character dancing

La Bayadere

Premiered in 1877 at the Mariinsky

Minkus’s music reflected different moods rather than individual characters dancing in the ballet. Leitmotifs

Carlotta Brianza

First Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty

Pupil of Carlos Blasis

The Sleeping Beauty

Premiered on January 3rd, 1890 at the Mariinsky Theater

Pavel Gerdt

Danced from 1860 - 1916

First Prince Desiré in Sleeping Beauty

One of the noblest Russian male dancers

Lev Ivanov

Choreographer who assisted Marius Petipa

Walking reference book of ballets

Often choreographed sections of choreography (such as Swan Lake acts 2 and 4, and Nutcracker sections) as an assistant to Petipa

Swan Lake

Premiered in 1894 at the Imperial Theater

The music was seen as too “Wagnerian“

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Composer who worked extensively with Petipa

Dividing the workload for Swan Lake

Petipa: Acts: 1 and 3

Ivanov Acts: 2 and 4

Pierina Legnanii

First swan queen in Swan

Italian dancer

Famous for being able to do 32 fouettés at the end of the black swan pas de deux

Mathilde Kechessinska

First Russian female to perform the part of Odette / Odile in Swan Lake

Raymonda

Choreographed by Petipa in 1898 at age 80

Music composed by Aleksandr Glazunov

Imperial Ballet School

Ballet school that helped train dancers for Petipa’s ballets

Teachers included Christian Johansen, Enrico Cecchetti, and Pavel Gerdt

Christian Johansen

Pupil of Bournonville, taught at the Imperial Ballet School

Enrico Cecchetti

Italian dancer whose classes emphasized the brilliance associated with the Italian School. Taught at the Imperial Ballet School