twentieth century

Description

HISTORY & PLOT. Do not be put off by the weird title: The Little Humpbacked Horse is based on a Russian folk tale for children, but the latest adaptation for the stage by Ratmansky is fresh, fun and very creative, with a wide audience appeal. The Little Humpbacked Horse is a delightfully joyous ballet, perfect for both children and those who are children at heart. Ratmansky's choreography for The Little Humpbacked Horse is innovative, whimsical and endlessly witty. Ratmansky has created many vibrant characters for this ballet, including horses and seahorses. His use of mime to tell the story is brilliant, and fortunately all the dancers mime very clearly. The score, composed by Rodion Shchechin, is wonderfully danceable. The crazy costumes and sets add a sort of comic book/cartoon flavor which suits this ballet very well. "The Little Humpbacked Horse" ("Koniok Gorbunok") began life as a fairy tale written in 1834 by Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov. For 20 years in the 19th century it was politically incorrect, since it treated its Tsar as a ninny and polished him off in a vat of boiling water. It also holds a vital place in Russian ballet history. An 1864 St. Petersburg staging, with music by Cesare Pugni and choreography by Arthur Saint-Léon, is famous as the first ballet to treat Russian mythology, remaining an enduring success. The ballet masters Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky made successive revisions in 1895 and the early 20th century, and some of theys individual dances have survived to the present days. The ballet underwent several revisions; ballet versions of this story were choreographed by Arthur Saint-Leon and Marius Petipa in the nineteenth century, and Alexander Gorsky in the early twentieth century. In 1960 the composer, Rodion Shchedrin, (the future husband of Bolshoi prima ballerina, Maya Plisetskaya) composed new music for The Little Humpbacked Horse. This adaptation of the story was choreographed by Alexander Radunsky. It was famously danced by Maya Plisetskaya and her partner, Vladimir Vasiliev. It is to Shchedrin's very danceable music that Alexei Ratmanksy cheographed his version of the fairytale for the Mariinsky Ballet in 2009. The Little Humpbacked Horse is the story of Ivan, who lives with his two brothers and elderly father in a small house on the edge of a field. Ivan's brothers make fun of his wide-eyed innocence and refer to him as Ivan the Fool. At the beginning of the ballet, Ivan discovers that a young mare has been trampling his father's crops. Ivan gives the mare her freedom and she rewards him with two stallions and a magical little humpbacked horse. Then a flock of firebirds arrive and Ivan plucks a lucky feather from the tail of one of the birds. While Ivan and the Little Humpbacked Horse are encountering the firebirds, Ivan's brothers steal his stallions and try to sell them to the Tsar. Ivan arrives in time to convince the Tsar that the stallions are his. The Tsar gives Ivan a position at the palace in return for the horses. This infuriates the Tsar's chief servant, the power hungry Gentleman of the Bedchamber. While Ivan is sleeping, the Gentleman of the Bedchamber steals his firebird feather. He gives it to the Tsar, who sees a vision of a beautiful Tsar Maiden living at the faraway home of the firebirds. The Tsar decides he must have the Tsar Maiden as his wife, and Ivan and the Little Humpbacked Horse are sent to bring her back to the Tsar. Ivan finds the Tsar Maiden, and they fall in love. Ivan, however, fulfills his duty and brings her to the Tsar's palace. There the Tsar Maiden tells the Tsar that she will only marry him if he gives her a ring that lies at the bottom of the sea. Ivan and the Little Humpbacked Horse travel to the undersea kingdom and retrieve the ring. The Tsar Maiden, still not wanting to marry the old and ugly Tsar, tells him that if he jumps into a cauldron of boiling water, he will become young and handsome. The Gentleman of the Bedchamber says that Ivan should...