GPAC PRESENTS RUSSIAN NATIONAL BALLET THEATRE IN DON QUIXOTE
12/02/08
Considered one of the most joyous and festive of the classical ballets, the full-length Don Quixote makes its GPAC debut on Sunday, January 18 at 7 p.m. Brimming with spectacular virtuoso dancing and dramatic vision, the ballet is based on the epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. This vibrant and colorful production includes a lively score by Leon Minkus and the spirited choreography of Marius Petipa.
WHO: Don Quixote: Russian National Ballet Theatre
WHEN: Sunday, January 18, 7 p.m.
TICKETS: Single tickets are $30, $40, and $50, plus handling fee, and are available now by calling (901) 751-7500 or online at www.GPACweb.com.
Box Office Hours: Monday through Friday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. and noon on day of performance. All major credit cards accepted.
WHERE: Germantown Performing Arts Centre
1801 Exeter Road
Germantown, TN 38138
CONTACT: For more information or to arrange an interview with the artist(s), please contact Carrie Corbett at (901) 751-7501 or carrie@gpacweb.com.
IMAGES: See attached
ARTIST WEB: www.cami.com/?webid=418
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY:
The Russian National Ballet Theatre was founded in Moscow during the transitional period of Perestroika in the late 1980s, when many of the great dancers and choreographers of the Soviet Union's ballet institutions were exercising their new-found creative freedom by starting new vibrant companies, dedicated not only to the timeless tradition of classical Russian Ballet but to invigorate this tradition as the Russians began to accept new developments in the dance from around the world.
The company, then titled the Soviet National Ballet, was founded by and incorporated graduates from the great Russian choreographic schools of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Perm. The principal dancers of the company came from the upper ranks of the great ballet companies and academies of Russia, and the companies of Riga, Kiev and even Warsaw. Today, the Russian National Ballet Theatre is its own institution, with over 50 dancers of singular instruction and vast experience, many of whom have been with the company since its inception.
In 1994, the legendary Bolshoi principal dancer Elena Radchenko was selected by Presidential decree to assume the first permanent artistic directorship of the company. The Russian National Ballet Theatre has focused, under Ms. Radchenko, on upholding the grand national tradition of the major Russian ballet works and developing new talents throughout Russia, with a repertory of virtually all of the great full works of Petipa: Don Quixote, La Bayadere, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Raymonda, Paquita, Coppelia and La Sylphide, as well as productions of, among others, The Nutcracker, Sylvia, and La Fille Mal Gardee.
