Les Saisons russes in Washington

This current visit celebrates one decade of collaboration between the Mariinsky Ballet Company and the Kennedy Center in Washington. To mark the event the Mariinsky Theatre will be presenting a Saisons russes programme that will feature three famous ballets by Michel Fokine – Chopiniana, Schéhérazade and The Firebird, which Sergei Diaghilev took to Paris in the early 20th century.

The lead roles in Chopiniana will be performed by Daria Pavlenko, Yana Selina, Anastasia Kolegova, Maria Shirinkina, Oxana Skorik, Igor Kolb, Yevgeny Ivanchenko, Anton Korsakov and Maxim Zyuzin while those in The Firebird will be danced by Alexandra Iosifidi, Yekaterina Kondaurova, Anastasia Petushkova, Yekaterina Mikhailovtseva, Alexander Romanchikov, Ivan Sitnikov, Vladimir Ponomarev and Soslan Kulaev. The casts for Schéhérazade will feature Ulyana Lopatkina, Daria Pavlenko, Yekaterina Kondaurova, Danila Korsuntsev, Igor Kolb, Yevgeny Ivanchenko and Anton Korsakov.

The tour is being hosted by the Kennedy Center Opera House, the complex’s second largest venue which seats two thousand three hundred and sixty-two. The theatre was designed to accommodate ballets, operas and musicals. Amongst its treasures are the luxuriant Japanese stage curtain and the dazzling crystal chandelier made by the Austrian company Lobmeyr.

The description of the tour programme on the website of the Kennedy Center promises audiences a plethora of unforgettable impressions: “a ballet of ethereal beauty, Chopiniana displays the company’s corps de ballet to stunning effect,” “exotic and mysterious, The Firebird is stunning and enchanting” and “a gorgeous work, Schéhérazade portrays the sensual and passionate, poetic and charming imagery of the  Arabian Nights.