A ballet exchange

Scene from the ballet

In September 2013 the Mariinsky Ballet and the Ballet Company of the Teatro di San Carlo are undertaking an exchange tour: the Mariinsky Ballet will be appearing at Italy’s oldest opera house for the first time, with the Ballet Company of the Teatro di San Carlo subsequently coming to St Petersburg with their stage version of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.

In Naples the Mariinsky Ballet will present five performances of Swan Lake with the orchestra of the Teatro di San Carlo under Mikhail Agrest. The tour opens with Oxana Skorik (Odette-Odile), Vladimir Shklyarov (Prince Siegfried) and Konstantin Zverev (von Rothbart). Also appearing in the lead roles will be Ulyana Lopatkina and Yevgeny Ivanchenko (18 September) and Olga Esina and Timur Askerov (20 and 22 September).

On 25 and 26 September the ballet of the Teatro di San Carlo will be performing at the Mariinsky-II. St Petersburg audiences will be presented with a stage version of Carl Orff’s cantata Carmina Burana with choreography by Chinese ballet-master Shen Wei, who also produced the visual concept, set, costumes and lighting design. The performances will feature artists of the ballet of the Teatro di San Carlo and the Shen Wei Dance Arts company as well as soloists of the Mariinsky Theatre and the Chorus and Orchestra. A choreographer, director, dancer, artist and designer, Shen Wei won international acclaim for staging the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Wei’s career as a choreographer began in 1991, when at the age of twenty-three he formed the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, the first of its kind in China. In 1995 the choreographer received a grant and moved to New York. In July 2000 he founded the Shen Wei Dance Arts company (SWDA). The choreographer’s works stand apart for their stunning visual imagery, the way they blend dance and contemporary art and their approach to the ritualistic side of theatre.