On 25 January a performance of the ballet The Fountain of Bakhchisarai is being dedicated to Galina Ulanova to mark one hundred and ten years since the birth of the great ballerina. The lead roles in this anniversary performance at the historic Mariinsky Theatre will be danced by Yekaterina Osmolkina (Maria), Andrei Yermakov (Vaslav), Yuri Smekalov (Ghirei), Maria Bulanova (Zarema) and Maxim Izmestiev (Nurali).
The name of Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova is a synonym for the poetry of dance. Bewitched by her staggering talent and undaunted by the grand style, contemporaries referred to Ulanova as an “everyday goddess” and “the elusive soul and genius of Russian ballet”. Galina Ulanova’s repertoire featured comparatively few roles: she would only undertake those that suited the nature of her own talent, those that she truly “felt”. The ballerina was in her element in lyrically dramatic roles. The natural quality of her plastique intonations and the truthfulness of the gestures of her heroines whose destinies she enacted on-stage were things that Ulanova sought out selflessly.
Her lead roles – those in which she was incomparable – were created by Ulanova in Leningrad, at the Kirov Theatre. It was here that her Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and her Maria in The Fountain of Bakhchisarai were born; staged for her, these roles when performed by Ulanova were masterpieces of acting talent in ballet, legends of choreographic expressiveness. Of the classics, Galina Sergeyevna had a particular fondness for Giselle and Odette – having learnt the roles in Leningrad, she maintained them in her repertoire when, in 1944, she moved to Moscow to continue her career.
Having become a ballerina at the Bolshoi Theatre, Ulanova often returned to her native city to dance, and each and every performance by her was a true event. The theatre was unable to accommodate all of the grateful and loving audience members who came to her performances to be amazed. On the stage, the dance of Ulanova – in life restrained and impassive – was filled with temperament, making the heart flutter even for those seated at the very back of the uppermost balcony. And stories of worldly passions as performed by her became heartfelt narratives of the greatness of the soul.
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