The Prodigal Son: David Zaleyev
The Siren: Zlata Yalinich
Confidants of the Prodigal Son: Oleg Ignatiev and Murat Ushanov
Premiere: 21 May 1929, Les Ballets Russes de Serge de Diaghilev, Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt, Paris
Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre: 14 December 2001
Running time: 40 minutes
Prodigal Son was George Balanchine’s sixth ballet, staged at the Mariinsky Theatre after the ban was lifted on émigré names. By that time the dancers had already assimilated Balanchine’s complex neoclassical dance language and performed dazzlingly in that great choreographer’s plot-less ballets. But here the company had to discover Balanchine anew: because if his other works were basically formed on a modernist rethinking of the classical Russian school then Prodigal Son, created by the choreographer during his time with Diaghilev, is pure avant-garde, art of an entirely different nature. Balanchine approached the evangelical parable without any obvious piety: he staged Prodigal Son in the spirit of the age, as a montage of attractions. But despite all the hooligan-like escapades and the grotesque, the philosophical idea of the plot may be read easily, and Balanchine filled the title character with such drama and artistic truth that it has continued to attract the world’s greatest dancers for almost ninety years. Inna Sklyarevskaya
The Ballet of George Balanchine Prodigal Son is presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust and has been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique® service standards established and provided by the Trust
The Mariinsky Theatre would like to express its gratitude to Mrs Bettina von Siemens for her support in bringing the "Ballets of George Balanchine" project to life
The highlighting of performances by age represents recommendations.
This highlighting is being used in accordance with Federal Law N436-FZ dated 29 December 2010 (edition dated 1 May 2019) "On the protection of children from information that may be harmful to their health"