| Anniversaries |
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Polish National Ballet
GREAT ANNIVERSARIES
Polish choreographers also worked with Chopin’s music, to mention Bronislava Nijinska: “Concerto in E Minor” (Polish Ballet, 1937), “Chopin Concerto” (Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, 1942), and “In Memoriam” (Le Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas, 1949); Conrad Drzewiecki: “Five Nocturnes” (Polish Dance Theatre in Poznań, 1976) and a new version called “Nocturnes” (in the same place, 1982); Ewa Wycichowska: “Concerto in F Minor” (Teatr Wielki in Łódź, 1982); Waldemar Wołk-Karaczewski: “Chopin’s Muses” (Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, 1991); Marek Zajączkowski: “Three Colours – Chopin in Nohant” (Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz, 2006), and Krzysztof Pastor: “Chopin Dances” (Israeli Ballet in Tel Aviv, 2009).
The Year of Chopin will yield a new great production of the Polish National Ballet. At the initiative of Waldemar Dąbrowski, director of the Teatr Wielki, a ballet will be designed in Warsaw invoking the great Polish Romantic’s life and history. The script is the work of writer Antoni Libera, while the music will include pieces not only by Fryderyk Chopin but also composers who were influenced by his work: Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Sergei Lyapunov, Franz Schubert, and Robert Schumann. The production will be choreographed by Patrice Bart, the French ballet master from the Paris Opera. This looks set to be a truly European choreographic world premiere. The inspiration comes from Warsaw, but the ballet will look at the legend of the great Polish composer from the point of view of Paris with which Chopin had such close ties. Without question, this will be the most important ballet event of the Year of Chopin.
(Picture: Fryderyk Chopin by Eugene Delacroix)225th anniversary of Polish ballet
Warsaw’s ballet tradition dates back to the early 17th century, but for over 150 years almost exclusively foreign dancers and ballet masters worked at the Polish royal court and the city’s first public theatres. It wasn’t until 225 years ago, on 1 July 1785 to be precise, that the first Polish ballet company came into being, called His Majesty’s National Dancers.
(Picture: King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski by Giovanni Lampi)
100th anniversary of the death of Marius Petipa
These productions include the original ballets of Marius Petipa, such as “La Fille du Pharaon”, “Don Quixote”, “La Bayadère”, “The Talisman”, “The Sleeping Beauty”, “Halte de Cavalerie”, “Raymonda”, and “Les Millions d'Arlequin”, but also his choreography (with Lev Ivanov) for “Swan Lake” as well as new versions of earlier Romantic repertoire, to mention “Le Corsaire”, “Paquita”, “Giselle”, “Catarina, ou La Fille du bandit”, “Esmeralda”, or “La Sylphide”. For Pyotr Tchaikovsky, he authored the libretto and choreographic plan for “The Nutcracker”, though due to the ballet master’s illness the world premiere was ultimately staged by his assistant Lev Ivanov, designer of the “white acts” for “Swan Lake”.
The Polish National Ballet’s standard repertoire includes the best works of Marius Petipa: “La Bayadère” in the unparalleled production by Natalia Makarova, “The Sleeping Beauty” staged here by Yuri Grigorovich, “Swan Lake” produced by Irek Mukhamedov, and “The Nutcracker” choreographed by Andrzej Glegolski based on Petipa’s staging concept.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the great choreographer’s death and as a tribute to his memory, all these works will return to our stage many times over the next year or so. They will be performed by our leading soloists and the Polish National Ballet’s corps de ballet. On 31 January 2010, “La Bayadère” will feature a guest performance by Alina Somova and Denis Matvienko, the stars Mariinsky Theatre Ballet. This part of our repertoire is an expression of our huge respect for the origins of classical ballet, but also an opportunity to present the artistic excellence of our ballet company.
Also in 2010, Warsaw will again play host to our friends from Boris Eifman’s St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre. On 8, 9, and 10 September the group will open the 2nd Days of Dance at the Teatr Wielki with their original version of “Don Quixote” - one of Marius Petipa’s most famous ballets.
(Picture: Marius Petipa, photo 1898)
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It would be hard to enumerate the choreographers and dancers who have succumbed to the charm of Chopin’s music. A great many ballets were inspired by the work of this Polish composer. They were created by the likes of Mikhail Fokin: “
King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, a great patron of theatre, opera and ballet, took under his wing a group of Polish ballet artists orphaned by their founder. They were the subjects of Antoni Tyzenhauz, the Lithuanian court treasurer who had died in March 1785, leaving his artists to the king in his will. They had previously trained at Count Tyzenhauz’s famous school of the arts, which this Polish nobleman had maintained in the years 1774-1785 at his private estate: first in Grodno, later in Postawy. 
On 14 July 2010, a hundred years will have passed since the death of Marius Petipa, widely recognized as the father of classical ballet. This brilliant French ballet master and choreographer, who worked for many years with the imperial ballet in St. Petersburg, left a legacy comprising a huge amount of repertoire. His most valuable ballet works are still staged by the world’s leading ballet companies, continually improved in the revisions and performances of successive generations of choreographers and dancers.