The Mariinsky Magic
By Neetinder Dhillon

The Mariinsky Ballet Company will perform in Bangkok in December as part of the celebrations to mark His Majesty's 80th Birthday Anniversary. In addition to the Royal performance on December 7th, the company will give two more performances for the public on December 6th & 8th.

THE PROGRAMME
Part I : CHOPINIANA
Chopiniana is a one-act ballet by Mikhail Fokine based on five Chopin pieces.

Part II (Divertissement)
Marius Petipa's Talisman, Roland Petit's La Rose Malade, Love Story based on music by HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Auber Grand Pas Classique, Mikhail Fokine's The Dying Swan and Tchaikovsky's Pas De Deux.

Part III :SCHEHERAZADE
Scheherazade is by Mikhail Fokine to the music of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

This year marks the 225th season of the legendary Mariinsky Ballet Company, a company that traces its history back to 1783. Nothing can prepare one for the magnificence in store for the lucky few who get to see the stars of Mariinsky in action. Shorn of all the hype, it is still one of the world's leading ballet companies with few rivals. Its roster of dancers reads like the veritable who's who of the ballet world: Anna Pavlova, Irina Kolpakova, Natalia Makarova, Alla Osipenko, Irina Gensler, Alla Sizova, Rudolph Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Valery Panov, Yury Solovyev and Anatoly Sapogov. Today, stars like Uliana Lopatkina, Irma Nioradze and Danila Korsuntsev blaze a trail for it and set the bar high. Even its corps is famous for its precision – arms at exactly the same angle, legs at exactly the same height – moving as if as one. It is only after witnessing a performance by the Mariinsky that one realises how truly glorious ballet can be. Amazingly this ballet company, called the Kirov during the Communist era, is all set to perform in Bangkok as part of the 80th Birthday Anniversary Celebrations of His Majesty the King; all at the behest of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit.

The programme that has been put together will come as a revelation to those not yet touched by the magic of Mariinsky. It opens with Mikhail Fokine's one-act ballet Chopiniana, based on five Chopin pieces. In it Fokine recreated images of romanticism of the 19 th century using classical dance contradicting his own experimentations.

Chopiniana, a choreographic suite , is a truly timeless piece that appears fresh each time it is danced by the Mariinsky for only they can truly distill the magic and ethos of Fokine so effortlessly. A gem in the Kirov treasure chest, it is p ure ballet-for-ballet's sake that when performed by the Mariinsky is breathtaking. The whole performance can be very dream-like and romantic.

Following this is a Divertissement which comprises: Marius Petipa's Talisman, Roland Petit's La Rose Malade, Love Story based on music by HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Auber Grand Pas Classique, Mikhail Fokine's The Dying Swan a nd Tchaikovsky's Pas De Deux .

The highlight of the Divertissement is Love Story based on music by HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej (from the Musical Fantasia Ballet Suite Manohra) with choreography by Alexey Miroshnichenko of the Mariinsky Ballet. Alexei uses the music as inspiration to create a ballet that is purely Russian in ethos.