Diana Vishneva: On the Edge (Classical Ballet)

I. Switch

Music: Danny Elfman
Choreography: Jean-Christophe Maillot
Set Designs: Alain Lagarde
Costumes: Jean-Christophe Maillot and Jean-Michel Lainé
Lighting Designer: Samuel Thery

Performed by Diana Vishneva, Gaëtan Morlotti and Bernice Coppieters (Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo)

II. Woman in a Room

Music: Giovanni Sollima and Rene Aubry
Choreography and Sets: Carolyn Carlson
Music Editor: Nicolas de Zorzi
Costumes: Chrystel Zingiro
Lighting Designer: Samuel Thery
Photo and Video Graphics: Maxime Ruiz
Assistant Choreographers: Sara Orselli, Henri Mayet

Performed by Diana Vishneva

Diana Vishneva: On the Edge continues a series of individual projects by Diana Vishneva, Prima Ballerina of the Mariinsky Theatre and American Ballet Theatre, People’s Artist of Russia. Her previous projects Beauty in Motion and Dialogues have won great praise from the public and critics alike, receiving no less than five Golden Mask awards in various nominations. In the project On the Edge, the renowned ballerina will continue to assimilate new choreographic language in the field of contemporary dance. The title of the project actually conceals its main aim – to reveal and embody new facets of the ballerina’s skill.

The production involves the acclaimed French choreographer and Director of the Ballets de Monte-Carlo Jean-Christophe Maillot and Carolyn Carlson, an American choreographer whose creative life has generally been connected with Europe. Both choreographers have created original works for Diana Vishneva. Jean-Christophe Maillot’s one-act ballet Switch is set to music by Danny Elfman, an acclaimed American composer and Oscar recipient. He has composed the music for all of Tim Burton’s films and animations as well as for the cartoon series The Simpsons, the serial Desperate Housewives and the films Mission: Impossible, Men in Black and Wanted among others. It is worth noting that some of the music material used in the ballet Switch has never been performed before. The set designs were created by French designer Alain Lagarde. The production also features dancers of the Ballets de Monte-Carlo Bernice Coppieters and Gaëtan Morlotti.

Rehearsals have taken place in Monte-Carlo, Paris, Moscow and the Segerstrom Center for the Arts (California), where the project saw its world premiere on 6 November 2013. The same year saw the European premiere at the famous Opéra de Monte-Carlo.

Producer Sergei Danilian.

Co-production of Segerstrom Center for the Arts and Ardani Artists
in collaboration with Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Centre Choreographique National Roubaix Nord Pas de Calais, Atelier de Paris Carolyn Carlson, Diana Vishneva Foundation
with additional support provided by Roman Abramovich and Vladimir Smirnov Foundation.

Marking her seventh appearance at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, Diana Vishneva’s On the Edge is as elegant and dynamic as Diana herself. A legend in the dance community, Vishneva has danced in the most coveted roles and represented some of the most esteemed companies (the American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia) as a principal dancer. As a prima ballerina, Vishneva has travelled the world imbuing historical ballet characters and garnering the most prestigious awards the dance community has to offer. And with titles like People’s Artist of Russia, best dancer of Europe, and the Ballerina of the Decade prize, it comes as no surprise that even before her world premiere of On the Edge, Vishneva is making headlines world-wide.
Subdivided into two acts, Switch and Woman in a Room, the ballet brings two very different components to the stage. The first act, Switch, performed by Diana Vishneva, Bernice Coppieters and Gaetan Morlotti is a highly emotive piece choreographed by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo’s director of choreography, Jean-Christophe Maillot. Provocative and raw, Switch is a testament to contemporary ballet. Stripping away the clichй view of ballerinas in tutus doing pirouettes, Vishneva’s performance evolves into solely the human form and bare emotion.

Telling a story of conflict where the heroine ponders the mutual exclusivity of art and life, Switch integrates the best components of everything contemporary—music, design and choreography. The music, which integrates various styles such as 20’s big band music, jazz and even the tango, is composed by one of the most versatile and accomplished film composers in the industry—Danny Elfman. Noted for his scores of many feature-films, including his collaborations with Tim Burton over the past 30 years, Elfman takes components of various genres and decades to create a score that is uniquely contemporary. The design is modern, sleek and minimalistic. And as for Vishneva’s costume, which is starkly futuristic In its metallic silver lamй, it is designed and created by Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld.

A contrasting solo-piece, the second act Woman in a Room is hauntingly beautiful. More contemporary in her movement than traditional ballet, Vishneva tells a story of transformation as a woman metamorphoses on a life journey of reflection. Inspired by the films of Andrey Tarkovsky, Woman in a Room combines beauty, poetry and a darker side to introspection. The music complements the dance, as woodwind progressions accompanied by harps create movement and harmony. It is evident ever more so in this act that Vishneva is passionate in her craft. Expecting perfection of herself, she twists the choreography to make it so. With the grace of a ballerina and the movements of a lyrical poet, Vishneva brings ballet into the 21st century and paves a way for the ballet of the future.