CREDITS Music by Ivan
Armsheimer Libretto and choreography by Marius Petipa Revived by Pyotr
Gusev Set and Costume Design: Vyacheslav Okunev
Premiere at the
Mikhailovsky Theatre: 30 April 1975
Le Halte de cavalerie (The Cavalry Halt) is one of the short ballets by
Marius Petipa, considered a brilliant choreographerЎЇs Ў°jestЎ±. The dazzling
compositional mastery of the mature Petipa, who created the ballet between Swan
Lake and Raymonda, is a delight. Another attraction of Le Halte de §гavalerie is
that character dance is given equal status to classical pieces.
Petipa tells us a simple story about cavalrymen who visit a village of
Ў°ballet-dancing peasantsЎ± to pursue their amorous adventures. A rapid succession
of comic scenes is performed with clarity of a clock-work mechanism. The ballet
is not about deep feelings. The halt is brief; time does not wait. Le Halte
de cavalerie was set to the score by Ivan Armsheimer, created when he was a
soloist of the Mikhailovsky Orchestra. ArmsheimerЎЇs music didnЎЇt mean to be
modern or sophisticated but vivid and teasing, matching the naivety of the
plot.
The ballet premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1896. In 1919, PetipaЎЇs
production was revived there by Alexander Shiryaev, but in Soviet times hussar
colonels were frowned upon, and Le Halte de cavalerie was forgotten. It was not
until 1968 when Pyotr Gusev, a famous connoisseur of classical choreography,
delighted audiences by reconstructing PetipaЎЇs little
masterpiece.
SYNOPSIS
Peasant girls Maria
and Teresa are in love with Peter. He is flattered by the attention of Teresa,
the prettiest girl in the village, but is also secretly drawn to Maria.
A bugle sounds, heralding the arrival in the village of a hussar regiment.
Their colonel demands billets for all in the homes of the villagers. Peter tries
to object and is arrested. With the help of her friends, Maria distracts his
hussar guards and saves her sweetheart.
Teresa attracts the officersЎЇ attention best of all. The cornet, the captain
and the colonel himself all try flirting with her. Teresa rejects their
attentions, jokingly telling the other villagers of the amorous approaches of
all three officers. Meanwhile Peter and Maria have made their wedding plans.
Teresa tries to stop them, but the colonel puts an end to the quarrel by
blessing the marriage. Now Teresa has no reason to object to the colonelЎЇs
attentions.
But duty calls, and soon the trumpeter signals for them to assemble. The
hussars leave their temporary halt ЎЄ to the delight of the village lads, who
have been completely forgotten by the fickle village beauties.
Class
Concert
CREDITS Music by Alexander Glazunov, Anatoly Lyadov,
Anton Rubinstein, Dmitri Shostakovich Music composition by Alexander
Tseitlin Choreography by Asaf Messerer Staging: Mikhail Messerer Stage
Designer: Vyacheslav Okunev Lighting Designer: Alexander
Kibitkin Assistant to the Musical Director: Marius Stravinsky Assistant to
the Stage designer: Pyotr Okunev Producer: Dmitry Astafyev, Dr.
habil
White
Darkness
CREDITS
Music by Karl
Jenkins Choreography: Nacho Duato Stage Designer: Jaffar
Chalabi Costume Designer: Lourdes FrЁЄas Lighting Designer: Joop
Caboort Costume Technology: Alla Marusina ChoreographerЎЇs Assistant:
Thomas Klein Music Director, Conductor: Marius Stravinsky Assistant to
Musical Director: Igor Tomashevsky