Mariinsky theater

The Théâtre Mariinsky (in the past called the Kirov ) is a company of opera, Ballet and Concert S located at Saint-Pétersbourg (Russia), as well as a theater.

Structure

The Mariinsky Theater was built in 1860 and was thus named in homage to Maria Alexandrovna, wife of the Tsar Alexandre II.

The room was built on the basis of existing theater who sheltered a Cirque. The architects transformed the track into floor, modified in-depth the steps and cabins existing, and removed part of those to build a scene. So the room has a very original form, particularly broad, which preserves however the general pace of a Salle at Italian the in “U”. In fact, no scene in the world had such a width at the time when Mariinsky was built.

Small cause, great effects: very quickly, the choreographers realized that this width made null and void the formats of occupation of scene that they used hitherto. The traditional Chorégraphie S quickly seemed ridiculous in the middle of this immense scene! It was thus necessary to invent a new way of thinking the occupation of the scene, which caused a major change in choreographies.

Hours of glory

If Mariinsky always consisted of lyric doublet a “more dance”, it is especially by its corps de ballet that Mariinsky built its reputation, in particular under the impulse of Marius Petipa which created there several tens of choreographies, of which much is still danced today.

The end of the 19th century marks the golden age of the company, which “invents” the ballet “with Russian”, characterized by the spectacular one (the immense scene lends itself to it) and the length of the ballets, often of a duration higher than two hours.

Mariinsky is then the world reference of the dance. With the liking of the times and political regime changes, the troop of ballet often changes name, being called Mariinsky , Gatob or Kirov .

However, whatever is the name, the corps de ballet remains a world reference impossible to circumvent. Thus, the orientation very modernistic catch by Michel Fokine, director of the theater at the beginning of the 20th century, will give rise to the famous Russian Ballets, which is anything else only the name taken by the troop of Mariinsky at the time of its first rounds.

These rounds, organized by Serge Diaghilev, present to the whole world the great talents of Mariinsky of the time, and in particular Vaslav Nijinsky. The triumph of the Russian Ballet gives ideas of independence to the high-speed motorboats of the troop, which leave the official corps de ballet, such Nijinsky which joined full-time the project of Diaghilev before founding its own private company with London.

A few years later, the Russian Révolution contributes to the fold of Mariinsky, which will never find its prestige, in spite of the quality ever contradicted of its school of dance.

Thus, throughout the 20th century, Mariinsky loses of sound will have and has great difficulty to retain the wonders which it forms, such Rudolf Noureev, Natalia Makarova or Mikhaïl Barychnikov. Some choose “to betray” to join the Théâtre Bolchoï of Moscow (the historical rival, more appreciated communist authorities than Kirov of the Leningrad of then). Others emigrate and leave the the USSR to live in Occident.

Rebirth

Since the end of the Communist regime, Mariinsky seeks to be modernized at high speed, to preserve its row and to prevent the escape of its high-speed motorboats, attracted by the wages and the work conditions that the large Western troops propose to them.

The change is on the way, and the current director of the Theater, Valery Gergiev, universally known Leader, fights to restore Mariinsky among the very best scenes of the world.

In fact, the rebirth of Mariinsky is done primarily today by the lyric one, thanks to the personality of Valery Gergiev. It is in particular at the origin of the festival of the Sleepless nights of Saint-Pétersbourg, which become year by year an event noticed more and more in the artistic world, and which meets a very great success near the international public.

On the architectural level, the projects of Mariinsky are immense and with the height of the artistic ambitions: construction of two additional new rooms, including one dedicated to the concerts. These projects were entrusted to two cabinets of architects French (Fabre & Speller, Dominique Perrault), following international contests.

In the long term, the historical room will be also renovated completely, so that Mariinsky lays out with final of three rooms with the most modern standards.

See too

External bonds

Official site of the Theater Mariinsky
Project of the architect Dominique Perrault

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