UFA, April 17 (Itar-Tass) - The 19th International ballet dancing art festival named after Rudolf Nureyev opens here on Wednesday. It is deicated to the 75th anniversary of the birth of the Flying Dutchman, as the ballet dancing world referred to the great ballet dancer for his unsurpassed performing skills.
The opening ceremony will begin with the laying of flowers at the bas-relief of Nureyev on the facade of the Bashkir state opera and ballet theatre. An exhibition of Bashkir artists' pictures dedicated to the life and creative activity of Rudolf Nureyev has been arranged in the theatre's Hermitage Hall. An experimental exhibition of photos, called Enchantment, by Ufa-based photographer Oleg Menkov and choreographer Rinat Abushakhmanov will open in the theatre's Greek Hall.
Marina Lugovaya, director of the literary and drama part of the Bashkir state opera and ballet theatre, has told Itar-Tass that the theatrical week will begin with a GAUDEAMUS-Gala concert of Ufa ballet stars. On the second day, a "Sinfonie in balletto" performance is to be presented by an Italian troupe of Liliana Cosi to the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Alexander Skriabin, Joannes Brahms, and Ferencz Liszt. The Italian ballet dancers will continued their performances on the next day as well. They will present a two-act ballet "Tchaikovsky". Both performances have been staged in the modern choreography of Marinel Stefanescu.
On April 21, audiences will watch a "Dancing Pallette of Russia" -- a two-part ballet dancing art soiree. In the first part, the Russian Chamber Ballet "Moscow" will give a performance "Edith Piaf: I do not Regret Anything" after the motifs of Simone Berto's book " Edith Piaf" to music by Alfred Shnitke, Meredith Monk, and to Piaf's songs. In the second part, a gala concert will be given with the participation of the winners of prestigious international competitions.
The festival's programme includes perfomances which constitute the golden stock of the world's choreography -- Baydere and Don Quixote by Ludwig Minkus, Adolph Adam's Giselle, the perfomance in which Rudolf Nureyev used to radiant.
The apogee of the theatrical week will be a gala concert to be given in conclusion of the festival with the participation of world stage stars. The ballet dancing stars of the National Ballet of China will perform in Ufa for the first time. Ballet dancing skills are to be displayed by William Pedro, a ballet dancer from Switzerland, Olga Konoshenko and Gennady Zhukovsky, leading ballet dancers of the Lithuanin national opera and ballet theatre, Boris Eifman, Nina Zmievets, and Oleg Gabyshev, leading ballet dancers of the St Petersburg ballet theatre, Margarita Rudina, leading ballet dancer of Yekaterinburg opera and ballet theatre. Baller dancers who are already familiar to Ufa audiences -- Dinu Tamazlacaru, leading ballet dancer of Berlin opera and ballet theatre, Natalya Matsak and Denis Nedak, leading ballet dancers of the National Opera of Ukraine, Midori Tarada and Koya Okawa, leading ballet dancers of the Odessa national academic opera and ballet theatre -- will participate in the concert together with "debutantes".
The ballet dancing art festival, dedicated to the memory of Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993) has been held in Ufa since 1993. It was precisely over here that the great ballet dancer began his performing career by studying in the dancing group of the Young Pioneer Palaces, and in the ballet studio at the theatre. In 1955 he for the first time appeared on stage as a ballet dancing performer enacting the part of one of skilful horsmen in the ballet "Crane Song".
Later on Nureyev moved to Leningrad and then emigrated to France, becoming the artistic director of the Paris Grand Opera. He fell seriously ill and died two months before his 55th birthday. He was buried at the Russian cemetery Saint-Genevieve des Bois near Paris.