Russian ballet company upholds Romantic ideals in Giselle April 8 at Eisenhower
March 11, 2005
The younger sibling of the Kirov and Bolshoi ballets, St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre upholds the great Russian ballet tradition in Giselle. The company from the arts capital of Russia performs the classic two-act ballet at 8 p.m. Friday, April 8, in Eisenhower Auditorium on the Penn State University Park campus.
Section one and two tickets for the Center for the Performing Arts presentation are on sale now at $32 and $25 for an adult; $19 and $12 for a University Park student; and $22 and $15 for a person 18 and younger. For tickets and information, log on to www.cpa.psu.edu or phone 863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at Eisenhower Auditorium, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; Penn State Tickets Downtown in the lobby of State College's Penn State Downtown Theatre Center, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday; HUB-Robeson Center Information Desk, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays; and Bryce Jordan Center, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Popular since its 1841 premiere in Paris, Giselle is about a peasant girl who meets an untimely death–and an afterlife ruled by vengeful spirits–when she learns that the villager she loves is a disguised nobleman betrothed to another.
Giselle is performed to music composed by Adolphe Adam. His score was the first to be created for a full-length ballet. Before Giselle, ballets used a pastiche of pre-existing melodies, usually popular songs, rearranged and orchestrated to suit the needs each dance scene.
Adam's score is also noteworthy for its use of leitmotiv, a theme that recurs to refer to a character, emotion or situation. Adam was not the first to use the technique in a ballet, but he expanded the concept. His score doesn‚t just repeat themes or merely change their keys. It also changes tempos and rhythms to convey dramatic intent.
Giselle is a perfect example of the Romantic Movement that dominated the arts in Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century. The ballet is built on the leading Romantic ideals: stressing individual expression and experimentation; questioning the academic rules of the past; and transcending classical themes in favor of melodrama, supernatural happenings and local color.
Yuri Petukhov, an international award-winning choreographer and former leading dancer, has been St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre's artistic director since 2001. Founded in 1966, the company has a repertoire of more than 60 full-length and 20 one-act ballets.
Kish Bank sponsors the performance. Radio station Lite 94.5 is the media sponsor. Artistic Viewpoints, sponsored by the Center for the Performing Arts Community Advisory Council, provides insight from an artist or expert perspective and is offered free to interested ticket holders in the Eisenhower Auditorium Conference Room one hour before the performance. Free audio description, which is especially helpful to patrons with sight loss, is available at no charge to ticket holders.
Contact: Laura Sullivan (814) 863-6379