Pauline Adamek
Offering two different presentations over two nights only, the internationally acclaimed Russian National Ballet Theatre will dance a special Valentine’s Day weekend season at Valley Performing Arts Center next month.
On Friday, February 13 they will be resplendent with glittering costumes, lavish sets and Leon Minkus’ sweeping score, in this colorful production of Don Quixote. This is Russian ballet at its most powerful and thrilling, transporting audiences to a make-believe Spain where dancing dryads, gypsies, and knights will delight audiences.
Then on Saturday, February 14, they will present a Valentine’s evening Gala Performance bringing together many great works of revered ballet master and choreographer Marius Petipa, such as The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Romeo & Juliet and The Dying Swan, exquisitely danced in the timeless tradition of classical Russian ballet.
Background:
The Russian National Ballet Theatre was founded in Moscow during the transitional period of Perestroika in the late 1980s, when many of the great dancers and choreographers of the Soviet Union’s ballet institutions were exercising their new-found creative freedom by starting new, vibrant companies dedicated not only to the timeless tradition of classical Russian Ballet but to invigorate this tradition as the Russians began to accept new developments in dance from around the world.The company, then titled the Soviet National Ballet, was founded by and incorporated graduates from the great Russian choreographic schools of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Perm. The principal dancers of the company came from the upper ranks of the great ballet companies and academies of Russia, and the companies of Riga, Kiev and even Warsaw. Today, the Russian National Ballet Theatre is its own institution, with over 50 dancers of singular instruction and vast experience, many of whom have been with the company since its inception.
In 1994, the legendary Bolshoi principal dancer Elena Radchenko was selected by Presidential decree to assume the first permanent artistic directorship of the company. Ms. Radchenko is the founder of the Russian National Ballet Theatre, and she has focused the Company on upholding the grand national tradition of major Russian ballet works and developing new talents throughout Russia, with a repertory of virtually all of the great full works of Petipa: Don Quixote, La Bayadere, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Raymonda, Paquita, Coppelia and La Sylphide, as well as productions of, among others, The Nutcracker, Sylvia, and La Fille Mal Gardee.
Russian National Ballet Theatre
California State University Northridge’s Valley Performing Arts Center
18111 Nordhoff St,
Northridge, CA 91330
Friday, February 13, 2015 — Don Quixote
Saturday, February 14, 2015 — Gala Performance,
featuring excerpts from: The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Romeo & Juliet and The Dying Swan
On both nights performances commence at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets range from $35 — $65 and can be purchased here for Don Quixote
or purchased here for the Gala Performance.
For more information about the center or performances, visit their official site or call the ticket office at (818) 677-3000.
About Valley Performing Arts Center:
The 1,700-seat LEED Gold certified Valley Performing Arts Center has established California State University, Northridge, as a hub for culture and live performing arts in the region. It was recently ranked number three on the Best College Ranking’s list of “The 25 Most Amazing College Campus Theaters” in the U.S. and was voted one of the top ten performing arts centers and theaters in Los Angeles by Time Out Los Angeles.
