INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH CONFERENCE «MARIUS PETIPA’S BALLET EMPIRE: FROM RISE TO DECLINE». PROGRAMME
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The international research conference “MARIUS PETIPA’S BALLET EMPIRE: FROM RISE TO DECLINE” is hosted by the A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, the State Institute of Art Studies and the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre as part of the Year of Ballet in Russia and state-sponsored events dedicated to the eminent choreographer’s bicentenial, with support from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
The research forum coincides with the date (May 24 old style, June 5 new style) of the contract concluded between Marius Petipa (1818-1910) and the Directorate of the Imperial Theatres, initially for just one year, and then permanently.
Before coming to Russia and mounting a brilliant career as a choreographer, Marius Petipa completed a long creative journey. When he was just five years old he appeared on stage as Cupid in the ballet Cupid and Psyche, choreographed by P. Gardel. In 1827 he performed his first significant role, as Fernand in the play Jocho, or the Monkey of Brazil, as depicted in a portrait preserved in the collection of the Bakhrushin Museum. Before coming to Russia, Petipa worked as a dancer in the theatres of Nantes (1839-1842), Paris (27 October 1842), Bordeaux (1843/1844 season), and with particular success in Spain in the Teatro del Sirco (1844-1847).
Invited to Russia by the Directorate of the Imperial Theatres as a dancer in 1847, Petipa immediately made his debut as a ballet master, staging Paquita in St. Petersburg after the Mazilier ballet that had been premiered in Paris. In 1862, he was officially appointed choreographer for the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres, and in 1865 he became chief choreographer. In 1894, Petipa accepted Russian citizenship.
Petipa was born in France and spoke French all his life, but it was in the two capitals of the Russian Empire – St. Petersburg and Moscow – where he found the ideal conditions to realize his talent. Petipa came to Russia at age 29 and ended up living and working here the rest of his life, more than half a century. Marius Petipa staged over 60 ballets with the Imperial Theaters: Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake (in collaboration with Lev Ivanov), Raymonda, La Bayadère, Don Quixote, and others. Many of his ballets are still kept in the contemporary repertoire as outstanding examples of the choreographic heritage of the 19th century.
In his memoirs Petipa called Russia his second homeland, one that he did not leave through to the end of his life. Summing up his life in the memoirs written in his declining years, he appends significant phrase: “Remembering my career in Russia I can say that it was the happiest time of my life… God bless my second homeland, which I love with all my heart.”
The great choreographer died in 1910 in Gurzuf and was buried at the Tikhvin Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg. With his death, the “Era of Petipa” did not, however, end. The “Ballet Empire” he created began to expand its borders.
The conference embraces a broad range of issues for discussion: Marius Petipa’s contribution to the history of ballet around the world and his place in modern ballet; the historical role of the choreographer and choreographic notation; aspects of the development of ballet and the science of ballet in recent times; ballet theatres’ adaptation of new styles, and so forth.
The conference program includes the following plenary sessions and panels.
Plenary sessions:
SOURCE STUDIES AND “FOLKLORE” (Petipa’s work as viewed through documents and reconstructions, as well as the oral interpretation of his heritage, analyzed in interviews about Petipa with choreographers, composers, designers, and critics).
GEOGRAPHY AND LANGUAGES: PETIPA’S LEGACY ON THE WORLD MAP (the transfer and revival of Petipa’s ballets in the West and Russia; the problem of adapting choreography for different choreographic schools and countries; the guardians of Petipa’s heritage in the USSR and in the West).
Panel 1:
A FOREIGN ARTIST IN THE SERVICE OF HIS MAJESTY (relations between choreographers and the imperial and theatrical bureaucracy; the status of the French diaspora within the Russian Empire; opportunities and restrictions for foreign nationals).
Panels 2 and 5:
ALLIES AND SUBJECTS: The ballerina in Petipa’s productions
ALLIES AND SUBJECTS: Petipa and his staff working on ballets (competitors and pupils; relationships with co-authors, employees, performers, librettists, designers, and actors).
Panel 3:
THE BORDERS OF THE EMPIRE: artistic connections and parallels (Petipa’s creativity within the context of the theatres of his time).
Panel 4:
ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY (the government and the arts; the administrative and financial functioning of 19th century ballet theatre in documents, contracts, and concrete details; production costs and fees; the social status of ballet and its audiences).
Panel 6:
PETIPA TODAY: BRAND OR KITSCH? (perspectives on reconstruction; the preservation and study of classical ballet in general and Petipa’s ballets in particular; the potential for traditional models in digital adaptations).
PROGRAMME OF THE RESEARCH CONFERENCE
«MARIUS PETIPA’S BALLET EMPIRE:
FROM RISE TO DECLINE»
JUNE 6
CONFERENCE OPENING
The State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, Press Centre Room
11.00-12.00
WELCOME SPEECH
Vladimir Georgiyevich URIN, director in chief of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia
Dmitry Viktorovich RODIONOV, director in chief of the A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum
Nataliya Vladimirovna SIPOVSKAYA, director in chief of the State Institute for Art Studies, Doctor of Arts
AFTERNOON PLENARY SESSION
SOURCE STUDIES AND «FOLKLORE»
Press Centre Room
12:00–14:30
Moderators: Pascale MELANI (Bordeaux, France) and Olga FEDORCHENKO (St. Petersburg, Russia)
“Have choreography, will travel”: Sketches and transcriptions of choreography of the XIX century in the collection of the Houghton Library, Harvard.
Irina Klyagina (Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., USA)
Pantomime in the ballets of Marius Petipa
Andrey Sergeyevich Galkin (SIAS, Moscow, Russia)
Acting in dance in the choreographic notations of Henri Justamant: Undine by J. Perrot and C. Pugni.
Alexey Sergeyevich Vasilenko (Germany, Berlin, University of Arts Berlin)
Petipa and copyright
Sergey Alexandrovich Konayev (SIAS, Moscow, Russia)
Petipa and problems of authorship in Giselle
Vadim Moiseevich Gayevsky (RSUH, Moscow, Russia)
BREAK
14:30–15:30
Evening plenary session
SOURCE STUDIES AND «FOLKLORE»
15:30–17:30
Moderators: Ronald John WILEY (Ann Arbor, USA) and Sergey KONAYEV (Moscow, Russia)
Ballet notation as an axiom or an excuse for creativity
Natalia Nikolayevna Voskresenskaya (Marius Petipa International Charity Fund for the Preservation, Restoration, and Development of Classical Ballet, Russia)
What about the music: the reenactment of steps from the ballets Faust, Trilby, and The Magic Mirror (based on the materials in the Harvard Theater Collection)
Doug Fullington (Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle, USA)
The reconstruction of Marius Petipa’s ballets based on V. Stepanova’s system of notation: A personal experience
Alexey Osipovich Ratmansky (ABT, New York, USA, Moscow, Russia)
- V. Shiryayev’s Films
Viktor Vladimirovich Bocharov (St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music, Russia)
JUNE, 7
CONTINUATION OF THE CONFERENCE
- A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum
DAYTIME SECTIONAL MEETINGS
11:00-13:30
Panel 1: A FOREIGN ARTIST IN THE SERVICE OF HIS MAJESTY
“Octahedron” Hall
Moderator: Pascale MELANI (Bordeaux, France)
The case of the apple and the cat: “Incident Reports” in the Imperial Theatres bureaucracy (with reference to the letters of M. I. Petipa and A. N. Verstovsky to A. M. Gedeonov)
Simon Morrison (Princeton University, USA)
The choreographer and three directors (The last five years of M. I. Petipa’s service, 1898-1903)
Marina Grigor’yevna Svetayeva (SIAS, Moscow, Russia)
I. Petipa’s diaries in the context of the French memoir literature
Michel Debrenn (Novosibirsk State University, Russia)
Vera Petipa’s diaries (1900s)
Yuliya Anatol’yevna Polubneva (Russian State Library of Arts, Moscow, Russia)
Petipa’s epoch in the memoirs of the Mariinsky Theatre ballerina Yevgeniya Biber (based on materials from the holdings of the A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum)
Tamara Tikhonovna Burlakova (A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow, Russia)
11:00-13:30
Panel 2: ALLIES AND SUBJECTS: The ballerina in Petipa’s productions
Exhibition hall “Karetnyi Saray” (Coach House)
Moderator: Sergey KONAYEV (Moscow, Russia)
The representation of the body in choreographic performance in Russia and France, 1840-1914-s
Jéromine Brillouet (University of Le Mans, France)
Appearance and skill of the classical ballerina in Petipa’s epoch
Marina Alexandrovna Barinova (A. Ya. Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, St. Petersburg, Russia)
Italian dancers in Marius Petipa’s ballets. The calm before the storm: Virginia Zucchi in Russia prior to her reception on the imperial stage
Olga Anatol’yevna Fyodorchenko (Russian Institute of Art History, St. Petersburg, Russia)
Pierina Legnani, M. I. Petipa’s ballet dancer
Sergey Viktorovich Laletin (St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music, Russia)
“In the summer of 1899, in Milan” (L. M. Petipa, L. L. Savitskaya, P. Legnani, C. Beretta, O.O. Preobrazhenskaya, and others)
Valentina Bonelli (independent researcher and dance historian, Milan, Italy)
Maria Mariusovna Petipa: Brushstrokes on the portrait
Boglacheva Irina Anatol’yevna Boglacheva (St. Petersburg State Theatre Library, Russia)
BREAK
13:30-14:30
EVENING PLENARY SESSION
GEOGRAPHY AND LANGUAGES: PETIPA’S LEGACY ON THE WORLD MAP
14:30-18:00
Exhibition Hall “Karetnyi saray” (Coach House):
Moderators: Simon MORRISON (Princeton, USA) and Olga FYODORCHENKO (St. Petersburg, Russia)
The fate of M. I. Petipa’s ballets on the Mariinsky stage in the post-revolutionary years
Nataliya Nikolayevna Zozulina (A .Ya. Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, St. Petersburg, Russia)
The first staging of the ballet Swan Lake in Estonia. From archival materials in the Estonian Theatre and Music Museum
Elizaveta Viktorovna Miroshnikova (SIAS, Moscow, Russia)
Petipa: from Diaghilev to the “Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo” (1932-1957), according to the recollections of participants
Mikhail Borisovich Meilakh (Paris, France)
Petipa in the United Kingdom: Press responses to N. G. Sergeyev’s stagings in the 1930s and 1940s.
Natalie Harding (United Kingdom)
From Russia to France: The role of Nureyev in the extension of the Petipa repertoire
Arian Dolphus (independent researcher, Paris, France)
Raymonda in the Mariinsky Theatre, 1993: Yuriy Grigorovich vs Konstantin Sergeyev
Boris Alexandrovich Illarionov (A. Ya. Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, St. Petersburg, Russia)
I. Petipa’s ballets on the Kazan stage
Larisa Nikolayevna Donina, Ramziya Idiatullovna Taktash, Gulynara Ruzalitovna Davletyanova (Sh. Mardzhani Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, Russia)
18.00–19.00
JUNE, 8
CONTINUATION OF THE CONFERENCE
State Institute for Art Studies
DAYTIME SECTIONAL MEETINGS
11:00-13:30
Panel 3: THE BORDERS OF THE EMPIRE: Artistic connections and parallels
Library
Moderators: Sergey KONAYEV (Moscow, Russia) and Olga FYODORCHENKO (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Lucien Petipa as choreographer: The example of the ballet Bacchanale
Mariusz Wodzicki (University of California at Berkeley, USA)
Paris Market on the stage of the Paris Opera (1861)
Pascale Melani (Bordeaux-Montagne University, France)
Paris Market in musical notation
Boris Vladimirovich Mukosey (Bolshoi Theatre Music Library Archive, Moscow, Russia)
Taglioni’s motifs in Petipa’s creativity
Inna Robertovna Sklyarevskaya (Russian Institute of Art History, St. Petersburg)
Roxanne, the Beauty of Montenegro: The Slavic Giselle
Tatyana Vladimirovna Nikitina (Bordeaux-Montagne University, France)
11:00-13:30
Panel 4: ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY
Mirror Hall
Moderators: Roland John Wiley (Ann Arbor, USA) and Yuliya YAKOVLEVA (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Dangerous adventures: Marius Petipa in Spain (1844-1847)
Laura Hormigón («Magazine ADE-Teatro», Madrid, Spain)
Prussia: theatre and authority in the 19th century
Olga Fedyanina (Russian Institute of Theatre Arts [GITIS], “Kommersant” Publishing House, Moscow, Russia)
The financing of the Imperial Theatres in the context of the creation of the budget of the Imperial Court (second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century).
Igor Viktorovich Zimin (First I. P. Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg, Russia)
I. Petipa’s creativity as perceived in Russian society
Lidiya Grigoriyevna Litvinova (M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia)
I. Petipa’s creativity as reflected in the criticism of S. N. Khudekov (based on periodicals of the 19th century)
Snezhana Valeryevna Tikhonenko (St. Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions, Russia)
ROUND TABLE “CHOREOGRAPHY AND COPYRIGHT”
11:00-13:30
Lecture Hall 8
MODERATOR: Alexander Yakovlevich Rubinshteyn, first vice director of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the Economic Sector of the Department of the General Theory of Art and Cultural Policy of the State Institute for Art Studies, Doctor of Economic Sciences.
PARTICIPATING IN THE ROUND TABLE:
Ekaterina Eduardovna Chukovskaya, Scientific Method Centre of the “UNESCO Department for Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Rights,” National Research University Higher School of Economics, Candidate of Legal Sciences; Ekaterina Andreyevna Khaunina, Senior Researcher of the social efficiency sector of the Centre of the Economic Theory of the Social Sector of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Senior Researcher of the Arts Economics Sector of the Department of the General Theory of Art and Cultural Policy of the State Institute for Art Studies, Senior Lecturer of the Producer Faculty of the Chair of Economics of Art and Cultural Policy of the Moscow Art Theatre School-Studio; Valentina Yuryevna Muzychuk, Lead Researcher of the Arts Economics Sector of the Department of the General Theory of Art and Cultural Policy of the State Institute for Art Studies; Alexander Anatolyevich Ushkarev, Candidate for the Study of Arts, Senior Researcher of the State Institute for Art Studies, Senior Researcher of the Department of Sociology of Screen Arts, S. A. Gerasimov All-Russian State University of Cinematography; Valeriya Vladimirovna Efremova, Senior Researcher of Civil Law, Civil and Arbitration Process, Institute of State and Law.
BREAK
13:30-14:30
EVENING SECTIONAL MEETINGS
14:30-17:30
Panel 5: ALLIES AND SUBJECTS: Petipa and his staff working on ballets
Mirror Hall
Moderators: Simon MORRISON (Princeton, USA) and Olga FYODORCHENKO (Moscow, Russia)
The scores that were written according to M. I. Petipa’s scripts and scenarios: Musical content and theatrical adaptation (The Vestal by M. M. Ivanov, Sleeping Beauty by P. I. Tchaikovsky, Bluebeard by P. P. Shenka, Raymonda by A. K. Glazunov, and The Magic Mirror by A. N. Koreshchenko)
Olesya Anatoliyevna Bobrik (SIAS, Moscow, Russia)
On the history of the ballet The Vestal (based on materials from the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, “Pushkin House”)
Sharafadina Klara Ivanovna (the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences/ “Pushkin House”)
Petipa’s multi-faced Pearl
Mar’ya Yuryevna Gendova (A. Ya. Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, St. Petersburg, Russia)
“The Sovereign said ‘no’.” Petipa’s last ballet
Nadine Meisner (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
Why was The Magic Mirror (Le Miroir Magique) a “fatal mirror”?
Roland John Wiley (Berkley School of Music, University of Michigan, USA)
14:30-17:30
Panel 6: PETIPA TODAY: BRAND OR KITSCH?
Library
Moderators: Pascale MELANI (France, Bordeaux) and Sergey KONAYEV (Russia, Moscow)
100 years of Petipa: Where have we arrived?
Timothy James Scholl (Oberlin College)
I. Petipa and his compositional work
Yuliya Yuryevna Yakovleva (St. Petersburg Conservatory, Russia)
I. Petipa’s choreography: The secret of the viability of the tradition (the example of La Bayadère)
Oleg Alekseyevich Petrov (Ekaterinburg, Russia)
- I. Petipa’s ballet The King’s Command (L’Ordre du Roi): Then and now
Bogdan Alexeyevich Korolek (Ekaterinburg State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, Russia)
Petipa in the digital epoch
Vita Khlopova (Moscow State Academy of Choreography, Russian Institute of Theatre Arts [GITIS], SIAS, Moscow, Russia)
17:30-18:00
WRAP-UP DISCUSSION AND CONFERENCE CONCLUSION
Mirror Hall
