The article is devoted to the life and artistic career of the Soviet ballet dancer and teacher of classical and duet dance, Adol Khamzin (07.02.1934 17.05.2020). It describes Khamzin’s creative activity, from his first steps in ballet art to his eventual status as a recognized master of duet dance at the Leningrad Maly Operny theatre. The article’s author concentrates on Khamzin’s teaching activities at the Pedagogical Department of Vaganova Ballet Academy.

This article is devoted to the ballet «Cave of the Heart» (1946) the same known as «Medea» — the first stage opus by the American composer Samuel Barber (1910–1981). This score was commissioned by the idol of American modern dance, choreographer M. Graham (1893–1991) and continued a collection of ballets based on subjects from ancient Greek mythology. The article tells the story of the composition’s creation; analyzes the plot, draws parallels with its literary source (Euripides tragedy). The heroes’ archetypes and their musical characteristics are analyzed. The original choreography (M. Graham) and setting (I. Noguchi) of the performance, linked inextricably with the dramatic action, are considered. Attention is paid to the composition’s stage fate and its reception in the American musical world.

The article is devoted to the fate of ballet criticism in the digital age. In a situation where the word, which was the basis of civilization, discredited itself, the transition from the agrarian to the industrial era led to a breakdown of the entire value system. The era of changes has cast doubt on many of the previously unshakable canons, if not revision. The author of the article distinguishes two kinds of literature on ballet: the first is ballet criticism, where dance dominates and everything is subordinated to it, in the second, the main writer becomes the one who writes about ballet, and dance is the starting point of reflection. The conclusion from the analysis is that the cardinal problems of ballet studies that the ballet critic faces are, first of all, understanding what dance is and where its boundaries are; how dance and music relate in the art of choreography; how to preserve the classic heritage.

The article is dedicated to the first dramatic play of Ida Rubinstein’s theatrical enterprise «The martyrdom of Saint Sebastian». The theatrical art nouveau idea development is considered by the author as a main enterprise esthetics with highlighting the main features.

The synthesis of arts that the actress aspired to on the dramatic stage was based on the figurative idea of the entire production, where the main choreographic text of M. Fokine for the role of I. Rubinstein acted as a connecting tool for all the components of the performance: text, singing, scenery and dance.

The article discusses the issues of practical work on a choreographic work of students and future choreographers and analyzes the stages of this work. The author pays special attention to the composition of the choreographic text, and offers the author’s teaching methodology for the discipline «Composition and staging of dance».

The article analyzes one of the most important components of the lesson of classical dance – allegro. The author concentrates on the specifics of study of jumps in the middle classes of professional ballet school, using her private teacher’s experience and basing on the methodic literature. In the article attention is paid to such an element as plié and significance of its proper execution for pushing and landing. The author also speaks of how exactly the jumps should be taught in the third-fourth grades, and what the tutor should emphasize during training. Also the article tells about the omnitude of allegro teaching, that allegro must be taught the same way in ladies and boys class.

In the article current problems of the organization of scientific conferences online are considered. Distance education showed a certain efficiency and small economic cost intensity of similar actions (videoconferences). It is not necessary to waste time and money for the road, settlement of participants, to rent rooms, etc. For the management of educational institutions and teachers of participants of conferences the problem of the admission of classes or replacement of the colleagues who left at a conference to other cities is removed. The author considers that the remote format of conferences will promote democratization and optimization of scientific communication, equalizing of domestic and foreign participants and also will give the chance of participation in them by age (physically handicapped) scientist. Also the format online will allow to do conferences more specialized and local on subject that will enhance sociability (connectivizm) of participants. At the same time a format online demands special concentration from speakers and moderators for maintenance of interest of listeners in content of reports. It is also necessary to increase technical equipment of the equipment and computer literacy of users, to improve skills of the presentation. It is possible that special courses within FPK for teachers in new working conditions will be required.

The article is dedicated to Marcel Duchamp-an artist, in the broad sense of the word, and a chess player. Duchamp’s creative strategy was born out of the combination, synthesis and contradictions of artistic and game principles. The author examines the aesthetic and artistic principles of Duchamp, which were formed under the influence of the art of chess. Analyzing various manifestations of the principles of chess in Duchamp, as well as describing the famous performance in which the composer John cage played a chess game with Duchamp, the author of the article comes to the conclusion that in Duchamp’s work, the chess game acquires the status of a creative strategy.

This article examines the issue of the content factor in the performing vocabulary of Vladimir Nikolaevich Minin. This component is presented as the main condition in constructing a conducting strategy in the direction of revealing the author’s intention. The dominant method of V. N. Minin is the ratio of «meaning» and «meaning» in the system of means of performing expressiveness. The conductor’s creative initiative in creating an artistic image of the work focuses on the intersection of the content plan and the expression plan, which determines the phenomenon of singing phonism of the Moscow Chamber Choir.

The article is dedicated to the history of publishing of the first art magazine in St. Petersburg called «Fine arts magazine». In the article based on interdisciplinary approach according the three groups of signs of art periodicals the meaning of magazine as a historical source of information in history of domestic art culture of the 1st quarter of 19th century is being highlighted. The structure and the contents of published materials are also being analyses. The article also spotlights such theoretical problems of art as mission of fine arts in the society, the mission of esthetic taste, creative genius, the match of beautiful and pleasant, a theatre as a form of art.

The article is devoted to highlighting the role of M. I. Glinka in the creation of the Russian symphony. Glinka’s intent and work on symphonies on two Russian themes (1834) and Taras Bulba (1848–1856) are dealt with extensively. Their direct correlation with the composer’s views on the German symphonic tradition (cycle’s model, thematism and techniques of development) is revealed. A comparative analysis of Glinka’s ideas with views on the symphony genre of his contemporaries (V. F. Odoevsky, V. V. Stasov, M. A. Balakirev, P. I. Tchaikovsky, M. P. Musorgsky, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, and others) is carried out. Author refutes deeply entrenched in the Russian musicology idea about Glinka’s failure in the symphonic genre, which is based solely on the fact that his intentions were not completed entirely. Close correlation between the understanding an idea of the symphony and its implementation by Glinka and his younger contemporaries is revealed for the first time. It is concluded that Glinka paved (in his one-part and cyclical works) not one, as it was always thought, but two main ways of development of Russian symphonic music.

The article discusses the evolution of the mask of the «braggart warrior» in the history of European drama, from the classical period of antiquity to the twentieth century. Dramaturgy of Aristophanes is declared here as the starting point in the process of forming mask images. It is in the play of the ancient Greek comedian that the mask of the «braggart warrior» is created, initiating the very promising development of this mask in the future long history of theater and drama. It is in antiquity when the formula «braggart warrior» appears, defining the essence of the mask worn by the hero of T. M. Plautus as well as the title of his comedy. The boastful warrior makes his further journey through centuries and countries of different national traditions, developing his original features and acquiring new ones. The study of the fate of the «braggart warrior» image, which incorporates the experience of Italian, English, French, and Russian theaters, shows that this mask has become a mythological type.

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the artistic and poetic worldview in its initial relationship with the Myth and mythological worldview. A myth is a special set of views on the world around us, which a person develops according to the laws of beauty and a holistic perception of the world, this is the basic psychological structure of a personality, the most important mechanism for a person’s realization in culture. Dance in its ancient and primordial sense is one of the projections of the myth, realizing the connection between the «sacred and the earthly». Considering the features of the historical types of worldviews and the modern specifics of the artistic image of the world, the author comes to the conclusion that the dance does not repeat, does not duplicate oral speech, but speaks with the help of its figurative-communicative dynamic structure. The language of dance not only expresses the deep emotional state of a person, it also has a sign-symbolic nature, and for a symbolic language, external beauty is inseparable from internal beauty. The prospects for further research are understanding the possibility of returning to the art of dance its original sacred sound when forming a new image of the world.

The article is devoted to one of the aspects of the versatile activities of the outstanding Russian pianist Nadezhda Iosifovna Golubovskaya – her address to the harpsichord as a means of transmitting early music. The roots of her interest in the harpsichord are associated with the Russian tours of Wanda Landowska and the Parisian ensemble of Société de concerts des instruments anciens. Archival documents confirm the persistent but unsuccessful struggle of Golubovskaya for the opportunity to study the harpsichord with the best European harpsichordists. The article considers Golubovskaya’s participation in the Hermitage Concerts of 1931-1935, post-war concerts with the use of the harpsichord, little-known harpsichord recordings released in 2003 in the series «Great Performers of Northern Palmyra». Some inaccuracies of previous publications are corrected.