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Bulletin of Vaganova Ballet Academy

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No 2 (2024)
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THEORY AND HISTORY OF CHOREOGRAPHIC ART

6-18 109
Abstract

The article is devoted to the history of the formation of professional choreographic art in Uzbekistan with the help of ballet dancers from Russia. The idea of creating an Uzbek choreographic school found support from A. Ya. Vaganova. The initial stage of the formation of the national choreographic school is highlighted in detail; the significant role of the figures of the St. Petersburg-Leningrad ballet in the transmission of the Russian performing tradition is noted; attention is focused on the pedagogical activity of the Mariinsky Theater dancer Evgenia Obukhova, invited to Uzbekistan on the recommendation of A Ya. Vaganova. Cultural-historical and factual research methods were used to analyze the subject of the study. The author reconstructs the biography of ballerina E. Obukhova, who was forgotten in the post-Soviet period of ballet history in Russia.

19-35 159
Abstract

The history of the ballet troupe of the state (former Imperial) The Mariinsky Theatre in the first months of Soviet power has still not been studied enough. Following a brief period of anti-Bolshevik “sabotage”, which generally ended in January 1918, the time came when the ballet company had to find its place in the new political realities. At that time, self-government bodies and mechanisms played an important role in the life of artists: an elected committee and general meetings of the troupe. A variety of topics were discussed at the meetings, from ideological and creative issues to avalanche-like growing household problems. In the first half of 1918, the troupe went a long way, from cautiously starting negotiations with the Bolsheviks to actually fully integrating into the Soviet system of state power. The proposed article is devoted to the study of this period, based mainly on the documents of the archival fund “Committee of the State Petrograd Ballet Company”, stored in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art.

36-52 183
Abstract

This article attempts to comprehend the transformations of the ballet libretto “The Legend of the Lake” within the Bulgarian art criticism discourse. The analysis is based on published works and critical articles from periodical publications, ranging from informational notes to performance reviews, which have enabled a retrospective view on the variability of the story’s embodiment. The research includes ballet librettos in the editions by A. Ivanov, N. Anisimova – I. Genova, F. Bakalov, and M. Arnaudova. Cultural-historical, comparative, and factual methods were employed in analyzing the subject matter. The study concludes that the ballet libretto “The Legend of the Lake” is of a conditional nature. The identified transformations are caused by the multivariant perception and experience of culture, and the aspiration to more accurately reflect the ethnocultural identity of Bulgarians through the artistic language of dance. The emergence of different ballet productions reflects a rethinking of the relationship to tradition as such, where the dialectical unity of traditions and innovations is inevitable.

CROSS-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN CHOREOGRAPHY

53-68 91
Abstract

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of interpretation of the myth of the sea maiden, universal for many peoples, in the ballet The Mermaid by Wu Zujiang and Du Mingxin, staged in 1959. An effective tool for identifying the specifics of the Chinese interpretation is a comparative analysis of the scenic realizations of the plot about the Sea Maiden in European, Russian and Chinese cultures. Attention is paid to the philosophical and mental foundations of national interpretations regulating the intonation drama of musical and stage works, ways of implementing the concept of two worlds in the stage conditions. The national differences in the productions are responsible for the searches and finds of various compositions in the techniques of embodying the image of the Sea Maiden in music; an appeal to national folklore and its use in a work of fiction on a mermaid plot.

The article focuses on the fundamentally different foundations of the Chinese interpretation of the mermaid myth from European and Russian ones, due to the concept of the unity of man and nature, which has been entrenched in the centuries-old cultural tradition. This interpretation of the myth under consideration helps to better understand the cultural codes of China in the context of multiple interethnic contacts.

69-80 96
Abstract

Tsam is a religious ritual action that originated in Tibet and became widespread in the Buddhist world. In terms of artistic forms, Tsam includes choreography, music, costumes and masks. To express the “dialogue between gods and people,” Tsam relies on body, sound, and feelings, and demonstrates a high degree of connection between dance art and religion. It can be described as art in religion, religion in art. The article shows how studying all aspects of dance language contributes to understanding its semantic content. Thanks to the special dance movements of the ritual dance of the Tsam mystery, believers learn Buddhist teachings.

81-95 578
Abstract

The discipline of authentic movement gained its structure and form thanks to Janet Adler, Ph.D., dancer and dance movement therapist. The central theme in Adler’s work was the evolution of the mover-witness relationship, as well as the development of the supportive inner witness as opposed to the inner critic while practicing both roles — through direct experience, followed by its integration and reflection. The article examines the tasks related to both roles, stages of becoming of inner witness, importance of subjective experience and the peculiarities of “perceptual language” used to describe it. The author analyses the difference between symbolic and direct experience, as well as the complexities faced by practitioners and ways to resolve them.

DANCE TECHNIQUE PEDAGOGY

96-114 141
Abstract

The article is dedicated to a little-studied period in the history of The Vaganova Ballet Academy. The life of students of the Petrograd State Theater School during the period of «war communism» is described on the basis of archival materials and supplemented with fragments of memories of studying at the Petrograd Theater School reflected in documentary sources.

ТHEORY AND HISTORY OF ART

115-136 101
Abstract

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of the elastic musical form of the American composer Henry Cowell. The starting point for creating this type of form was a collaboration with choreographer Martha Graham. Realizing the problems associated with the complex relationship between music and dance, Cowell reflected on the shortcomings of the phenomenon he defined as “interpretive dance”, implying that music was created before choreography, and the choreographer had to be guided solely by completed musical material. The article also provides ideas for creating a mobile form for choreography by John Cage, who collaborated with Merce Cunningham in conceptualizing choreographic aleatorics. In addition to the problem of the interaction of music and dance, the article also analyzes the processes of transformation of the musical space itself, its variability, which also manifested itself in the works of composers of the era of the “second avant-garde”: K. Stockhausen, P. Boulez, E. Brown, Y. Xenakis and J. Zorna. The result of the article is the statement that.

137-153 123
Abstract

In the article the object of research is the process of music creation by a composer using a neural network. The nature of this process is not predetermined and allows variations within wide limits. At the same time, the study of musical material allows us to draw a conclusion about the possible ways of interaction with neural networks, to which composers turn. The subject of the study is the ways of interaction between the composer and artificial intelligence, including copyrights for the music created. The aim of the research is to study different variants of the full cycle of production of a musical work created by a composer with the help of a neural network. The problem of the research is the necessity of classification, development of terminology of musical works generated by neural network on the composer’s assignment. The material for the article are the works of modern composers using neural networks in their work, as well as research in the field of musical neuroscience. Several variants of solving the problem oauthorship of the generated work are proposed. It is concluded that the use of neural networks by composers when composing musical works does not exclude, but supplements traditional approaches to music creation.

154-170 151
Abstract

The article attempts to reconstruct the theoretical foundations for the development of living pictures in France in the late 18th century. The research is based on a group of texts written by Western European theoreticians and practitioners of fine art and theater, which explore ideas about the interaction between theater and painting from Antique treatises to Enlightenment works. Special emphasis is placed on the works of French writers from the 17th and 18th centuries. The methodological approach draws upon the methods of art criticism and theater studies, allowing us to comprehensively address the issue at the interaction of these two art forms. The novelty of this research lies in the work with less studied materials and sources in in the Russian academic field regarding the theories and history of living pictures, work with periodicals, and an attempt to construct and typologise a multifaceted image of cause-and-effect relationships between theater and painting through the lens of the phenomenon itself.

171-181 90
Abstract

The article focuses on the survival of Chinese opera in the first decade of the People’s Republic of China, and how the policies and ideologies of the Chinese Communist Party in the field of the arts filled opera performances with revolutionary content and patriotic heroism. The example of the opera The Red Guard of Honghu shows how revolutionary themes permeated plot, libretto, musical forms, and influenced production and stage practice. The author concludes that in the 1950s, the creative principle behind the creation of Chinese opera genre was the attitude of subordinating art to politics.



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ISSN 1681-8962 (Print)