This is what’s showing at present at Donbass Opera Ballet, in an area occupied by Russian-backed forces since 2014.
The letter ‘Z’ denotes support for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Nowhere is art neutral in this illegal war.
A social media activist has circulated a video…
Maria Mot’s boutique London-based management has signed the…
Francesco Meli is due to sing Verdi’s Otello…
Zachary Woolfe, chief music critic of the New…
Session expired
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.
Unless I am very much mistaken, that is the Kingdom of the Shades scene from La Bayadère, and it has started that way since 1877. I have also never seen a ballet from that angle.
In this area, the show must go on. Precedent:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/feb/02/donetsk-opera-ukraine-show-must-go-on
Yes. And the Instagram site Is not available.
“Yes. And the Instagram site Is not available.”
If it’s not available, then it’s because you are in Russia. The Kremlin banned Instagram yesterday.
Instagram banned Russia. The Russian culture is beautiful and part of the European culture they like it or. Russia is part of Europe. Just open few books to get some knowledge.
“Instagram banned Russia.”
Nope, not true. So next time you try to correct someone, you really should know better. In fact, you should always assume that you don’t know better. Yes, I think that should be your strategy from here going forward. Toodles.
It’s online. On Telegram. https://t.me/donbassopera1932/11
Putin has cut Facebook and Instagram access.
The costumes look like The Kingdom of the Shades, but the floor pattern is atypical. While advancing on stage after descending the ramp, the dancers form four lines because the final formation is either 8×4 or 6×4, depending on corps size. Only when the ballet company lacks dancers is the final formation 6×3. In this case the final formation should be 6×4 because I counted 24 dancers, but to judge from the ‘Z’ they will array themselves in a 8×3 formation, which is atypical. It is also possible the photo is cropped and the fourth line is still descending the ramp, but I don’t believe this is the case, there is a bit of stage visible at the top of the photo, above the ‘Z’ , no dancers, and no ramp.
If this is true that this ballet starts this way then this is disgusting, Norman. Shame on you!
Sure, the timing and their pictures of choice (this “Z” and the one with the “V”) are purely coincidental.
Btw: “If this is true… shame on you”? Do I really have to make an offensive example to show you how dumb your comment is? Okay then…
If it’s true that Jeff pisses in other people’s pools, then this is disgusting, Jeff. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!
Ugh. People.
The two are not mutually exclusive, it could be both “that way since 1877” and present-day propaganda.
It wasn’t “that way” in 1877, V.Lind is mistaken.
There are no sharp angles in the turns of the line in Bayadere.
“I have also never seen a ballet from that angle.”
That could give you a hint as to why it was taken from this angle at this point in time.
@V.Lind Nothing extraordinary in “that” angle, this is how it looks from the 3rd or 4th circle. Ballet broadcasts always include a few shots from above when filming the corps, to present the floor patterns. Have you never watched a ballet broadcast?
Leaning on tropes doesn’t justify the topical symbolism of this [propaganda] – the show really didn’t need to go on….
Calling Mel Brooks…..
Just like educational and media institutions in the western hemisphere, then!!
Wish all this judgement about the Russians and seeing them through British and US eyes would stop. People don’t have the freedom that we have to stand up and be counted, or short of becoming a martyr themselves . Russians I know well from Bradford are coming to my house next week for tea, and are exhausted from the abuse they are getting from certain quarters, but even they can’t speak out.
“People don’t have the freedom that we have to stand up and be counted, or short of becoming a martyr themselves .”
Over 60% support Putin.
I wonder if you thought the same about Germans during WWII…
It’s mass formation psychosis…again.
whataboutism
Russiaphobia is as ville as the images they CHOOSE to participate in – a true test of one’s artistic [human] integrity is how they value their career over the savage death and destruction of their fellow human beings.
Certainly on the ROH stage the shades curved around, more like an elongated letter S, not the sharp corners as illustrated here, so I would guess it is probably cheap propaganda.
This looks like the ballet La Bayadere. The corpe de ballet strides onto the stage in part of this ballet and it looks like a ,Z’ when they perform this slow movement. It is NOT propaganda!
You are mistaken. This is indeed La Bayadere but the formation is not how it should be. There should be _four_ lines, not three, and the formation should look more like the body of an elongated “snake” with parallel lines and curved edges instead of a zigzag with sharp angles. It may or it may not be propaganda, but it isn’t how The Kingdom of Shades is danced all over the world. Have a look at this scene on Youtube, no ballet company dances it like this.
“It is NOT propaganda!”
The ballet itself is not propaganda.
But selecting exactly these two pictures (Z and V) of the performance is.
Read the room, Norma. A legitimate formation or not, the symbolism is topical and powerful and very much reflective of the heinous Injustices brought down on Ukraine.
Other [pro-Russian] sentiment on their Instagram makes it very clear – this IS propaganda…
It’s like seeing weird omens in clouds – you see something you like or you don’t like or you recognise .
But I thought the main point is that ballet and Opera basically of the upper classes, the nobility, and I’m sure that they wanted to portray various messages, of their own time – so yes, definitely political… I’m pretty sure that Beethoven’s Fidelio is political, or queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky, or his Mazzepa, and all other historical dramas must have a take on politics
All European Jewish in Europe exist because 27,000,000 Russians died defeating Nazism and ending the Holocaust. Nazis control the Ukrainian army. Very shameful. Shalom.
The entry of the USA is what won the war. The Soviets executed many people even after the war was over.
As does China, occupying the world through Lang Lang and Yuja Wang.