Oksana Skorik, Matthew Golding and Dinu Tamazlacaru in Walpurgis Night from Faust

Oksana Skorik, Matthew Golding, Dinu Tamazlacaru, Vladislav Borissov, Anton Maltsev, Andrey Fidorkov, Sergei Fidorkov and corps of the Yakobson Ballet Theatre in Walpurgis Night from Faust. Music by Charles Gounod, choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky. Shot at Gala Dance Open 2016 on 25.4.2016 in Alexandrinsky Theatre, St Petersburg, Russia.

Check out all pieces from Gala Dance Open 2016

 

 

Check out all pieces from Gala Dance Open 2016

Oksana Skorik (Rus. Оксана Скорик) is currently Prima Ballerina with Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg. She was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine on April 20, 1989. It was decided by her mother that she was going to be a ballet dancer ever since she was born, and when Oksana became 5 years old, her mother took her to Kharkiv choreographic school. At age of 12 Perm School of Dance talent seekers found her and invited to Perm. Oksana graduated from Perm School of Dance six years later in 2007 at the age of 18 and joined the Mariinsky Ballet as a coryphée the same year. She was promoted to first soloist in 2012, in Sept 2015 Skorik was promoted to principal ballerina of Mariinsky.

Matthew Golding is a Principal of The Royal Ballet. He was born in Saskatchewan, Canada and from the age of 14 trained at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, joining the Universal Ballet Academy in Washington D.C. aged 16. In 2002 he won the Youth America Grand Prix and a Prix de Lausanne scholarship to study at The Royal Ballet School. In 2003 he graduated into American Ballet Theatre. In 2009 he joined Dutch National Ballet as a second soloist and was promoted to principal in 2010. He joined the Royal Ballet as a Principal Dancer in February 2014.

Dinu Tamazlacaru is Principal at Staatsballett Berlin. He was accepted to Chisinau Opera Theatre ballet school (class of Alexander Iwanow). From 2000 to 2002 at Wiener Konservatoriums (class Maxim Abzalow). From 2002 to 2006 is soloist at Berlin State Opera.

Walpurgis Night (Walpurgisnacht Ballet) is a ballet made by New York City Ballet’s co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine for a 1975 production of Gounod’s 1859 Faust at the Théâtre National de l’Opéra, including the additional ballet music from 1869. The New York City Ballet premiere was its first presentation as an independent work and took place on Thursday, 15 May 1980 at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center. Balanchine had previously made dances for a production of Faust at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, danced by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, as well as in 1935 for the Metropolitan Opera and 1945 for the Opera Naçional, Mexico City. Walpurgisnacht is found at the beginning of the last act of Faust. Mephistopheles shows Faust the folk celebration before May Day, when the souls of the dead are released briefly to wander as they will. The ballet does not directly depict the Walpurgis Night but builds on a sense of joyful revelry.

The new version choreographed by Leonid Lavrovsky, with music by Gounod was performed by the Bolshoi Theatre’s ballet Company.

Photos by Jack Devant Ballet Photography with kind permission of the Dance Open, special thanks to Ekaterina Galanova and Adelia Mukhamedzhanova.