Moscow Ballet Presents GREAT RUSSIAN NUTCRACKER in NYC, 12/5

By: Nov. 03, 2015
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Called "A Christmas tale from a faraway Land of Snow and Ice" by New York Times Dance Critic Brian Seibert in 2014, Moscow Ballet's principal dancers and production values keep raising the ante for a performance experience that engage audiences of all ages in small towns to top demographic markets. Award-winning principal dancers Ekaterina Bortiakova and Akzhol Mussakhanov, hailing from one of the world's best ballet academies, deliver flawless performances. "Bortiakova's technical prowess, especially in her footwork and turns, was...truly great," Cleveland Plain Dealer, 2014, and "Moscow Ballet's four-star performance...takes it up a notch and inspires awe," Minneapolis Twin Cities Daily Planet, 2014. New in 2015 are set designs by Art Directors' Guild multi-award winner Carl Sprague, who has worked in the art department of more than 30 films, with a combined total of 22 Oscar wins, including best picture for "12 Years a Slave" and best production design for "The Grand Budapest Hotel". In addition Russian theatrical design meets American technology skill in Act I's Party Scene in the new magical Grandfather Clock. John Creech, American Prop Master for over a generation, is credited for creations from extravagant Fashion Week run-ways to ballet and Broadway stages. The 10 foot tall magical clock features a sculpted 3 ft tall owl whose wings open to a 5ft span and eyes light up as the clock strikes. Russian Designer Valentin Fedorov, of Chibaksari Opera House and graduate of Bolshoi Theater Design School, created Moscow Ballet's fanciful 10" tall animal puppets, backdrops with 3-d effect and more. New costumes for Act I designed by Resident Designer Arthur Oliver, known for his work nationally and at Shakespeare & Company, are created by hand in St Petersburg by one of the world's oldest theatrical shops. Moscow Ballet's Christmas production of the Great Russian Nutcracker will be in New York City at Kings Theater Saturday December 5, 3:00pmmatinee. Tickets go to www.nutcracker.com/buy-tickets.

Ekaterina Bortiakova performs Great Russian Nutcracker heroine Masha, aka Clara in many US versions. Bortiakova graduated 4 years early from Jalil State Choreographic School after just six years of training. At 16 she won an award from Vaganova-Prix International Ballet Competition in St Petersburg and in 2001 she was awarded "Artistic Inspiration" at Kazan International Ballet Competition. A year later she received best "Arabesque" as well as "Best Partnering" award with partner Akshol Mussakhanov at the International Ballet Competition in Perm. "Bortiakova...as Masha...danced with powerful vibrancy and emotion." Bethesda D.C. Metro Theater and Arts, Wendi Winters, 12/18/14.

Akzhol Mussakhanov performs the Nutcracker Prince role to critical acclaim. He is laureate of the IX International Ballet Competition in Moscow 2001; Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition in Kiev 2004, and Festival of Independence of Kazakhstan, Kzakhstan 2006. He is a 2001 graduate of Jalil State Choreographic School of Kazan which was founded in 1943, and which annually presents the Rudolf Nureyev Festival in honor of the ballet legend who also hails from Tatarstan.

Carl Sprague, whose designs have received 29 Academy Award nominations, premieres 2 new set designs for Moscow Ballet in 2015; Act I's Party Scene ant Mayor Stahlbaum's home and Act II's Waltz of the Flowers. He has designed for Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence; Steven Spielberg's Amistad; and Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel to name a few. Sprague received a Guild nomination for The Royal Tenenbaums and for the Oscar-winning Twelve Years a Slave.

Arthur Oliver, designed the suite of costumes for Moscow Ballet's Romeo and Juliet in 2012 and in 2013 produced a wardrobe of 200 new pieces for the Great Russian Nutcracker. Oliver creates his designs in the US and oversees their production in a St Petersburg costume shop that embraces the oldest Russian costume traditions. The attention to detail and quality of these costumes is unsurpassed. Oliver has been designing costumes professionally since 1991 at institutions as Atlanta Opera, Connecticut Opera, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Charles Playhouse, Shakespeare & Company, Stratford Shakespearean Festival (Ontario), and the Boston Conservatory

Moscow Ballet - In addition to the Great Russian Nutcracker, Moscow Ballet repertory includes classic ballets Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella and more. The company features award-winning and rising star dancers from Olga Kifyak in 2012 to Lilia Sabitova in 1994. For over twenty years the company has performed 100 engagements annually in North America including in a majority of the top twenty demographic markets. Moscow Ballet receives critical acclaim and was invited to present at National Press Club Newsmaker events. In addition to public performances, the company's mission and national platform enables it to share the Russian Vaganova ballet training with over 5000 American dance students annually in Dance with Us. "New Horizons - A Children's Program for Life" is an intensive cultural immersion project that benefits thousands of school children and programs Musical Wunderkind and Summer Intensives also touch the lives of many children and young adults. For over 20 years Moscow Ballet's partnership with corporations and not-for-profit organizations such as the President's Challenge Program and Children's Hospitals has raised revenue for significant missions and causes.
www.moscowballet.com. Talmi Entertainment is the exclusive North American representation for Moscow Ballet.



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