After the 1984 tour, the prima ballerina of the National Theater Ruta Adamkute never returned from New York to Moscow: a call in the middle of Swan Lake warned her about a denunciation and a criminal case. For the next 35 years, the dancer (Alla Sigalova), who took the pseudonym Myers, cut off all contacts with her homeland – and during this period she reached the status of one of the main figures in the world ballet. In 2021 – all in the same New York – after the premiere of another production, the choreographer remains dissatisfied with the project, cancels it in her hearts and suddenly agrees to the proposal of the director of the National Theater Igor Korneev (Fyodor Bondarchuk) to return to her native stage and stage a performance there. Upon arrival, Myers discovers that much has changed: former lover Andrei Pronin (Igor Gordin) is now an artistic director, Alla’s ex-best friend (Irina Apeksimova) is his wife, their son Ilya (Peter Raikov) is prime minister. Something, however, remained the same: Myers is immediately surrounded by “important people” who consider it necessary to explain to her what can and cannot be done in the theater.close 100%
Shot from the series “Ballet” (2023)National Media Group (NMG)
Considering some production hell that Ballet went through from the first announcement two years ago to appearing on the screens, it would be interesting to find out how many of these very monologues about “possible and impossible” had a chance to listen to its author Evgeny Sangadzhiev, who debuted the same two years ago with the webcam drama “Happy End” with Lena Tronina. There was clearly a certain number of them, because they started filming the series back in September 2021 with Ingeborga Dapkunaite in the title role. As a result, Dapkunaite was not in the project, but Pugacheva remained in the credits. And John Malkovich, who was announced at the start, disappeared somewhere.close 100%
Shot from the series “Ballet” (2023)National Media Group (NMG)
Presumably, three years ago “Ballet” was conceived rather as an ideological heir to “Happy End”, another bodily drama about emancipation and self-discovery (in the first episodes, Myers herself does not know what she will stage at the National). But, in the words of the hero Bondarchuk (who, by his own admission, does not like ballet), a lot has changed since then: the approach, the people, and the country. Against this background, the series is seen primarily as a political statement, and the caption “2021” becomes an extremely important clarification.close 100%
Shot from the series “Ballet” (2023)National Media Group (NMG)
From the change of the main actress, “Ballet” lost something, but, I want to believe, it gained something. Seagalova, of course, does not have the gravity and magnetism of Dapkunaite, but she needs to get used to the role less: despite her experience in cinema (the Soviet-Turkish film-parable “My Love, My Sorrow”, the crime comedy “The Sky in Diamonds”), in First of all, she is a choreographer and choreographer with 40 years of experience. Together with their late husband, artistic director of the Pushkin Theater Roman Kozak, they basically did about the same thing that the heroine Sigalova does in Ballet – the refreshment and modernization of the national theater.
Needless to say, it is at least terribly beautiful: Igor Kiselyov’s camera catches impeccable movements (choreographer Vladimir Varnava, winner of the Golden Mask, you can also see him in the frame) in impeccable scenery (the National Theater means of course, Bolshoi, his Bolshoi outside and Mikhailovsky with MAMT are “playing” inside). However, it is Sangadzhiev who, even in “Happy End”, demonstrated quite obvious talent, is responsible for the success, – here he only confirms it (the debut series slightly passed by the end, but definitely did not fall below the bar taken at the start). Unlike the recently completed “Actresses”, filmed by the same studio of Bondarchuk and Alexei Kiselev “Video Rental” – and also trying to fix the life of artists – “Ballet” primarily tells a story, and does not pass off an aimless set of workshop anecdotes and horror stories. What kind of story is not yet clear, but I want to find out for sure. One thing is clear: with the name of Sangadzhiev in the credits, you should not hope for a happy ending.