Premiere of ballets The Firebird and Petrushka by Igor Stravinsky in the choreography of Maša Kolar and Edward ClugFrom the theatre — 26. November 2024.
Two ballets that symbolise a turning point in dance art, Stravinskyꞌs The Firebird and Petrushka premiered at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb on November 15, 2024. The contemporary Croatian choreographer Maša Kolar, choreographed the orchestral suite from ballet The Firebird, while Petrushka was created by the well-known dancer and choreographer Edward Clug.
The Firebird is a magic creature that brings both luck and misfortune to the one who captures it and the plot follows the journey of the main hero prince Ivan who enters the enchanted garden of the Immortal Koschei where he encounters the Firebird. Maša Kolar in an artistic interpretation of Igor Stravinskyꞌs L'Oiseau de feu Suite from 1919 staged the event that occurred during the night when the prince in the enchanted garden of golden apples tried to capture the Firebird. The choreographic staging of this concert suite, unlike the original, put the Firebird into the focus since the Firebird is most active in the scene of the enchanted garden. The inspiration for the visual appearance of costumes and sets was the legendary poster created in 1982 by Boris Bućan also for the ballet evening of Igor Stravinsky The Firebird and Petrushka which presents an homage but also a continuation of the canon of this magnificent music and stage work.
Petrushka is another exceptionally significant work in the context of ballet history. It had its world opening night in 1911 and this work enabled Mikhail Fokin to present his revolutionary ideas on the stage with which he opposed the conventions of classical ballet and entirely reformed ballet art of that time. This ballet talks about the traditional Russian puppet Petrushka made of straw and sawdust that comes to life and develops emotions. The ballet music is full of grotesque and fantastic elements that evoke the colourfulness and bustle of a fair, folk merriness and passion. The world opening night of this ballet was a year after the great success of The Firebird and marked a new direction in the development of ballet art.
This time Edward Clug, who worked on the music of Stravinsky several times, offered a new interpretation of Petrushka. For the first time he choreographed this ballet for the Bolshoi when he kept the original structure and narration of the work which he transformed into contemporary aesthetics and modern dance language. His wish was to contribute to the legacy that Stravinsky left for ballet art and it was in the music that he found an inexhaustible source of inspiration, but also a challenge that made him seek new solutions and find a different choreographic approach to this remarkable ballet work.
