Bolshoi Ballet: Esmeralda

From the archive

This film was last shown on 31 March 2013

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synopsis

The poet Gringoire, sentenced to be hanged, is saved in extremis by the beautiful Esmeralda, who agrees to marry him. Archdeacon Frollo, torn between his love of God and his obsession with the Gypsy girl, sends his henchman Quasimodo to capture her. Esmeralda is rescued by Phoebus, the captain of the guard, who gives her his scarf as a souvenir. Later, alone, Esmeralda, starts to dream about the handsome captain...

history

Inspired by Victor Hugo’s famous novel Notre Dame de Paris, Esmeralda was first presented in London in 1844. It was then re-choreographed by Marius Petipa in 1886 for the Bolshoi. Today’s choreographic version is by Yuri Burklava and Vasily Medvedev, and was first presented at the Bolshoi in December 2009.

Marius Petipa (1818–1910) is considered the most influential ballet master and choreographer in history. Noted for his long career as Premier Maître de Ballet of the St Petersburg Imperial Theatres (1871–1903), Petipa created more than 50 ballets, and revived a substantial number of works by other ballet masters. Most of his choreographies have become cornerstones of the classical repertoire.

Yuri Burlaka was admitted to the Moscow Ballet School in 1986, and became first soloist of the Russian Ballet Company in the same year. After many successful productions (such as Le Corsaire, which he created with Alexei Ratmansky in 2007), he became artistic director of the Bolshoi Theatre in 2009, a position he held until 2011.

A graduate of the Vaganova Ballet Academy of St Petersburg, Vasily Medvedev has worked with many theatres around the world, both as a dancer and as a choreographer. He has been a member of Unesco’s International Dance Committee since 2007, and is the artistic director of the international dance festival Dance Open.