Muscling up ballet Photo provided to China Daily
"The show is performed by professional ballet dancers, figure-skating athletes and highly skilled circus actors from some of the best circuses in Moscow. It was quite challenging to train the actors to perform in different art forms but we did it," Usmanov adds. "When we first had the idea of mixing classical ballet, sports and acrobatics together in one show, it was a very risky attempt. But Russian is famous for those three elements and we believe that audiences from different countries will be immersed in a magic atmosphere, showing love and death, glamour and sorrow."
In the new production, the male lead will be Alexander Butimovich, winner of the theatrical Russian prize Nizhegorodsky Perl in 2001, as well as the 9th International Contest of Ballet Dancers and Choreographers in Moscow.
The female lead dancer will be Natalia Kungurtseva, third-prize winner at the competition of young dancers in Japan's Naghoya in 1991, and winner at the competition Arabesk held in Perm, Russia in 1992.
"The two lead dancers are our company's principals. They might have had fears when they trained themselves to perform acrobatics and stunts on ice in the beginning, but when the music and light came on, they succeeded onstage," Usmanov says.
Besides Swan Lake, he has led the company to adapt other classical ballet works into repertoires on ice, including Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.
Over the past decade, Usmanov studied in Moscow Academic Choreographic School and Moscow Choreographic Institute. He has danced with international groups and earned a reputation for being emotional and lyrical on the stage.
He says that he has a deep respect and love for ballet history in Russia.
With a cast of award-winning dancers who are graduates of established ballet schools, such as the Moscow Academy of Ballet and the Vaganova Ballet Academy of St Petersburg, his company has toured the world with classical works, including Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Giselle.
"The root is always the vast Russian ballet tradition, which needs protection and respect. What we are trying to achieve is to bring it to a contemporary level and to open a new view for the audiences," Usmanov says.
If you go
7:30 pm, Aug 15 and 16. The Theater of Beijing Exhibition Hall, 135 Xizhimenwai Dajie (Street), Xicheng district, Beijing. 400-610-3721.
