FAMU Lyceum Series will present the Moscow Festival Ballet on Thursday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Lee Hall Auditorium. Sergei Radchenko, founder and artistic director of this world-renowned ballet company, will capture the splendor of classical dance through the poignant tale of love and hope that is Swan Lake.Swan Lake is a full-length ballet in four acts with music by Tchaikovsky and choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. This very famous ballet and its music first premiered in 1877. The story tells of Odette yearning for freedom as she awaits Prince Siegfried’s declaration of love and her release from a swan’s body. Tricked by the sinister von Rothbart, Siegfried mistakenly courts the look-alike Odile but eventually finds his swan in the end.
The Moscow Festival Ballet’s performance “…deserved bravos within minutes of the opening steps,” exclaimed the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The Chronicle (N.C.) praises the dancers for giving “an impressive performance of a classical ballet, energized with dramatic expression and sensational steps.”
The Moscow Festival Ballet infuses elements of the great Bolshoi and Kirov Ballet companies within the framework of Russian classic ballet. Founded in 1989 by legendary principal dancer Sergei Radchenko, a troupe of dancers from across Russia began the company with new productions of timeless classics such as Giselle, Don Quixote, Paquita, and Carmen.
Born in 1944, Sergei Radchenko graduated from the Moscow School of Dance in 1964 and then joined the Bolshoi Ballet, where he worked for 25 years. He danced the entire repertoire at the Bolshoi, but enjoyed a special reputation for Spanish dance, particularly the role of the bullfighter in the Bizet-Shchedrin Carmen Suite. He has achieved a remarkable feat in the establishment and development of this young but great Russian Ballet company. Radchenko presents a large number of master-classes, inviting leading teachers from the Bolshoi and Maryinsky theatres to ensure the continuation of the rich traditions of the Russian classical school.
Since its inception, the Moscow Festival Ballet has completed two tours of Europe with extraordinary receptions in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands. The company has also performed with great success in Turkey at the Istanbul Festival, in Greece at the Athens festival, and at London’s famed Coliseum.
Today, the Moscow Festival Ballet continues to expand its repertoire under the artistic direction of Radchenko. It specializes in Twentieth Century full-length ballets such as Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Legend of Love, Stone Flower, and The Golden Age.
The Moscow Festival Ballet’s visit to FAMU is part of a four-month coast-to-coast tour of the United States for the 2011-2012 season.