Eifman Ballet Returns to Segerstrom Center for the Arts with the Fateful Story of Red Giselle

40th Anniversary North American Tour

Segerstrom Center for the Arts - Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg - Red Giselle - Photo by Evgeny Matveev

Segerstrom Center for the Arts welcomes Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg June 16 – 18, 2017 performing Red Giselle, Boris Eifman’s ballet fantasy inspired by the tragic and tumultuous life of one of Russia’s greatest ballerinas, Olga Spessivtseva. This North American tour is in celebration of Eifman Ballet's 40th anniversary. Eifman’s works appeal to the dance fan as well as those who crave powerful and provocative theater. Red Giselle is set during the beginning of the 20th century, an era of worldwide revolution, expatriation and personal tragedies, and Eifman’s ballerina is both a force and a victim in this captivating psychodrama. The New York Times declared, “It is a highly dramatic and theatrical (the two are not the same) work, a perfected form of narrative ballet for which others in the West have strived.” 

Boris Eifman

In Eifman’s own words about Red Giselle,

“Our ballet is dedicated to Olga Spessivtseva, one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. I was shocked to learn the details of her life; this unique actress bathed in glory, worshipped by admirers and critics, later spent 20 years in a mental clinic near New York, totally alone and deprived of her rights! And it was the deep and tragic sadness I felt when I learnt this that motivated me to produce Red Giselle. The ballet is not an illustration for Spessivtseva’s biography, but an attempt to draw a generalized picture of her fate and of those of many talented people who were forced to leave Russia and finally came to a tragic end.”

Tickets for Eifman Ballet start at $29 and are on sale now at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket savings for 10 or more, call the Group Services office at (714) 556-0236. Ticket holders are invited to attend Free Preview Talks one hour prior to each performance. The Friday, June 16, 2017 Preview Talk will be sign-language interpreted.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts - Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg - Red Giselle - Photo by Evgeny Matveev

DATES AND SHOWTIMES

Friday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Maria Abashova (Ballerina) Sergey Volobuev (Commissar)
Oleg Markov (Teacher)
Oleg Gabyshev (Partner)

Saturday, June 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Daria Reznik (Ballerina) Sergey Volobuev (Commissar)
Oleg Markov (Teacher)
Oleg Gabyshev (Partner)

SCFTA - Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg - Red Giselle - Photo by Evgeny Matveev

Saturday, June 17 at 2 p.m.
Lilia Lishchuck (Ballerina) Igor Subbotin (Commissar)
Dmitry Fisher (Teacher)
Dmitry Krylov (Partner)

Sunday, June 18 at 1 p.m.
Lilia Lishchuck (Ballerina) Igor Subbotin (Commissar)
Dmitry Fisher (Teacher)
Dmitry Krylov (Partner)

The Center's International Dance Series is made possible by the Audrey Steele Burnand Endowed Fund for International Dance and The Segerstrom Foundation Endowment for Great Performances. Segerstrom Center for the Arts applauds Kia Motors America, the Official Automotive Partner of the Center. United Airlines is the Official Airline of the Center. Classical KUSC and COAST Magazine are Media Partners of the International Dance Series.

Eifman Ballet's 40th Anniversary North American Tour is sponsored by ALROSA. Eifman Ballet tours have been managed by Ardani Artists for the past 20 years.

Boris Eifman engages his spectators in the infinite world of human passions, forming a spiritual connection with the audience and amazing viewers with the brilliance and dynamism of his choreography. All of this has ensured the decades-long success of Eifman Ballet’s performances at leading venues around the globe. His works have inspired ballet lovers in Asia, Europe, the Americas and Australia. Tchaikovsky, I, Don Quixote, Red Giselle, Russian Hamlet, Anna Karenina, The Seagull, Onegin, Rodin, Beyond Sin, Requiem, Up & Down and others represent the highest artistic level of achievement in contemporary Russian ballet.

Eifman is a philosopher choreographer. He is concerned with the problems of today and with the secrets of creativity. The choreographer speaks openly with his audience about the complicated and dramatic aspects of human life; he defines his genre as “psychological ballet”. The New York Times calls Boris Eifman the leader among living choreographers, “The ballet world in search of a major choreographer need search no more. He is Boris Eifman.”

Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg was established by Boris Eifman in 1977 (the original name of the company was the Leningrad New Ballet). The concept of the New Ballet was more than innovative for its time: from the first days of its work it was conceived and developed as an experimental laboratory, a ballet theatre for one choreographer.