Glimpses of earlier SPARTAK

[rg]

these four photos show dancers in Soviet ballet's first production of SPARTAK, Leonid Jacobson's 1956 version. none of the dancers shown here was in the first cast - see below for a photocard of the first cast's leading couple: Spartak & Phrygia - this foursome represents subsequent kirov ballet casts:

1. I. Chernichov as Spartak, 1964

2. K. Shatilov as Harmondi (the Crassus character), 1961

3. N. Petrova as Phrygia, 1957

4. B. Bregvadze as Spartak, 1957

[rg]

First cast leads in Jacobson's SPARTAK, published in 1961.

A. Makarov as Spartak and I. Zubkovskaya as Phrygia

[Mashinka]

I have a video off Russian TV of a gala performance in honour of Inna Zubkovskaya from about 1993/4 which includes the pas de deux pictured above. It was a very well structured piece.

[Paul Parish]

Dear Mashinka,

Could you tell us a little more about this pas de deux/ I have always wanted to see Jakobson's Spartak, the plastique from photos is poignant and intriguing (those I've seen I believe featured Plisetskaya) -- I've always wanted to know what the continuity was like? How stylized was it? How did mime and dance relate?

A number of Jakobson's wonderful choreographic miniatures were performed here in SanFrancisco about a decade ago, by a company from St Petersburg -- I was very impressed -- and have since always wondered how his large pieces work.

Thanks, RG, for posting these pictures.

[chrisk217]

In the Glory of Kirov DVD there is a 2 minute excerpt of Olga Moiseyeva dancing a solo for some men at a symposium and 3 minutes of another performance, a scene with Ascold Makarov and Zubkovskaya. Both must have been filmed in the late 60s.