Choreography

I stage full-length ballet classics, one-act story ballets (some of them rarely seen outside Russia), classical divertissements, and my original choreography.  When staging classics, I preserve the style and ideas of the old masters and make them work for today’s dancers and audiences.

I have performed in most of them myself, and learned them from the previous generation of dancers, who in turn learned them for generation before them, as the theatrical tradition goes…

Ballet classics make an excellent showcase for a dance company.  Built on a vast vocabulary of intricate steps, they are full of charm, beauty, and humor, offering great material for dancers’ learning and growth.

One Act

• Les Sylphides (or Chopiniana)/Fokine
• Paquita – Grand Pas (incl. the original Pas de Trois and children’s Mazurka)/Petipa
• Harlequinade / Petipa
• Le Halt de Cavalerie / Petipa
• Underwater Kingdom Grand Pas from The Little Humpbacked Horse / Gorski 1902
• La Bayadere – Act of Shades, Grand Pas from II act / Petipa
• Raymonda – Grand Pas from II and III acts / Petipa

Full Length Ballets

• Giselle / Perrot, Coralli, Petipa
• The Sleeping Beauty / Petipa
• Swan Lake (with the original Petipa’s I act waltz) / Petipa, Ivanov
• Raymonda / Petipa
• Le Corsaire / Petipa
• Don Quixote / Petipa, Gorski
• La Bayadere / Petipa, Chabukiani
• Nutcracker / Vainonen
• La Sylphide / Bournonville
• Esmeralda / Petipa

Divertissements

• Harlequinade Pas d’Action; Pas de Deux / Petipa
• Laurencia Grand Pas / Chabukiani
• La Vivandiere Pas de Six /St.Leon
• Grand Pas de Quatre /Dolin
• Esmeralda Pas d’ Action / Petipa
• Diana and Acteon Pas de Deux / Vaganova
• Flames of Paris Pas de Deux / Vainonen
• Satanella Pas de Deux (including corps de ballet) / Petipa
• Naina’s Garden scene from Ruslan and Ludmila / Fokine
• Frescoes Pas de Quatre from The Little Humpback Horse / St. Leon 1864
• Tzar Condaule Pas de Deux / Petipa
• Fairy Doll Pas de Trois / Legat
• Paquita Pas de Trois / Petipa
• Grand Pas Classique / Gzovsky
• Flower Festival in Genzano Pas de Deux (including corps de ballet) / Bournonville
• Spring Waters Duet / Messerer
• Moszkowsky’ Waltz Duet / Vainonen
• Le Corsaire – Le Jardin Animé (Enchanted Garden) from III act / Petipa

Aesop’s Fables, a ballet for children and parents meant to be light-hearted, visually appealing amusing, and educational.  Aesop’s fables have been enjoyed for generations, their humor and insights into human nature are as relevant today as they were 2,500 years ago.

A few fables were translated into comic choreography and amusing theatrical effects.  The characters are our contemporaries, and I designed costumes looking like what people wear these days.

In “The Ant and a Dragonfly” the Ant is a house builder in a yellow hard hat. In “The Lion and The Mouse” my Mouse was a ballet student in a tiny tutu and my Lion was a rock musician in torn jeans and “Tina Turner” wig, which I bought at a Halloween store. For the vocabulary, I used a little bit of everything, movements of different dance styles including ballet, tap, jazz, and rock-n-roll.

Divertimento was created as a showcase for the dancers to shine with their technique and artistry. My goal was to entertain and amuse as the name implies. A tribute to classical choreography, it is filled it with allusions to timeless classics, which should be easily recognizable.

The piece is performed to a chamber composition, “Divertimento Brilliante,” by the 19th century Russian composer, Mikhail Glinka. 

While my divertimento is not a “story ballet,” it is not without a story: the interaction of three pairs of dancers, representing three different ballet characters: noble, ingénue, and romantic.  In the end, as in all classical ballets, love conquers all – resulting in a finale that feels natural, if somewhat unexpected.