"In this performance I would like to recollect all the great Russians I knew and worked with. Among them are Baryshnikov, Nureyev, Maksimova, Plisetskaya, Liyepa, Tsiskaridze, Vasilyev and Grigorovich," the choreographer said.
"I was lucky to know Dyagilev's secretary Boris Kokhno. It was him who showed me the importance of theatrical vision in ballet. In a good ballet all components should be perfect: music, sets, choreography, and dancers. The art should always be fresh and new like in the epoch of Petipa, Dyagilev and Grigorovich," the choreographer said.
"When I worked in Tokyo the-then French ambassador invited me to his place. I began telling him my life story and he said I should put it on the stage. When I came back to Paris and spoke to Olivier Meyer, Theatre de Suresnes Jean Vilar director, he got very interested in this proposal," Roland Petit said.
Nikolai Tsiskaridze and Ilze Liyepa are involved in the performance.
"They are unique artists," the choreographer stressed.
Mr. Petit dreams of recording the ballet "The Queen of Spades" with Tsiskaridze. This performance enjoyed great success in the Bolshoi Theater. "The ballet with such brilliant dancers should go down in history," the choreographer said. (Once he choreographed "The Queen of Spades" for Mikhail Baryshnikov whom he calls a dancer of genius.)
According to Roland Petit, Russian ballet is a world legend. First of all, it isassociated with Dyagilev and his Russian Seasons, as well as choreographers and dancers, composers and artists involved in his work. "Such talented people, Prokofyev, Stravinsky, worked with him," he emphasized.
