Schedule for "The Kings of the Dance". Ballet "Lesson" with participation of the International and Russian Ballets Stars. 2022

Dancer: Nikolay Tsiskaridze
Dancer: Johan Kobborg (London Royal Ballet)
Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon
Choreography: Nils Christie
Choreography: Roland Petit
Choreography: Tim Rushton
Choreography: Stanton Welch
Choreography: Flemming Flindt
Dancer: Ethan Stiefel
Dancer: Angel Corella

Orchestra: Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra

The Kings of Dance project gives audiences the opportunity of seeing the best modern dancers, including Bolshoi Theatre soloist Nikolai Tsiskaridze, in works by choreographers Christopher Wheeldon, Nils Christie, Roland Petit, Tim Rushton and Stanton Welch. Included in the program, is Flemming Flindt’s The Lesson.

With participation of stars of world ballet:
Johan Kobborg (Denmark)
Angel Corella (Spain)
Ethan Stiefel (USA)
Nikolai Tsiskaridze (Russia)

"The Lesson" Based on the play La Lecon by Eugene Ionesco

Part of the Kings of Dance project

Choreographer, scenographer, costume and lighting designer - Flemming Flindt

The ballet is of special interest in that it requires huge powers of dramatic expression from the soloist dancing the role of The Teacher.

Flemming Flindt - Danish dancer and choreographer. He made his debut as choreographer in 1963 with The Lesson. Following its transmission on Eurovision, the ballet received the Italia prize for best European television musical work of the year. In April 1964, The Lesson had its Paris debut at the Opera Comique and, in October of the same year, its Copenhagen debut at Royal Danish Ballet.
As artistic director of RDB (1966-78), Flindt built up an "unconventional" repertoire: The Young Man Must Marry (mus. Per Nergad), The Miraculous Mandarin (mus. Bartok), Three Musketeers (mus. Delerue), The Triumph of Death (mus. Koppel); and he re-staged Bournonville’s La Sylphide and Toreadoren. He did new versions of the classics - Swan Lake and Nutcracker. He was the first to introduce Glen Tetley, Jose Limon, Paul Taylor to Europe. In 1978, he formed his own company. Among his other ballets are The Overcoat (mus. Shostakovich) and Death in Venice for Rudolf Nureyev, Legs of Fire (mus. E. Norby).
He was a jury member of the two first International Ballet Competitions in Moscow.

This exceptional performance with the greatest male dancers on the planet is justly named “Kings of the Dance”.

The idea developed in the Ardani Artists Management New York office. Ethan Stiefel approached the producer Sergei Danilian and offered to become an entrepreneur of the male dance evening. Together they thought it out: four stellar dancers would participate in the show, where the protagonist would sequentially be performed by each of them. Initially, the programme included “The Young Man and Death” (Choreography: Roland Petit), where the part of Death was to be performed by the Mariinski Theatre principal dancer Diana Vishneva. But later “The Young Man and Death” was substituted by another contemporary ballet with the male protagonist – “The Lesson” (Choreography: Flemming Flindt; Music: George Delerue) based on the play by Eugиne Ionesco. “The Lesson” is a psychodrama of deviant obsession: the dancing-teacher turns to a tyrant, and finally, kills the girl who came for a ballet lesson. Kobborg who had danced the part of the teacher, was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for the role. Other dancers will learn the role under the choreographer’s direction and enrich their repertoires; and the audience can compare and “savour” the delectable entrees.

This evening is a fight of men for “equal rights” with women in the realm of ballet. In the 19th century classical ballet the performance centered round the beautiful ballerina while the roles for male dancers were limited by variations of spectacular jumps and turns. Solo adage, lyricism and dramatic work were seldom seen. Since the early 20th century male dancing has been developing and by now it has reached an incredible height. However, men still believe that the audience should have an opportunity to discover and taste a fuller scope of male dance. In Russia, Valery Mikhailovsky was the first to put on ballet shoes and try to prove that ballerinas need not be solely female. Male dancers feel that they possess the grandeur of style ballet demands, that they are able to capture the spectators’ attention, and hold it throughout the performance.

Ardani Artists Management was created in 1990 by Gaiane and Sergei Danilian, and rapidly became a major privately owned artistic management agency. Ardani has helped to establish new standards of excellence for performing arts management in Russia and has made the United States its permanent home since 1994. Today, Ardani presents “kings” of the dance, and the upcoming theatrical production is bound to interest an audience regardless of sophistication.