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Prokofiev's classic ballet "Cinderella" returns to life at the Bolshoi theatre this week in a radical remake of the Soviet version, with inspiration drawn from the tragic true story behind the Russian composer's life.
The production that runs for a week from Thursday features a surrealist set with a dancing broom and cups and a slide by Cinderella, danced by Bolshoi star Svetlana Zakharova, down a set of bannisters into the arms of Sergei Filin's prince.
But the production also recalls the tragic times in which Sergei Prokofiev composed the 1944 score -- a time of world war and mass Stalinist repressions, eventually claiming Prokofiev's own wife Lina as a victim.
Choreographer Yury Posokhov and director Yury Borisov said they wanted the set, which includes huge clocks without hands on a black background, to reflect the anguish in the music. Even the lyrical duos between Cinderella and the prince are choreographed to give the impression of only fleeting happiness.
"The history, not the fairytale are our starting point. The music was written at a hard time for Prokofiev after his return to the Soviet Union at the height of the Stalin era," Posokhov said.
"We have decided to raise the curtain on Prokofiev's private life and show the huge life force of Lina," Borisov said.
Prokofiev had fled the Bolsheviks in 1918, returning to Russia in 1936 with his Spanish wife Lina. He split up with Lina in 1941 and seven years later she was arrested and sentenced as a spy to 20 years in a labour camp.
Prokofiev died on March 5, 1953, the same day as Stalin, while Lina would survive the camp, winning freedom in 1956 and leaving in 1974 for London, where she died at the age of 92 in 1989. "Cinderella is my Lina," the composer wrote.
The first Russian Cinderella was performed in 1945, with ballet great Galina Ulanova in the title role of a typically grandiose Soviet production.
Zakharova promised something entirely different this time, saying "the performance is totally different to that previously put on at the Bolshoi and my Cinderella has nothing to do with Ulanova's."
She said she had turned down an invitation to dance Cinderella at Milan's La Scala to the choreography of Rudolf Nureyev because "other dancers have already danced Nureyev's choreography and it is more important for me to take part in a new ballet created for me."
Posokhov's choreography reflects his career as a former Bolshoi dancer who went to the West and currently dances in San Francisco.
Filin, who plays the prince, said "the choreography requires our bodies to be relaxed and our movements free, which was difficult at first."
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AFP 031222 GMT 02 06
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