New York City Ballet: The Russian Firebird

The Firebird was a highlight of the opening night of the New York City Ballet at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House.

“Prince Ivan, the hunter, wanders into a magic wood and captures the Firebird. On her pleading, he frees her, and she rewards him with a magic plume. Kastchei, the wizard, has enchanted the princess and her maidens, but, with the aid of the Firebird's feather, Prince Ivan rescues the maidens and marries the Princess.” This Russian fairytale is a story line of the one-act ballet “Firebird” presented yesterday by the New York City Ballet at the end of the All-Russian program.

The audience was mesmerized by the beauty of stage decorations and costumes originally created by the Russian (Belorussian to be exact) painter Mark Chagall in 1945.(Chagall is considered a forerunner of surrealism. After some years in Russia, he moved to France in 1922, where he spent most of his life. His frequently repeated subject matter was drawn from Jewish life and folklore. Much of Chagall's work is rendered with an extraordinary formal inventiveness and a deceptive fairy-tale naïveté. Chagall illustrated numerous books, including Gogol's Dead Souls, La Fontaine's Fables, and Illustrations for the Bible (1956).)

Balanchine's Firebird was one of his earliest creations for NYC Ballet that used such elaborate costumes and sets. Russian folklore is integrated in this ballet. Balanchine used Igor Stravinsky's orchestral suite instead of the three-act score. This new production was staged in 1985. Sofiane Sylve as Firebird, Jonathan Stafford as Prince Ivan and Rachel Rutherford as Prince’s Bride gave an inspiring performance. Their interpretive dancing was powerful and yet graceful, romantic and elegant. The audience was treated for a true Russian ballet!