"Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy and to music by P.I. Tchaikovsky as a ballet on stage in Sofia too. Leo Mujić's choreography is a sparkling celebration of the art of Terpsichore. Leo Mujić and Marta Petkova answer questions of Blitz.BG agency

To turn such a voluminous, complex and full of drama novel as Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" into... a ballet! To consciously choose from the most balletic composer, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, music that is not balletic but ... symphonic. And with your choreography to make the audience hold its breath before bursting into a standing ovation at the end.

All this requires great creative courage and firm confidence in one's own abilities. The 47-year-old choreographer and director Leo Mujić clearly possesses all this in abundance and proves it once again on the stage of the Sofia Opera and Ballet.

Of course, the cute and slender (even quite tall for a ballet dancer) Croatian has a bright solo career and already solid experience as a director.

The poster of the ballet "Anna Karenina" with Marta Petkova in the role of Anna

After graduating from the ballet school in Belgrade, young Leo was lucky enough to continue his education in Lausanne, at the "Rudra" school of Maurice Bejart, one of the "fathers" of modern dance.

Later he appeared on stage with the elite companies of Jiří Kilian, William Forsythe, Mats Ek, and Béjart himself, called by ballet specialists an "epoch" and a "genius of ballet" for his enormous contribution to the development of modern and contemporary dance. Mujić has been a soloist with such distinguished companies as the Stuttgart Ballet, the Queensland Ballet and others.

In Bulgaria, Leo Mujić performed "Anna Karenina" for the first time with the Plovdiv Opera Staff for the Opera Open 2022 festival at the majestic Ancient Theatre in the "city under the hills" last summer.

In the main roles shine the stars of Sofia Opera and Ballet Marta Petkova (Anna Karenina) and Nikola Hadjitanev (Count Vronsky) and Guilherme Alves, premier soloist of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb as Count Karenin.

A few months later, on 14 December, Opera Plovdiv opened the New Year Music Festival in the National Palace of Culture with this spectacle.

Now, for Sofia Opera and Ballet, the undoubtedly very talented Croatian has prepared a new edition of "Anna Karenina" with changes in the choreography and artistic lighting (work of Milcho Aleksandrov) of the spectacle.

By the way, it has been realized with the financial support of Sofia Municipality. In this sense it is a "marriage" between Sofia Municipality and the Sofia Opera and Ballet, as the Deputy Mayor for Culture Miroslav Borshosh figuratively put it.

Katerina Petrova (Anna Karenina) and Tsetso Ivanov (Alexey Vronsky)

In response to my question for the Blitz news agency, whether there is a difference between his choreography of "Anna Karenina" for Opera Plovdiv, the stage of the National Palace of Culture and now at the Sofia Opera and Ballet and if so, what are the main differences regarding the different volumes of the stages, LEO MUJIĆ pointed out:

"The simple explanation of the choreography is the organization of time and space. In this case time is Tchaikovsky, his music, and space is the stage. Time – Tchaikovsky is a constant for all three spectacles, and the differences come from the scale and type of the three scenes. And not only from them.

I have also taken into account the particularities of the ensembles I work with. The Sofia Opera has a larger ballet ensemble, its quality is even higher, its soloists are also more compared to their Plovdiv counterparts.

This is why my demands were even higher, the dancing even more intense. But my production in Sofia is not a new version. However, to "tell" a story as dramatic and conflict-ridden as "Anna Karenina", and to do it briefly, in the language of dance, is a very, very serious challenge.

Besides, we know that the inconvenience of ballet is that there is no talking. I tell Tolstoy in an interactive story in which there are no small roles, here all the characters are important..."

As if winged by these understandings of Leo Mujić, inspired by his highly expressive and at the same time distinguished by a wide, free range of choreographic handwriting, the dancers "fly" as if with wings on the stage, showing their technical and artistic abilities optimally.

I watched "Anna Karenina" with the prima ballerina Katerina Petrova (in the role of Anna) and the premier soloists Tsetso Ivanov and Emil Yordanov (respectively Vronsky and Karenin). For each character (and there are many) the world-famous choreographer has appointed three performers.

The only exceptions with two are the central characters Anna Karenina and Vronsky, in which Marta Petkova and Nikola Hadjitanev shone at the premiere.

Katerina Petrova directly sculpts the highly dramatic and contradictory image of Princess Anna Karenina – from a reconciled wife and caring mother, through a woman passionately in love with the young Count Vronsky, completely devoted to her sinful infatuation and therefore condemned by society, to the disappointment and hopelessness that led her to mental disorder and her tragic end – suicide.

For example, her solo dance is heartbreaking when Anna frantically dreams of having both a husband to keep her son Seryozha and ....a lover!

Of course, Katerina Petrova could not have been so convincing in her impersonations had it not been for the completely equal partnership of Tsetso Ivanov as the self-confident and daring but also very tender Vronsky, and Emil Yordanov as the strict and holding on to his reputation but also very loving father Karenin.

The contribution of the entire ballet company is evident in making this production of "Anna Karenina", in which there are no small parts and all the characters are important, a sparkling celebration of the art of Terpsichore. To have the whole audience on their feet at the end and applauding wildly for whole 10 minutes the ballet dancers.

And at the bottom of this enormous success is Leo Mujić's highly expressive choreography, which exquisitely combines modern, classical and neo-classical elements into the dance.

It simply throws a bridge between the classical and the contemporary. In order to dance well in modern ballet, one must master all the elements of the classical. That is what our troupe at the Sofia Opera is able to do.

Otherwise, it would be flip-flopping and stage-hopping. The choreography of the now world-famous Croatian is so dynamic, how the ballet dancers manage to change their stylish costumes so quickly (their designer is Lars Ayenne), the scenes follow each other quickly as if on a film strip (scenography by Cvijeta Schwinn).

Another great challenge (besides the choice of such an epochal novel as "Anna Karenina") that Leo Mujić throws is the choice of music by P.I. Tchaikovsky. It is not balletic, but symphonic.

There are fragments of his Symphonies Nos 5 and 6, from his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, and the young Stoimen Peev plays the violin solo.

However, disputable is the inclusion of a sung romance (Alexandrina Stoyanova), which in my opinion does not "tie in" much with the spirit of the spectacle and a large part of the audience could not explain her sudden appearance on stage.

"The music of "Anna Karenina" is unusual," said Andrey GALANOV. "Leo Mujić has deliberately chosen non-ballet music by Tchaikovsky. He has combined different styles – a romance, a violin concerto, a symphony, the programme symphony "Manfred".

I not only accept this compilation, I like it. I like its dynamics. The combination of different styles of music goes, fits the different styles of dance in the production. But this seeming diversity is unified, focused in the tragic conflict."

Sincerely excited by the work with Leo Mujić and the wonderful result – the production of "Anna Karenina" is the undisputed star of the native ballet, and recently its Artistic director Marta Petkova.

In fact, from her predecessor and also colleague Alexander Alexandrov she "inherited" a new floor for ballet on the stage of the Sofia Opera, which he "fought" for.

I also asked Marta Petkova for the Blitz agency, how she feels in her new position and her impressions of working with the world-famous Croatian:

"I've hit my stride in my new position and I'm learning on the go," MARTA PETKOVA replied with a smile.

- I'm in the stage of negotiations for putting new titles on the Sofia stage. For our troupe it was very important to collaborate with Leo Mujić.

I've danced in a number of prestigious theatres around the world, but I've never seen this type of work before. A true workaholic, Leo never left our rehearsal room from 11.00 to 20.00. He was endlessly patient and worked individually with each one of us.

I had never seen my colleagues so inspired before. Our entire troupe truly loved him and I can safely say that I grew artistically from working with Leo Mujić."

Judging by the packed house and the audience's reaction, I can also say that Leo Mujić's "Anna Karenina" has won the ballet new friends.

Because its expressive and dynamic choreography with many modern elements and without a number of traditional ballet "clichés" is accessible to a wider audience, without in the least lowering the level of this art or resorting to self-serving experiments.

It would definitely be an aesthetic experience if you took the time to watch this wonderful production on 30 and 31 March at 19.00 h.

Author Borislav KOSTURKOV

Photos: Photo Archive Sofia Opera and Ballet and the Author

https://blitz.bg/kultura/kogato-s-dvama-genii-se-zaeme-edin-svrkhtalantliv-tvorets_news938785.html