02.08.2012
Olesya Novikova and Leonid Sarafanov in Giselle
On 27 November the ballet Giselle will feature Olesya Novikova and Leonid Sarafanov in its lead roles.
A soloist at the Mariinsky Theatre, Novikova is one of the most gifted and well-known ballerinas to appear on the scene in the last decade. A graduate of the Academy of Russian Ballet and winner of the Vaganova Prix, she has attracted attention since the very start of her professional career. According to ballet experts, Novikova has the ability to demonstrate ‘effortless grace’. An elegant ballerina, gracefully responsive and sensitive to nuances, she has performed in classical productions with great success and responds with enthusiasm to bolder, more fluid experiments.
Not long ago Novikova danced the title role in the premiere of the ballet Raymonda on the stage of La Scala in Milan. Her performance was met with great approval from the audiences. The newspaper Kommersant wrote, “The guest from St. Petersburg, Olesya Novikova... danced the extremely difficult part impeccably. Scarcely any of the Russian stars could so softly and flexibly come down from pointe, so assuredly fix the ending of the pas, twist her body into such refined poses, and remain so controlled in the adagio, not holding her leg higher than the traditional 90 degrees. This is not to mention her unbelievable jumps en pointe, which have vanished from the repertoires of our productions of Raymonda; the ballerina performed 16 entrechats quatres without coming down from her toes”.
Novikova debuted at the Mikhailovsky Theatre at the end of last season in La Bayadére, a performance so successful that ballet lovers have been eagerly awaiting the ballerina’s next appearance on stage ever since. Novikova will be partnered by Leonid Sarafanov. Although he will play an unfaithful lover, Sarafanov is, in real life, Novikova’s loving husband. This family duet, according to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, brings ballet “to a phenomenal level of technical and emotional co-ordination”.
A soloist at the Mariinsky Theatre, Novikova is one of the most gifted and well-known ballerinas to appear on the scene in the last decade. A graduate of the Academy of Russian Ballet and winner of the Vaganova Prix, she has attracted attention since the very start of her professional career. According to ballet experts, Novikova has the ability to demonstrate ‘effortless grace’. An elegant ballerina, gracefully responsive and sensitive to nuances, she has performed in classical productions with great success and responds with enthusiasm to bolder, more fluid experiments.
Not long ago Novikova danced the title role in the premiere of the ballet Raymonda on the stage of La Scala in Milan. Her performance was met with great approval from the audiences. The newspaper Kommersant wrote, “The guest from St. Petersburg, Olesya Novikova... danced the extremely difficult part impeccably. Scarcely any of the Russian stars could so softly and flexibly come down from pointe, so assuredly fix the ending of the pas, twist her body into such refined poses, and remain so controlled in the adagio, not holding her leg higher than the traditional 90 degrees. This is not to mention her unbelievable jumps en pointe, which have vanished from the repertoires of our productions of Raymonda; the ballerina performed 16 entrechats quatres without coming down from her toes”.
Novikova debuted at the Mikhailovsky Theatre at the end of last season in La Bayadére, a performance so successful that ballet lovers have been eagerly awaiting the ballerina’s next appearance on stage ever since. Novikova will be partnered by Leonid Sarafanov. Although he will play an unfaithful lover, Sarafanov is, in real life, Novikova’s loving husband. This family duet, according to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, brings ballet “to a phenomenal level of technical and emotional co-ordination”.
