“BIG”, IT IS BIG. TO PLACE THE BIG THEATER ORCHESTRA IN THE BEST UAE CAPITAL HOTEL - EMIRATES PALACE, THE FIRST TIME BUILDERS IN ABU DUBAH STORIES IS DARK AND DARK. FROM AN IMPROVED "ORCHESTRA PIT" IN WHICH PLACED ABOUT 80 MUSICIANS, THE GENIUS MUSIC OF THE BEST RUSSIAN BALLET LAYED. "SWAN LAKE" IN DANCE AND MUSIC UNDER THE CONDUCT OF CONDUCTOR PAVL SOROKIN RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES SAID AND HEARD FOR THE FIRST TIME. Many of them overcame hundreds of kilometers to attend an immortal performance in the performance of Russian masters of dance.
The first Bolshoi concert, held at the opening of the traditional festival of arts and music in the Emirate’s capital in the last week of March, was attended by the Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The fact that he was with his wife is recognized here as a "phenomenon of great rarity."
The concert was attended by prominent sheikhs of families and other influential tribes ruling in this and other emirates. The official guest of Russian artists was UAE Minister of Foreign Trade Sheikh Lubna al-Qasimi, who came from the ruling family of the Emirate of Sharjah and became the first woman to join the federal emirate government. In local circles, they pay attention to the fact that all the guests of honor were captured by a fairy tale plot, captivating music and bright talents of artists and watched the performance to the end, contrary to the habit of leaving concerts after the first intermission.
The concert hall of the hotel, where Russian President Vladimir Putin stayed during last September’s visit to the Emirates, was full. It was, as it were, divided into two almost equal parts - the audience in European outfits from among diplomats and European and local spectators living in the country in white scented long-legged, rustling, starchy dishdahs, interspersed with black, variegated expensive sequins, dresses of emirate ladies in gold jewelry . Many of those present saw the ballet for the first time. There is nothing like ballet in any way close to it in the Emirate art. No, actually, the art itself. Culture lives and develops at the level of folklore.
In the Arab spiritual world, there is only one kind of creativity in which Arabs can give a lesson to all the peoples of the world - this is poetry. It is great, diverse, polyrhythmic and beautifully sounding. Arabic poetry reflects the depths of the souls of the hermits, has an ancient history and lives in the minds and hearts of every native speaker of the richest Arabic language, which is completely impossible to comprehend.
Oddly enough, the magnificent, brightest riches of the Arabian poetic traditions did not affect the song art, did not bring to life musical masterpieces, did not serve to develop a dance that would adorn the heavy and monotonous life of a nomad, resting from the heat of the day under the cool blanket of the night.
Local dances with their drowning in one place, clapping their hands to a monotonous, lulling melody, intermittently performed with one voice, are far from perfect, if not primitive. Arabian dancers stomp on the spot, rhythmically and not really waving light wooden canes. From time to time they throw old rifles or swords into the air. The art is to toss the "dance gear" as high as possible and catch it easily and gracefully. Which, however, does not always work out, but the dancers are not discouraged. Men in long shirts, having tied their heads with colored handkerchiefs, are lined up and repeat the same movements, which you cannot call “pa” because the legs of the dancers practically do not lift off the ground. Neither the pas de deux, nor the pas de trois, nor the pas de cater, nor the fouet, nor the entrache are here. It would be tempting to see an anthrash in a dishdash or support in a dance pair wrapped from head to toe!
But there are no couples in the Arabian dance. Women dance separately. These are mostly young girls. They put on bright dresses touching the ground and, standing barefoot, swing in one place. The main action of their dance is to throw loose hair from one shoulder to another. Their black, wavy, thick hair is really beautiful. But what is there of the dance? This is just an exhibition of female faces, beautiful hair and full figures.
The inhabitants of the Emirates, who did not leave their land, had never seen anything like the Russian ballet. The ballet tutus of the audience were intrigued. Many in their dreams did not dream that such mini-cars are not in length but in width. As for pointe shoes, they remained a mystery. How can you stand on the thumb ?!
It is Vladimir Putin who owes the residents of the emirate capital for the fact that it fell into the itinerary of the theater, which the best concert venues in the world seek to get. The head of the Russian state welcomed Abu Dhabi’s desire to develop cultural ties with Moscow at its autumn meetings with emirate officials and, obviously, had a hand in making the Bolshoi’s first trip to the Arabian Peninsula take place. By the way, Putin stayed in this hotel, in the Palace suite - a chic residence with an area of more than 650 square meters. meters with a private entrance, own elevator, three bedrooms and a luxurious dining room.
It should be said a few words about the venue of the concert. Hotel Emirates Palace ("Emirate Palace") served as a wonderful backdrop for the performance. Its construction was the answer that the capital of the federal state gave Dubai, where any new undertaking from alluvial, man-made islands and artificial lakes to seven-star hotels and high-rise towers differs from the previous one in the direction of absolutely absurd grandeur.
Opened in 2005, the sand-colored hotel of the local reddish desert stretches for 800 meters in length and occupies almost 250 thousand square meters. meters. For the construction of its eight floors, four of which are underground, used 100 thousand cubic meters of marble, about six thousand square meters. meters of sheet gold. It has more than 1000 crystal chandeliers, 140 elevators and almost 130 kitchens. There are 2,000 personal butlers in the state who transport guests from their rooms to restaurants, a shopping arcade, a hotel beach, an aquapark or swimming pools.
The gilded dome of the hotel lobby, the size of two football fields, ascended above St Paul's Cathedral in London. The authors of the project tempered their appetites only once: in a gigantic building there are only 302 ordinary rooms and 92 suites. It only means that the rooms cannot be ordinary in any way.
Huge spaces are decorated with bright Arabic fabrics, equipped with high-tech electronics, including huge plasma TVs and travel monitors. The rooms and the hotel itself covered all conceivable hotel standards. In any case, before the appearance of a new hotel in Abu Dhabi.
Experts note that the sound in the concert hall was beautiful, and the performance was a breeze. The audience was silently silent during actions and paintings and exploded with applause at their end. The atmosphere of the hotel itself, magnificent in all respects, of course, contributed to the success of the performances.
Recently arrived in Abu Dhabi, the new hotel’s general director, German Hans Olberts, told the magazine’s correspondent that there were many Russian and Russian-speaking tourists who preferred Emirates Palace to all other metropolitan hotels.
At the end of the concerts, and there were two, the organizer of the festival, Khuda Khamis, told reporters that this performance with his music and dances was “created in heaven”. In her opinion, the concert of the Bolshoi artists, created on a high note, will become “a symbol of the cultural revival of Abu Dhabi,” testifying to the seriousness of the emirate’s authorities towards the development of national culture.
The performance received the highest marks from the public and the emirate press. In the interpretation of “evil genius” by Artem Shpilevsky, viewers saw “the strength and inevitability of fate that prevails over youth, sincerity and innocence”. The press noted "magical scenery leading into the fairy-tale world of Prince Siegfried" and "unearthly, air flights" performed by Alexander Volchkov. The “vortex energy virtuosity” of Volchkov’s partner Morihiro Iwata caused storms ... applause, of course. In a conversation with a journalist, one of the local spectators called Swan Lake the Russian version of Romeo and Juliet. Those who have visited the dance festival will never forget the Russian word "Big" and know exactly what it means.
