Gayane

Infobox Ballet
name = Gayane


image_size =
caption =
choreographer = Nina Aleksandrovna Anisimova
composer = Aram Khachaturian
based_on =
premiere = 9 December 1942
place = Perm, Russia
ballet_company = Kirov Ballet
characters = Gayane
Koren
Armen
Nune
Giko
set designer = Natan Altman
Tatyana Bruni
setting =
created for =
genre = Neoclassical ballet
type = classical ballet

"Gayane" (also Gayaneh and Gayne, after the Armenian saint) is a four-act ballet with music by Aram Khachaturian. Originally composed in 1942, to a libretto by Konstantin Derzhavin, and choreographed by Nina Aleksandrovna Anisimova, the score was revised in 1952, and in 1957, with a new plot. The stage design was by Natan Altman (scenery) and Tatyana Bruni (costumes).

The first production was staged by the Kirov Ballet and broadcast in Perm, Russia, on 9 December 1942. The principal dancers were: Natalia Dudinskaya (Gayane), Nikolai Zubkovsky (Koren), Konstantin Sergeyev (Armen), Tatanya Vecheslova (Nune), and Boris Shavrov (Giko).

Khatchaturian's original "Gayane" was the story of a young Armenian woman whose patriotic convictions conflict with her personal feelings on discovering her husband's treason. In later years, the plot was modified several times, the resultant story emphasises romance at the expense of nationalist zeal.

Plot Outline

Gayane, daughter of kolkhoz chairman Avanes, helps capture a stranger who penetrated the Soviet Army's territory intending to discover geological secrets. In doing this, the loving Gayane is aiding her friend, the youth Armen. Moreover, Giko (Armen's rival) pays with his life for involuntarily aiding the enemy; but all ends well, the ballet's finale celebrates the collective friendship of the peoples and nations who are the Soviet Union.

"Gayane" is a simple tale about a collective farm in the U.S.S.R., reflecting the Great Patriotic War attitudes and sentiments of the 1940s — while the soviet nation was repelling the Nazi invasion of the country. It is a tale of a spy captured, and of weak people who cannot, at first, resist his foreign influence, but, of course, "Gayane" also is about the collective farmers' final victory, overcoming trial and tribulation to triumphantly create their own collective farm; to live happily ever after.

Origin

The ballet was created when the company was in Perm (during the World War II evacuation), on the small stage of the Perm state theatre. But despite these limitations, the effect was profound; in effect, the message was that the company still lived on, despite the very hard times. Anisimova invited different dancers to participate in her ballet, dancers who happened to be in the city at that time: there was a sense of "camaraderie" and combined effort which suited the positive feeling of the ballet itself.

The composition, the music, the dancing- all together created something which, regardless of the weaknesses in the libretto, expressed the triumph of dancing and its many different possibilities.

Analysis

The ballet "Gayane" was modestly successful when danced before Joseph Stalin; re-release outside the USSR is infrequent. At the time, it was understood that the simple libretto was necessary backdrop for the dancing, which was splendidly staged and choreographed by Anisimova, who danced in the original production. Choreographically, Anisimova thought in character-dancing terms; she knew much classical dance.

"Gayane" perdures; excerpts are performed by dance companies and dance schools, especially the wedding in the second act: wonderful duets and variations for Gayane and Kasakov, her lover. The choreography was unusual for its time — classical and folk dance combined, especially the stylized use of arms and hands from the folkloric Armenian culture that is the ballet's background.

The collective farm's ethnic diversity is backdrop for each part of the music (adagio arrangements, lively Gypsy tunes) and a compelling tale of love between the social classes. For concert performance, composer Khachaturian arranged three orchestral music suites drawn from the score; the "Sabre Dance", from the ballet's final act, is the most famous musical piece from "Gayane".

The premiere cast included Natalia Dudinskaya and Konstantin Sergeyev, then leading figures in Leningrad ballet. Nina Anisimova danced the part of an Armenian girl who is image and symbol of Socialist labour: she works hard; she knows how to produce the most from the fields; but she also knows how to enjoy life, spending her free time dancing and laughing.

The suite of dances in the second act reflects the nationalities of the Soviet Union; at the time, Armenia already was a mixed-race nation. For that, Anisimova created the famous "Sabre Dance" that, when performed as musical extract, became many dance companies' showpiece.

The style of movement in the dance is unusual and unexpected for character dance — unusual bends of the body, inventive positions of the arms, not from the classical moves, the overall structure of the body is not balletic, but, most of all, in keeping with Khachaturian's, music, the choreography is temperamental, like Alexandrovna Anisimova, herself.

When critics analysed "Gayane", they saw that, in strict ballet terms, it is incompletely successful as a whole, because of its naïve libretto, and because of its overtly sociological story emphasis, yet, choreographers, critics, and historians persuaded the Kirov Theatre to profitably stage excerpts of the ballet.

The "variation of Gayane", the "variation of Giko", and the character dances of the people were effectively done and subsequently danced as concert pieces. After its premiere in Perm, Anisimova twice restaged "Gayane" for the Kirov; after revising it, the 1952 version stands as the definitive version of "Gayane".

In the end, at the Kirov, Alexandrovna Anisimova did something important onstage — she proved that character dancing perdures and should be included to the world of classical ballet. The dance in "Gayane" did not follow the Petipa tradition, for example, "Swan Lake", wherein the audience is treated to national dance in discrete divertissements of "dances of le salon", in Petipa's words; in contrast, the dance in "Gayane", by force of character, is felt throughout the ballet; it is a natural part of the people and of their history. In time, the ballet helped choreographers understand the importance of choreographic art in Russia — combining character dance with classical and mime traditions. "Gayane" is excellent example of character dance and ballet combined; its artistic value to twentieth-century Soviet choreography is significant.

References in other media

Stanley Kubrick's film "" featured one of the less up-tempo sections of the Gayane music: the Adagio. The composer James Horner quoted from this same piece in three of his film scores, "Patriot Games", "Clear and Present Danger" and "Aliens".

Sources

Bremster, M. (ed.) 1993. "International DIctionary of Ballet" Detroit: St James Press