Prague State Opera Ballet presents another legendary piece of the 19th century classical ballet, beloved by audiences worldwide - Don Quixote. The premiere of the classic version of Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky, choreographed by the current director of Prague Dance Conservatory Jaroslav Slavický, Kateřina Slavická and Hana Vláčilová takes place on February 16, 2012 at the Prague State Opera. The popular ballet, inspired by one of the most famous Spanish novels The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, with the music by Viennese composer, conductor and violinist Ludwig Minkus was first staged at Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre on December 26, 1869 with choreography by Marius Petipa. In this first Moscow version much attention was paid to pantomime next to dance acts of the protagonists and Don Quixote himself had some major action just in the scenes concerning his meeting with wandering comedians and his tilting at windmills. Two years later Petipa made several changes in the production. First of all he increased technical demands on the roles of Kitri and Basil and extended the dream scene. In 1900 Petipa’s original choreography was significantly altered by his former student, Alexander Gorsky, who emphasized the role of corps de ballet, the new dance acts of which formed the basis for solo scenes in his production. He also added two new solo roles, Mercedes and Espada. Gorsky thus for the first time put his conception of classical ballet as a dance drama into practice.
Don Quixote has been staged outside Russia only since the beginning of the second half of the 20th century courtesy the representatives of the Russian ballet school, especially its foremost dancers, who were often choreographers as well. The Czechoslovak premiere of the ballet took place in Prague at Smetana Theatre on December 19, 1986. The production, which remained in the repertoire until 1997 was staged by Russian choreographer Boris Bregvadze, Miroslava Pešíková and Vlastimil Harapes performed as Kitri and Basil on the opening night, the second cast being Hana Vláčilová and Jan Kadlec, respectively. Among other ballerinas that appeared in the production as Kitri were Marta Drottnerová, Jana Kůrová, Michaela Černá and a promising, young dancer Daria Klimentová, Ján Nemec and Jiří Horák then performed the role of Basil.
The story of an aging knight Don Quixote, who, reading historic novels, dreams of heroic deeds, and especially of his beloved beautiful Dulcinea is popular with audiences all over the world. The central theme of forbidden love between Kitri and Basil mingles with Don Quixote’s fantastic, dream world where, together with his loyal servant Sancho Panza, he seeks the lady of his chivalric heart. "I’d liken Don Quixote to a "ballet operetta" in the best sense of the word, with a huge technical demands on both soloists and corps de ballet. Audiences can look forward to a really brilliant production with a touch of humor, wit and poetry. A production that makes them relax and enjoy the beauties of dance", says Jaroslav Slavický. The cast is as follows: Milan Boček and Josef Svoboda (Don Quixote), Jurij Kolva and Richard Hlinka (Sancho Panza), Miho Ogimoto and Alina Nanu (Kitri), Ulvi Azizov and Ondřej Vinklát (Basil), Zuzana Hvízdalová and Phillippine de Sevin (Mercedes), Viktor Kocian, Filip Janda and Jurij Slypyč (Espada).

Source: Prague State Opera