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The development of Romeo and Juliet
Russians love Shakespeare, and Russian composer Sergei prokofiev, with his understanding of Shakespeare's poems, integrated the fragments created by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky at the end of19th into the ballet music that has been passed down for generations. Music and stories inspired dozens of choreographers at that time.

Before this century, the ballet history of Romeo and Juliet went further. The first ballet version of Romeo and Juliet was directed by Venetian Osabivo Lutz and premiered at 1785. Later, directors in the19th century created their own versions, including Ivan warburg in St. Petersburg in 1809 and Vincenzo Galliotti, an Italian in Copenhagen in1810. It took more than a century for the directors to adopt the theme of the play again.

In Cheng Yanfu's ballet, Bononislava Nijinsky, the sister of the famous dancer Vaslava Nijinsky, choreographed and directed her own version of the ballet, with Constandt Lambert as the music and Joe MINO as the designer.

Many composers wrote music based on Shakespeare's stories, including Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Flederick Deleo and Hector Berlioz. From 65438 to 1950s, Leonardo Bernstein cooperated with Jerome Robbins on the basis of Shakespeare's plays, which laid the foundation for the stage play west side story.

1934, two Soviet writers came up with the idea of creating ballet based on Shakespeare's plays. Their love ended happily, and Kaplet finally shook hands with the Montagues. In music, they turned to the young Russian musician sergey prokofiev. But prokofiev wanted to be faithful to Shakespeare. Due to disagreement and the director's rage, prokofiev soon gave up the entrustment of Kirov Ballet for this music.

1938, prokofiev had to hand over his music score to the Borno City Theatre in Czechoslovakia, so that his music Romeo and Juliet could be put into performance. Until 1940, the Soviet Union once again invited prokofiev to complete a work of Romeo and Juliet directed by Leonid Lalov. 1940 65438+1October 1 1, Kirov Ballet was premiered in the Ballet Theatre of Kirov National Opera House, with karina ulanova and Constantine sergeyev as the main roles, and the performance was a great success.

1954 A film capturing ulanova's magical performance was released. 1946, the Grand Theatre Ballet performed again, with Juliet still led by ulanova.

Juliet is the most outstanding role played by ulanova for a long time, and she has strong personality characteristics. She herself is Juliet who combines the essence. When talking about prokofiev's music, ulanova said that he asked the director to create music that could show her dancing talent. She wrote: "prokofiev's music is full of vigor and vitality, which is visible music. It sounds modern, but it is Shakespeare in spirit and taste. Music is like an arm, guiding our actions and giving them rich meaning and purpose. His charming personality defines the style of dance and makes our work very easy. "

Raounouski's Romeo and Juliet and prokofiev's music first appeared in front of European audiences during the European tour of Russian Grand Theatre Ballet 1956. In the Soviet Union, because of its seriousness, drama and appreciation, the audience applauded warmly. What is particularly touching is prokofiev's music. He was the first composer to bring human emotions to the ballet stage. The bold and distinctive personality characteristics of music make every dance step have extraordinary drama. John Gruehn, a dance critic, commented: "Under the rule of the Soviet Union, ballet surpassed the socialist rules for the first time and reached the audience's inner compassion." Launo Uski's works were included in Kirov Ballet, which was performed for one week at O'Keefe Center in Toronto on 1992.

Two British directors, John Crono and Kenneth McMillan, were greatly inspired after seeing Romeo and Juliet by Raono Uski, and they created their own versions. Flederick Ashton, another British choreographer, composed his Romeo and Juliet for the Royal Danish Ballet in 1955 after watching it in the Ballet of the Grand Theatre. 1985, Ashton's version was reserved by the British National Ballet. The structure of his works is an indoor drama, focusing on love stories and the relationship between Juliet and her family.

John Cranno's version of Romeo and Juliet performed by the National Ballet of Canada not only contains the characteristics of Ashton's version of indoor drama, but also integrates the elegance and solemnity of Russian ballet and the artistic conception of dance poetry. He hopes to build a bridge between Russian drama and Ashton's pure dance.

Cranko understood drama and introduced it into ballet, such as Romeo and Juliet. The indoor features of the play are implied by prokofiev's "Indoor Symphony", with beautiful tunes and certain indoor privacy. More importantly, cranko integrated drama and dance into the action, which continued like flowing water. Cranko's emotion is saturated with the free and brisk duet of Romeo and Juliet. Through this play, we can feel the director's feelings.