THE GIRL WITH THE PORCELAIN EYES

"The Girl with the Porcelain Eyes" - is a dance piece which was created by Tatiana Baganova for the international festival of arts "Diaghilev. P. S." In 2018, the 200th anniversary of Marius Petipa, the festival’s program is dedicated to the legacy of this most prominent Russian choreographer. The desire to reflect upon his works has shifted Tatiana’s focus onto "Coppelia", but first of all, she calls upon the story behind the ballet — the E.T.A. Hoffmann’s novel "The Sandman" - and offers the audience her thoughts on this subject.

Choreography and concept: Tatiana Baganova
Music: Artyom Kim
Set: Olga Pautova
Lighting design: Maxim Sergachev
Сostume design: Olga Pautova and POMELOV
Running time: 65 min
16+

Tatiana Baganova: "This production is inspired not only by the original "Coppelia" ballet, but also by its origins and followers. The very fact that "Coppelia" is a comic ballet and that it comes to be from a dark novel by E.T.A. Hoffmann, allows us to find a more complex structure in this story, a structure that draws upon the references in many sources.

E.T.A. Hoffmann, "The Sandman": "If there is a dark force that can insidiously slip a perfidious filament into our innermost self, wherewith it then grabs hold of us and drags us along on a dangerously destructive path that we would not otherwise have taken — if there is such a force then it must reconfigure itself in our image, indeed it must become us; for only in this way will we be inclined to believe in it and give it the space it needs to realize its shadowy end."

The harsh loneliness of a human being brings out much stronger emotions than a dear Hoffmann-esque story about mechanical doll and lonely crazy Coppelius.

Leila Guchmazova, "Rossiyskaya Gazeta"

…in the 21st century, the idealistic nonsense of Hoffmann's character seems old-fashioned, and Baganova transforms the story. In her piece, a lively Clara, puppet-like Olimpias, five Nathanaels — all are subjects to Coppelius' will, an evil character in a black trench coat with a mining cap. All people these days are subjects to manipulation, tricked by media, stupefied by common standards and rules. Tatiana Baganova and her team deliver this thought very persistently and convincingly.

Elena Kuznetsova, Kommersant newspaper

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