Boris Eifman’s name is usually linked to the most innovative artistic experiments and interpretations or stage renditions of classical works of literature. The choreographer constantly revitalizes and enriches the form and content of contemporary ballet.
Eugene Onegin – is a dance version of Eugene Onegin novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin. Here Eifman combines classics and modernity. Pushkin's heroes impersonalize men and women of today in a symbolic way: they are those who have gone through a drastic social change, who are living in the time of crisis, at the turn of the century. An unexpected combination of classical music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and of rock music by Alexander Sitkovetsky is something that surprisingly helps the viewers get inspired by the original creative concept of Boris Eifman.
Eugene Onegin ballet is a unique opportunity to see the paradigmatic, textbook literary plot through the eyes of the modern man.
“When I rely on great literature in my ballets, I do it in an attempt to express, by means of choreographic art, the emotional impact and amazement I get from learning the wisdom and creative power of our great predecessors. Word – is an instrument both for creation and destruction, it can crush as easily as breathe new life.
The plastic language of body movement, as the oldest in history way of self expression, carries with it universal values, spiritual and emotional, that anyone can understand. Thus, using a literary source I thereby set myself a specific task: to reveal what may be relevant and exciting for my contemporaries, and with it something that can be conveyed solely by the great art of dance.
Then, the question is: why did I choose Alexander Pushkin’s versified novel Eugene Onegin for my ballet? What is of concern to me in it? Literary critics and scholars have called this book Encyclopedia of Russian Life. Pushkin, by extraordinarily vivid and scrupulously exact mastery of word coupled with a great talent for psychological insight, depicted the Russian national character of his time, created the poetical image of the Russian soul – mysterious, unpredictable and unparalleled in its sensuousness.
With all my art I have been endeavoring to discover the secrets of the Russian soul. My choreographic treatment of Eugene Onegin is only another attempt at expressing in dance the mystery of human spirit.
What I’ve done in the ballet was to place Pushkin’s characters in the modern times, in new circumstances and conditions that may seem to be more dramatic, sometimes even extreme, when the old world is collapsing and the life powerfully imposes new rules. I needed this sort of experiment in order to answer a question that really concerns me: what is the Russian soul today? Has it retained its singularity, its mystery, its appeal of past times? How the main characters of the novel would order their own destinies today? What in the Encyclopedia of Russian Life was only period problems and what has remained and shall remain as the sign of destiny for many generations of my compatriots to come?
The art of choreography does not provide us with solutions to the burning issues of the life and development of society. Yet, handling them in a creative way, analyzing them and offering an individual assessment of them, we thereby partake in the process of its improvement and betterment.”
Boris Eifman
