BEJING, Jul 31The Chinese audience warmly welcomed the Bolshoi Theater artists on the stage of the Opera Hall of the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing, said Mahar Vaziev, artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet Company.
The Bolshoi Ballet Company on Sunday completed its first tour in China after a five-year hiatus. From July 25 to July 30, the artists of the Bolshoi Theater performed on the stage of the Opera Hall of the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, gave four performances of the ballet «Don Quixote» and two gala concerts. The performances were accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra of the National Ballet of China. Conductor — maestro Pavel Klinichev.
«There is no disappointment from the public, considering that we were here for the last time five years ago, the audience, it seems to me, is wonderful and met we are very warm, sometimes even with some emotional elements of violence, so everything is wonderful, and I am very pleased,» Vaziev said.
He also noted that there is a common misconception that the Chinese people are reserved and do not show strong emotions. “But how they emotionally accept, and with such cries and exclamations, I want to tell you that in Russia they don’t always accept it like that,” he said.
According to the artistic director, everything that the theater does, first of all, does for the viewer.
«This does not mean that when we go on stage, we think only about the audience — no, that's not true. Being on stage, we don't think about the audience, this is our job, this is our professional life, but in general, of course, we always we think about who will be in the hall, and to say that such a tour without due seriousness, of course, is not being prepared, and we certainly were preparing,» he said.
Vaziev said that the program that the Bolshoi Theater brought to China this time was the result of discussions with the Chinese side.
«Firstly, Don Quixote, as I have repeatedly said, is considered one of the most Moscow performances of the Bolshoi Theater. As for the gala evenings, I will not hide it, it was a proposal from the Chinese side, and We gladly agreed with this,» the source said.
According to him, the program was «an absolutely mutual decision», the parties quickly came to a common denominator.