L’eredità di Marius Petipa, la russificazione e la riforma dello spettacolo teatrale ad opera di Aleksandr Gorskij, Savva Mamontov e Aleksandr Širjaev

Abstract

The decision to reform Petipa’s classical ballet comes from the Russification project of Culture and Arts in Russia, inaugurated by Tsar Alexander III. Gorsky accomplished this task with the historical recreation of Don Quixote (1900), applying the principles of Mamontov’s modern theatrical direction. In a similar way, Širjaev created his animated films with puppets, recreating or reconstructing parts of Petipa’s ballet and dance steps. For the first time, this article focuses on Gorsky and Širjaev’s passion for photography as a tool for creating and documenting classical ballet. The author hypothesizes on the possible influence on this practice of Mamontov’s acting method, which used the image for the creation of the living stage form.