A look at the rich history of the Mariinsky Theatre in the birth and growth of the Russian tradition in opera, music and ballet.
Maya Plisetskaya was born in Moscow in 1925 and studied at the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet School, becoming a principal dancer with the Bolshoi on graduating in 1943. She became prima ballerina in 1962, and after being excluded for political reasons many years from tours to the West, she was finally in 1959 allowed to join the American tour with the Bolshoi. She soon gained recognition as one of the world's foremost ballerinas, combining flawless technique with a sensitivity to emotional nuance and becoming the first to truly understand how to combine outstanding dance skills with dramatic expression. This documentary features footage of her greatest successes as a ballerina together with an interview in which Plisetskaya describes her life as a dancer, from Stalin to perestroika, giving an insight into the life of an artist in this extraordinary chapter of Russian history.
Rodion Shchedrin's ballet based on the short story of the same name by Anton Chekhov, staged by the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of the USSR. The inimitable Maya Plisetskaya in the on-screen version of the theatrical ballet, which is an original production, solved by means of a television movie.
The plot is based on the fate of the artist, reflected in art, which always accompanies people's lives, as well as dreams, pain or joy...
Maya Plisetskaya was a Soviet ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress. In post-Soviet times, she held both Lithuanian and Spanish citizenship. She danced during the Soviet era at the Bolshoi Theatre under the directorships of Leonid Lavrovsky, then of Yury Grigorovich. In 1960 she became prima ballerina assoluta of the company.
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