I have been to Novosibirsk many times, but I could not get into NOVAT. This time attending the ballet at the Novosibirsk Academic Theater was the main purpose of the trip (more precisely, the flight) to the city.

Hello!

It’s so easy and pleasant to buy tickets online: even for a plane, even for a theater… I looked at what tickets are offered, for what days, compared the dates. And prices — with their capabilities. It turned out that I could pull it off: round-trip plane tickets — 2,160 rubles, theater tickets — 700 rubles.

I chose tickets to the stalls, on the 7th row.

About the theater itself

Theater has always fascinated me. And nothing surprising: it is the largest in Russia, larger than the Bolshoi. In daylight, it looks very impressive. It is even sometimes called the Siberian Colosseum. And in the evening, when illuminated, it looks simply luxurious.

Novosibirsk Academic Theatre. November, 2021 Photo by the author. Novosibirsk Academic Theatre. November, 2021 Photo by the author.

I came to the show a little early to have time to look around inside. They passed, of course, by QR codes. The inside of the theater is no less magnificent than the outside. Spacious, clean. In the foyer, where the wardrobe is located, there are a lot of soft sofas.

Novosibirsk Academic Theater in the evening. There are 2 photos in the gallery. Photo of the author.

From the foyer we get into the building, where the main stage and the large hall are located. They are surrounded by a wide gallery. The gallery contains samples of stage costumes and an exposition telling about the history of the theatre.

The hall itself is decorated in dark red colors. Red velvet, natural wood, snow-white sculptures are copies of antique ones. Looks very strict and expensive.

For some reason, I expected the hall to be larger. Its capacity is about 1800 people. In the stalls, there is a sufficiently large distance between the rows of seats, and those whose seats are in the middle of the row can go to their seats without too much embarrassing the spectators already sitting in their seats.

About the performance

I have already mentioned that I am not a big connoisseur of ballet. Just an amateur. But in order to elementarily distinguish between “good” and “so-so”, you don’t have to be a great connoisseur. I read a lot of good things about the NOVAT ballet troupe. And the ballet even exceeded expectations. The most interesting thing is that I have already seen this ballet before — in another theater, in the choreographic version by Yuri Grigorovich (staged by Marius Petipa). And this performance was danced by the Spaniard Nacho Duato. Unusual, but also very interesting!

The most striking character of the performance for me was the evil fairy Carabosse. In the male performance (Kirill Danilov), the fairy was inimitable. So much expression — just fire! Carabosse appeared on stage with her retinue, accompanied by 6 dancers. At first I thought that the retinue was made up of teenage dancers: they seemed miniature. But somehow for teenagers they danced very confidently and professionally. And their figures were quite masculine, formed, athletic, far from teenage. And then I realized that they seem like teenagers in comparison with the tall Danilov. I looked for information about him: his height is 201 cm! It may well claim to be considered the highest ballet dancer in the world. But Carabosse in his performance is something :))) Just a delight!

Princess Aurora, on the other hand, was petite and graceful. According to the content of the ballet, Aurora was barely 16 years old. And the dancer (Ekaterina Likhova) perfectly matched the image of a tender 16-year-old girl. In my opinion, she danced just fine.

Loved the costumes and sets. Especially in the second act: when hunting in the forest, and then the Lilac Fairy, together with Prince Desire, swim across the lake through the forest to the sleeping Aurora.

In general, I went to the ballet to enjoy. And I got — even more than I expected. And from the performance itself, and from the situation, the special theatrical atmosphere …

I would really like to show fragments of the performance. But in the theater it was forbidden to shoot during the performance of artists. I tried to break the ban, I thought they wouldn’t notice. No matter how! Noticed and asked to remove the phone. I felt so ashamed … but 15 seconds are still mine!