Diana Vishneva - Le Divertisment Du Roi 30 September 2016

Premiere in Monaco! LE DIVERTISSMENT DU ROI ballet Gala event featuring incomparable Diana Vishneva – prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Ballet. The Gala also features Friedemann Vogel – soloist of Stuttgart Ballet. Produced by Ardani Artists dance company that has over 20 years of friendship and collaboration with Diana Vishneva. British The Times called the programme “outlandish and hugely entertaining” and Huffington Post wished “…if only all Gala evenings could be like this!”

LE DIVERTISSMENT DU ROI will take place at Salle des Princes Grimaldi Forum on September 30, 2016. The show was presented in London, Moscow and New-York as part of Ardani Artists 25-years anniversary.

Diana Vishneva is a shining example of Vaganova training. She is that rare Russian dancer who is at home in modern repertoire and unafraid to experiment. Seemingly shy she is capable of feral abandon on stage. “The star of her Age” – a definition that many European critics like to give Vishneva.  

The ballet Gala LE DIVERTISSMENT DU ROI will introduce you to the world of Diana Vishneva. The first Act will take the viewers into a journey of three short productions staged by the most outstanding contemporary choreographers such as Mauro Bigonzetti (Vertigo), Vladimir Varnava (Clay) and Jean-Christophe Maillot (Switch).

The Act Two invites the audience to embrace «LE DIVERTISSMENT DU ROI» one-act ballet led by Diana Vishneva in the role of King Louis XIV. The ballet staged by young talented choreographer Maxim Petrov was successfully premiered at Mariinsky Ballet theatre in March 2015. Exquisite dancing is not the only thing that makes it special but also the designs that make use of sketches by Jean Berain for productions at the Royal Academy of Music in Paris (1679-1697) and by Lodovico Burnacini for Antonio Cesti’s opera Il pomo d’oro (Vienna, 1667).

The Gala also features soloists of the Mariinsky Ballet Victoria Brileva, Zlata Yalinich, Julia Kobzar, Maxim Zuzin, Aleksey Nedviga, Vasily Tkachenko, Soslan Kulaev, Evgeny Konovalov, Aleksandr Saveliev, Denis Zaynetdinov.  

Undoubtedly Vishneva draws all the spotlight of the event. Diana Vishneva’s work has garnered numerous awards and prizes, among them the title of People’s Artist of Russia, the State Prize of Russia, the Divine Prize, the Benois de la danse award, a Golden Sofit, the Spirit of Dance prize in the category  “Queen of Dance”, the prize as best dancer of Europe, six Golden Masks and the Ballerina of the Decade prize. She partnered with Vladimir Malakhov, Farukh Ruzimatov, Carlos Acosta, Jose Martinez and others.

On stage of the world’s best theatres Diana Vishneva performed lead parts of the ballet classic repertoire choreographed by Petipa, Fokine, Balanchine, Neumeier, Ashton, MacMillan, Alonso, Grigorovich, Bejart, Peti, Preljocaj and Ratmansky, in addition to the Nureyev, Makarova, Malakhov and Barts versions of classical ballets.

Vishneva’s collaboration with choreographer-director of the Ballets de Monte-Carlo Jean-Christophe Maillot plays an important role.  Maillot was among the jury in 1994 at Prix de Lausenne where the young dance student received her first international award – Gran Prix and golden medal – for the first time ever the highest prize was granted to a girl and has never been conferred again ever since.   For Diana it was the beginning of her successful international career.

Eighteen years later Maillot staged Switch especially for the Mariinsky lead dancer in 2013 as part of On the Edge project. Maillot sees Vishneva as a movie star who graciously treats her dance partners with contempt. In «SWITCH» Vishneva swans in imperiously, dressed in silver lame by Karl Lagerfeld.   “I have never seen such physical perfection as working with Diana”, - says Maillot. Maillot brings out the diva in her with a hint of irony which you can’t help but notice.

Critics also love Diana Vishneva and often leave such reviews about her works as follows:

“She is one of a few lead dancers who make “the appaearance” of the theatre”

“Diana makes every part of her body dance, not only her legs and arms but her hair, her eyes… she is all dance with her every move”.