01/08/2011 - Cutting Edge DANCE OPEN GALA in Finland

On July 30, 2011 within the 7th Savonlinna Ballet Festival (Savonlinna, Finland) the DANCE OPEN Gala took place with enormous success.

Ballet soloists from the Mariinsky, Bolshoi and Mikhailovsky theaters as well as the dancers from the Berlin Ballet and Boston ballet danced on a unique wooden stage that was built in a court yard of an ancient six-centuries old fortress Olavinlinna.

The concert program included the classic heritage of ballet as well as pieces created by contemporary choreographers.

The Finnish audiences not spoilt by ballet events, with a sinking heart watched each pas de deux of the gala. The Russian dancers were surprised by the reaction of the audiences - instead of just applauding and screaming "Bravo!", the people were applauding with their feet for the choreographies they especially loved, like pas-de-deux from Coppelia performed by Misa Kuranaga and James Whiteside, Trois Gnossiennes performed by Anu Viheriaranta and Jose Varga, as well as Spring Waters performed by Irina Perren and Marat Shemiunov.

Dinu Tamazlakaru, a ballet dancer from the Berlin Ballet fascinated the audiences performing a mischievous choreography "Bourgeois", and Joseph Gatti enraptured everybody with elegance and virtuosity of his pas de deux from Le Corsair.

This year the Ballet festival of Savonlinna reached an absolutely new level, having started the cooperation with the well-known International Ballet Festival DANCE OPEN. And the next year St.Petersburg ballet dancers will come to Savonlinna again to shine with the talent and raise the ballet level in Finland.

During the last years the St. Petersburg festival has got improbable international fame, having grown into the International ballet forum with an extensive program. The DANCE OPEN festival has celebrated its 10th anniversary this spring, and it has been recognized by THE INDEPENDENT as one of the ten best European festivals of the spring.