BACK TO THE FUTURE

It has to be admitted that there are extremely few works of opera and ballet for children, not only in the Azerbaijani theatre, but throughout the world. It is interesting however that everyone, especially the authors of well-known musical works, including eminent composers who have devoted their lives to composing operas and ballets, have, in stressing the importance of getting children accustomed to serious classical music, recommended using works like this to shape their musical taste. One interesting question that does arise is how fair is it to demand of teenagers who have hardly reached adulthood that they should possess high-level aesthetic taste, if an interest in works and in productions featuring their favourite fairy-tale characters has not been nurtured in them back in their childhood? In the next few days the Azerbaijan Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet will enrich its repertoire with yet another production for children. The posters invite them to see the ballet "Chernushka" ["The Dark-Haired Girl"], which was last staged approximately 50 years ago. The ballet by the composer Ashraf Abbasov is based on the story of the same name by the eminent Azerbaijani writer Suleyman Sani Akhundov. The author of the libretto is the composer Afrasiyab Badalbeyli.

Another "Chernushka"

It is interesting that half a century ago a 40-metre-length film "Chernushka" was very popular at cinemas. It was based on the story of the same name, the most emotional of the series of "Scary Stories" written by S. S. Akhundov a century ago. But today this work is on the repertoire of two theatres in Baku, the Azerbaijan State Academic National Theatre and the Azerbaijan State Theatre of Young Spectators. Although the story's main plot and and leitmofit have been retained in the ballet production, some changes have been introduced in keeping with the features peculiar to the genre. Here the character Tutu, who went missing owing to an accident that happened to his relatives and who grew up in a gypsy encampment and is much-loved by millions has been left out, and the main female character Chernushka is no longer a little girl, but a fully grown girl. This girl already knows what it is to fall in love and comes up against her beloved's betrayal owing to social inequality. In his time, even the composer himself said that, when he was thinking about composing a ballet, he wished to have profound characters in it, and this change is completely in keeping with the spirit of the ballet's music which he was intending to compose. Bringing everlastingly contradictory ideas like love and apathy, selflessness and heartlessness, life and death in the name of humankind to the fore in a stage production spurs on the conflict in the production's plot. Taking this as his starting point, the composer wants the libretto to differ somewhat from the work itself. Therefore new characters and dramatic sub-plots, including the love story between Chernushka and Pyarviz bek [the feudal lord], have been added.

"Chernushka" which is considered to be the first Azerbaijani ballet for children, was first staged on 15 September 1965. 

People's Artiste of the USSR Afrasiyab Badalbeyli, the conductor of the production staged by People's Artiste of the USSR Gyamyar Almaszade, was himself the author of the libretto, and the artist and producer was Anvar Almaszade. The main parts in the first production were played by Leyla Velikova (Chernushka) and Chimnaz Babayeva (Agdzha khanum), whose names have gone down in the history of Azerbaijani ballet art in gold lettering. Strange as it may seem, there has not been a new, revised version of the production over the past 51 years. This means that, after the first production, the ballet "Chernushka" was on the repertoire for a few years, but then forgotten.

The fruit of a joint effort

Finally, this year at the theatre they decided to revive this production with its interesting libretto and splendid music. Merited Artiste of Azerbaijan, choreographer Samir Samedov, who has staged several ballet productions in different European countries, has made a number of changes to the libretto. For example, the scene where Chernushka recalls her childhood has been moved to the start of the ballet. This logical sequence makes it possible to disclose the difficult fate of main character in the work. As an adherent to classical ballet traditions, the choreographer has managed to combine classical ballet principles such as solo variations, classical adagios and group dances involving four or eight dancers with elements of choreographic drama such as pantomime gestures and mime. In actual fact, it is precisely these elements that distinguish the solo performances in the production from the ordinary dance numbers. Moreover, whereas the production is mainly envisaged for children, there have to be many choreographic elements to the drama in order to hold the attention of the little spectators. The main dances in the production are performed by young soloists - Grand Prix winner of the Gyamyar Almaszade International Competition in May, Jamil Kerimov, and Timur Odushev who won the first prize in that competition.

Since we have seen these young ballet artistes before, performing the main dances in other productions, people felt sure that they would manage to perform well in the new production. The Chernushka-Pyarviz pas de deux attracted attention, first and foremost because the dancers displayed complete mutual understanding of their parts.

Pantomime elements can widely be seen in the production in the gestures of Pyaridzhakhan khanum (Sabina Abdullayeva) expressing her dominance, in the gait of the Governess (Yelena Chernousova) and in the old man's dance of Piri baba (Faig Gumbatov). It would be appropriate for the ballet master and producer to use this element in the ball games' scene. After seeing how the feudal lords' descendants play it, Chernushka joins in the game that was regarded as a symbol of unity and friendship when she was a child. But this time the essence of the game changes. Each of them tries to show Chernushka that she is not one of their circle and to demonstrate their contemptuous attitude towards her. Only Agdzha khanum, danced by Elmira Suleymanova, is sincere in her feelings towards Chernushka. The girl friends' pas de deux imparts a special meaning to the production. Alsu Gimadiyeva performed the dance of the good-natured gypsy Yasamyan in a passionate and highly professional manner. Anar Takhirov managed to create an interesting and superb depiction of the greedy, cruel Yusif in his dance. 

Fifty years later the Theatre of Opera and Ballet has injected new life into the ballet "Chernushka", one of the splendid examples of Azerbaijani classical music. A production has appeared that is the outcome of a joint effort by choreographer Samir Samedov, artist Yusif Babayev, the production's chief conductor and supervisor People's Artiste Dzhavanshir Dzhafarov and his troupe. We hope that the new production will last for many years.