Brand

The directors decided to make a synergy folk dancing, classical ballet and theatre, on the one hand, and show business elements, video projection and special effects, on the other hand. It is also not by chance that the symbol of the new style became a ballet shoe and a little bast shoe.

THE RUSSIAN NATIONAL BALLET “KOSTROMA” TODAY

• The Russian National Ballet “Kostroma” was founded in 1991 and since then it has been working in the genre of traditional folk choreography thus being one of the bearers of the root culture of the peoples populating the Russian Federation. The rehearsal and training grounds of the Ballet is in Kostroma. It must be noted that there have not been any other similar companies founded in post-Soviet times.
• For the last 15 years “Kostroma” Ballet has existed as an autonomous non-profit organization (ANO “The National Ballet “Kostroma”) so it is one of few companies that have taken the advantage of the theatre reform: the Company itself earns up to 70% of the turnover funds necessary to keep its market position and to develop.
• Elena and Yuri Tsarenko, the Ballet’s founders, have created their own signature style of folk choreography conveyed by the Ballet. The perfect combination of delicacy of classic ballet moves and the originality and the colour of national dancing is the result of 25-year old hard work in the genre of folk (root) culture.
• Yuri Tsarenko, an Honoured Art Worker of the Russian Federation, the Artistic director and the Chief Ballet Master of the Ballet, takes the position of the creator while the Ballet artists are associate participants of the dance performances where choreography and genre miniature plays are staged in a logical succession telling the story about Rus, warriors and common people and their acts of bravery, the difficult journey to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and the modern Russia to the audience.
• All the Ballet’s performances promote eternal moral values; they make the statement about civic consciousness, religious tolerance and ethical ideals.
• The Ballet reflects the great diversity of ethnical cultures of the people populating the country. The Ballet itself is a multinational concept representing all the religions practiced by the people in Russia.
• The music in the Ballet’s performances is as clean and melodic as spring waters coming out of the depths of history and Russian grounds, originating from truly Russian stories based on the national epos.
• The team of the “Kostroma” Ballet is a community of talented artists who mastered stage art, not just dancers. The Ballet’s soloists studied at different times in many different educational institutions in Russia and Ukraine: Dnepropetrovsk Theatre College, Abakan Music College, Samara State Academy of Arts, Voronezh College of Choreography, Orel State Institute of Art and Culture, Saratov Region College of Art, Mogilyov State Classic School and College of Arts, Altai State Institute of Culture and Art. Twenty-five young artists are the graduates of “The Governorate Ballet School” ((Dance College)) founded by the Ballet in Kostroma in 2002.
• The Ballet carries out its activities with the support of Kostroma Region Administration, it is subsidized from the Region budget to promote culture and develop professional choreographic education in the Region. New models of state and private partnership to collaboratively solve issues of upbringing, education and culture with the guaranteed organizational and financial support of the Ballet and the (Dance College) are being worked out.
• In 2012 Kostroma Region Administration gave to the Ballet the status of “The National heritage of Kostroma Region”; now it is one of the modern and significant brands of Kostroma Region standing in the same line as some historical brands.
• The Ballet annually gives about 150 solo performances on average. Being an Autonomous Non-profit Organization the Ballet has to be active and innovative when it comes to concert activities.
• The Ballet has given 11 annual summer tours in Moscow with the signature show “The Russian National Dance Show “Kostroma”. It celebrated the 25th anniversary by creating a jewel of its historical and ethnographic career – a monumental performance about the Great History of the Great Country. About one million people from Moscow, other parts of Russia and abroad could see the shows.
• The Ballet in cooperation with the Kostroma Governorate Symphonic Orchestra made their contribution to preserving the historical code of the nationalities of the country with the charity heroic and historical tour of nine Russian hero cities dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. More than 1,000 artists, musicians and volunteers (cadets of military academies) took part in the theatre and dance performance “Back Home with Victory!”. About 10,000 veterans, students, public and mass media representatives had the chance to see the live performances.
• The Ballet is actively involved into charity projects: it cooperates with charity organizations, gives free invitations to its shows to veterans, the disabled, sick children, multiple children families and other less fortunate citizens in Kostroma, Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and other Russian hero cities during its tours in the Volga region and other parts of Russia – all in all 200 Russian cities and towns.
• The Ballet has given tours in 27 countries of the world and the foreign audiences have always welcomed it warmly; so called ‘cultural diplomacy’ is a kind of a locomotive to promote brands “Russia”, “Moscow” and “Kostroma” abroad.
• The Ballet owns more than 8 tons of stage property including 600 unique costumes (17 changes), 300 prompts, up-to-date stage and IT technologies.
• The “Kostroma” Ballet is the developer of the concept of an international and inter- regional “Cultural Centre of Ballet Art” (traditional art) on the base of the existing facilities of choreographic education in Kostroma.
• The Ballet is a part of a large scale project “The Spiritual Health of the Nation” aimed at formation of a whole new attitude to traditional folk (root) culture as a means of spiritual development of ethnic groups; creating aids in the unique but appealing and understandable genre on the basis of the best samples of historical heritage of the multinational state to educate the younger generations; studying and exploring with the help of artistic means how national myths were made, how to preserve historical memory; providing the examples of heroic myths of the present and the past to educate the younger generations strengthening their immunity to fascism and terrorism; promoting love and pride for the Motherland, sense of belonging, patriotism and religious tolerance in the multinational environment; contributing to public physical and spiritual health care, to promote healthy life style, social support, to prevent socially dangerous public behavior, especially amongst the young people.
• “The Governorate Ballet School” ((Dance College)) is the training grounds not only for educating the artists reserves for the Ballet but also for esthetical education and upbringing of children, teenagers and the youth of Kostroma Region and other parts of Russia as well as for refugees from Ukraine. The College provides education for talented children and teenagers who receive state diplomas when they graduate and its teachers attend advanced training courses in the best educational institutions of the country. As for the students, they take part in all-Russian festivals and competitions.
• “The Governorate Ballet School” (Dance College) is one of the executive participants of the Ballet’s project called “The Spiritual Health of the Nation” that provides such educational programmes as “From Children to Children”, “The World Called the Art of Dance”, “The Governorate Ballet School” Opens Its Doors…” and others.
• The Ballet employs 78 artists and administrative staff; ‘The Governorate Ballet School” provides 30 workplaces for teaching personnel and pre-professional and professional education based on the Ballet’s own system for about 200 children and teenagers.
• The year 2016 is an anniversary for the Ballet - it will be 25 years old but it is still young, full of ambitions, ideas and innovative plans. The Mission and the strategy of the Ballet’s development cover the period until 2020. One of the goals for 2017, for instance, is to launch a large international project called “The Dance Overture of the World” for the years 2017 – 2022.
• The foreign press calls the Ballet “a Russian Dance Miracle!” while Russian people speak about the feeling of pride for their Fatherland when they write in the guest books, that now have thousands of pieces of feedback.
• The administration of the Ballet and the leading soloists have titles of honour and awards. The Ballet and its shows have been tested with time and large audiences so there are no doubts in its vitality, creative potential and moral message.