IT and Culture: World premiere of the AR-performance “Mathilde Kschessinska – the Brilliant Reality of Russian Ballet” took place in St. Petersburg

On December 6, 2022, the world premiere of the AR-performance Mathilde Kschessinska – the Brilliant Reality of Russian Ballet took place in the White Hall of the Kschessinska Mansion (the main building of the Museum of Political History of Russia, St. Petersburg). The project of the Public Foundation for the Development of Performing Arts is timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary since the birth of the great Russian ballerina and is implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture using a grant from the Russian Cultural Foundation.

On August 31, 2022, on the day of the 150th anniversary of M. F. Kschessinska, the project of an AR-performance about her was publicly presented for the first time within the framework of the cultural and educational marathon Knowledge of Russia at the Presidential Library. The meeting with representatives of the professional community, Russian museums, theaters and other leading institutions was opened by Acting Director General of the Presidential Library Yuri Nosov and People’s Artist of Russia, Laureate of State Prizes of the Russian Federation Nikolay Tsiskaridze, who heads one of the oldest ballet schools in the world – the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet.

The foundation of the production based on Y. Butunin’s play Be the First! Included historical documents and testimonies, diaries and memoirs of Matilda Kschessinska. The materials were provided by the archives of the Mariinsky Theatre, the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, the Russian State Historical Archive, the St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music, the Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, the State Museum of Political History of Russia, the Presidential Library.

The specific of the AR-performance (AR stands for “augmented reality” – the surrounding reality, augmented with digital, computer objects) is in the way of interacting with viewers through the screen of a mobile device, where the characters – the Kschessinska family, Emperor Alexander III, Baron Freedericksz, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, Diaghilev and others – “come to life” on the tablet screen through virtual (computer) images, as if placed in a real situation. At the same time, the audience also saw the “live” performance of the actors of the drama and musical theaters in the hall, where the AR-play took place. The Russian Dance from the repertoire of Mathilda Kschessinska was included as well. Thus, the “stage” for the viewers of the AR-performances is both the hall and the screen of the tablet received at the entrance to the hall.

The world premiere of the AR-performance with prologue and epilogue Mathilde Kschessinska – the Brilliant Reality of Russian Ballet is the central event of the educational project Diaghilev’s Petersburg Season Plus, dedicated to the double anniversary of 2022 – the 150th anniversary since the birth of Sergei Diaghilev and Mathilde Kschessinska.