The Presidential Library spotlighted the AR-performance dedicated to Matilda Kshesinskaya’s 150th anniversary

On August 31, 2022, marking the 150th anniversary of the great Russian ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, the Presidential Library hosted a meeting with the creators of the AR-performance “Matilda Kshesinskaya - a brilliant reality of the Russian ballet”. The event was held as part of the cultural and educational project Knowledge of Russia.   

The meeting was open by Acting Director General of the Presidential Library Yuri Nosov and People’s Artist of Russia, laureate of State Prizes of the Russian Federation Nikolai Tsiskaridze, who has been heading one of the oldest ballet schools in the world, the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet.

The video lecture participants learned about the fragments of the script of the AR-performance with the participation of actors from St. Petersburg theaters and members of the Kshesinskaya theatrical dynasty joining it.

The premiere of the AR-performance itself will take place on November 15 in the main building of the State Museum of Political History of Russia - the mansion of M. F. Kshesinskaya, where for the first time multimedia technology will combine drama, music and choreography in the augmented reality (AR) of the museum space associated with Matilda Kshesinskaya. The project is being implemented by the Public Foundation for the Development of the Performing Arts with the financial support of Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, with the use of a grant provided by the Russian Foundation for Culture with the support of the Committee for Culture of St. Petersburg.

Born in the family of a dancer and ballerina, Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya first appeared on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater at the age of 4, and received her first role in ballet at the age of 9. At the graduation party at the Imperial Theater School, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich drew attention to her. He did not miss her performances, showered her with gifts, even presented a mansion. Kshesinskaya shone on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, whose chief choreographer Marius Petipa created dance parts especially for her. In 1911, Kshesinskaya participated in Sergei Diaghilev's Russian Seasons. She danced for the last time in Russia in 1917 on the stage of the Petrograd Conservatory. In exile, she married Grand Prince Andrei Vladimirovich, receiving the title of the Most Serene Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya. In Paris, Matilda Kshesinskaya opened a ballet studio. She lived for almost 100 years, not having lived a few months before the anniversary.

The Presidential Library's collections contain digitized documents of the Directorate of Imperial Theaters of the Ministry of the Imperial Court, part of which are the personal files of the Kshesinskys - Matilda herself, her sister Yulia, brother Joseph and parents - Felix and Yulia Lede (Dominskaya).

At a meeting in the Presidential Library, the authors and participants of the AR-performance were the project producer, member of the International Union of Musicians, general producer of the National Opera Center and the Public Foundation for the Development of Performing Arts Rinat Dulmaganov; scientific adviser of the-AR performance, author and compiler of the book “Matilda and Joseph Kshesinsky. Diaries, Letters, Memoirs”, leading specialist of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet Marina Radina; actor of the AR-performance, actor of the St. Petersburg State Youth Theater on the Fontanka Peter Sevenard; AR-performance consultant, IT journalist and video blogger Andrey Solovyov told about the development of digitalization in choreographic art, about working on an AR-performance, about their experience in studying the biography of a ballerina, her diaries and memoirs, archival and research materials that were included in the AR-script - a performance based on the original play by playwright Yuri Butunin "BE THE FIRST!". The director of the AR-performance was Igor Konyaev, laureate of the State Prize of Russia.