I was reading Behind Ballet, a website that is really useful for a budding ballerina who wants to learn about ballet from around the world. They feature a lot of modern ballets, and ones that aren't your standard Swan Lake. Anyway, I was reading, and they did a feature about a ballet called Petrouchka.
The Ballet begins in Maslenitsa, a Russian carnival. Suddenly, the drummers announce he appearance of the Charlatan. The Charlatan introduces three lifeless puppets, a ballerina, a moor, and Petrouchka. He catches the crowd's attention when he casts a spell on the puppets with his magic flute, making them come alive. The puppets jump up, and begin to do a happy dance for the amazed crowd.
Back in the little theater, after the show, Petrouchka was kicked roughly into his cell. As Petrouchka is a puppet, he still feels human emotions, like sadness because of his abuse by the Charlatan, and love for the ballerina. Petrouchka is reminded by the Charlatan that he is only a puppet, and, out of anger, tries to escape from his cell, but fails. Petrouchka leads a dismal life behind the curtains.
As the ballerina enters the room, Petrouchka admits his love for her, but she rejects him, and quickly leaves the room. She enters the moor's room, as he has a much better "life" than Petrouchka. He had a spacious room, comfy couches, and exotic flowers. The ballerina is attracted to the moor, and begins to dance with him.
Petrouchka finally escapes, and finds the ballerina dancing with the moor. Petrouchka attacks the moor, but he soon realizes that he is too weak. The moor begins to chase him, and he beats up Petrouchka. He soon escapes from the moor, but only by running out of the theater.
Petrouchka runs out through the carnival, with the moor in hot pursuit, this time, with his sword. The crowd is horrified when the moor slays Petrouchka with on stroke. As the police start to crowd, they question the Charlatan. The Charlatan lifts up the lifeless body of Petrouchka, and shakes him rapidly, reminding the crowd that he was only a puppet.
The crowd begins to disappear, and the Charlatan walks back to the theater with Petrouchka. Suddenly, a ghost appears on the roof of the theater. It is the ghost of Petrouchka, and the Charlatan is so terrified, he runs away, leaving the audience to wonder, who is real, who is not.
I got the information about today's ballet at this website.
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