Heros of Our Time

In 2015 the ballet "A Hero of Our Time" was produced by by the avant-garde drama theatre director Kirill Serebrennikov and choreographed by the former Bolshoi principal, now the esteemed American choreographer, Yuri Possokhov.

Based on Lermontov's novel, three of the five parts which make up the novel, have been chosen for the ballet — Bela, Taman, and Princess Mary. And in each one of these parts, Pechorin is quite different. He is turned into a so-called superfluous man through circumstance, age, and personal experience. In Bela, the eldest Pechorin is seen through the eyes of another character, while in Taman and Princess Mary, he speaks for himself, via his diary. 

Last Thursday Igor Tsvirko, Artem Ocharenko and Alexandr Volchkov performed all these different guises. Though there can be no question that all the Pechorins are an integrated character. The ballet was finalised with their heart-breaking male pas de trois where the three Pechorins were combined and separated again.

Photo © Sergei Kruk — Igor Tsvirko, Artem Ovcharenko and Alexandr Volchkov as Pechorins in Bela, Taman and Princess Mary respectively

Photo © Sergei Kruk — Lead dancers in Part Taman: Anton Savichev (Yanko), Ekatrina Shipulina (Undine), Artem Ovcharenko (Pechorin), and Georgy Gusev (Blind boy)

Photo © Sergei Kruk — Igor Tsvirko, Artem Ovcharenko and Alexandr Volchkov at the final curtain call