On 21 November, the Astana Ballet Theatre will present an evening dedicated to two powerful and tragic female figures from world culture. Two one-act performances will be presented on this day: “Ma Carmen” and “Salome”, both choreographed by Honoured Figure of Kazakhstan Mukaram Avakhri, DKNews.kz reports.
Both productions offer a female choreographer’s perspective on the timeless themes of love, freedom, passion and self-discovery. This is an evening of ballet by the author Mukaram Avakhri, who reveals the nature of femininity, its powerful energy and contradictory beauty, in a new way.
“Ma Carmen” constitutes an original reinterpretation of the legendary image of Carmen, who is widely regarded as a symbol of freedom and fortitude. The stage is devoid of familiar male characters; only the female cast is present. Male characters are replaced by abstract mannequins, while thoughts about them are presented as quotations from poets and philosophers, projected onto the stage.
Mukaram Avakhri’s Carmen is a depiction of a woman who transcends time and nationality. The five facets of the heroine’s personality, represented by different colours (blue, pink, yellow, red and black), reveal various aspects of her character, ranging from confidence and flirtatiousness to despair and emotional intensity.
The performance of “Ma Carmen”, as presented by the Astana Ballet, exhibits a remarkable level of originality in its choreographic and set design elements. This production evokes a profoundly sensual and humanistic atmosphere, a rarity in contemporary productions. The performance is interesting to the spectator who is looking for entertainment and, if we may say so, to the thinking viewer, who, after watching it, will come closer to solving the Freudian question: “What is a woman looking for and what does she want?”, says ballet critic and art critic Ulkar Aliyeva about the performance.
By combining the aesthetics of neoclassical and contemporary dance, the choreographer turns the performance into a philosophical reflection on the nature of women's freedom and self-awareness.
In the second performance of the evening, the ballet Salome, the choreographer draws upon the biblical narrative in Oscar Wilde’s interpretation, creating a metaphorical canvas that explores the collision of Spirit and Matter, Light and Darkness.
The primary character is not simply a femme fatale, but rather a woman whose preoccupation with love and power culminates in self-destruction.
The performance’s movement language is replete with symbolism and allusions, with the movements of Salome and John transforming into a choreographic dialogue of life and death, temptation and faith. The original staging solutions employed, ranging from light contrasts to scenic metaphors (a throne, a scarlet cloth, an inverted cross), endow the ballet with the grandeur befitting a biblical tragedy.
The musical compositions of the Turkish composer Fazil Say contribute to the production’s oriental expression and emotional depth, while the expressive movements of the performers – Nathalia Fernandes Menes (Salome), Erkanat Ermagambet (Herod), Riza Kanatkyzy (Herodias) and Sundet Sultanov (John) – render the performance truly dramatic.
Mukaram Avakhri creates a unique theatrical world in which every image, gesture and musical accent contributes to a single statement about women: their strength, passion and ability to inspire.
This evening, the audience will enjoy more than just ballet; they will experience an emotional journey where modern interpretations replace traditional conventions, and dance becomes a language of inner freedom.
