‘Life
and Death’ ballet to be presented at OCPAC
By Monica Levette Clark
On-line Forty-Niner
 Peter
Ilyitch Tchaikovsky was a man with hidden
secrets, a tormented soul and one grand
ability to create the most beautiful classical
scores. Both ballet dancers and choreographers
loved and adored him. The brilliant musician
and composer died a tragic death and lived
an exciting life on the edge. He was said
to have been a homosexual who had affairs
with dancers and musicians.
Tchaikovsky is most famous for his “Nutcracker
Suite,” and other music heard in the “Nutcracker”
ballet, a favorite ballet that is usually
aired on television the holidays.
This weekend the epic story of Tchaikovsky’s
brilliance and madness will be brought to
life in “Tchaikovsky: The Mystery of Life
and Death,” created by Artistic Director
Boris Eifman.
The dancers of the Eifman Ballet of St.
Petersburg will pirouette, battement and
leap through the many twists and turns exploring
the facets of this brilliant music.
The ballet will premier at the Orange County
Performing Arts Center’s Segerstrom Hall
on Friday and run through Sunday.
The last time the ballet company was at
the performing arts center in Costa Mesa
was in 2001 when it performed “A Russian
Hamlet.”
New York’s Newsday proclaimed the artistic
director to be “a master of narrative movement.”
Eifman’s career as a choreographer reaches
way back in 1966 when he enrolled in the
choreography department of the Leningrad
Conservatory. From there he started creating
renowned ballets such as “Icarus,” and went
on to become a major choreographer for various
ballet academies.
In 1977 he formed his own company which
is still actively performing currently throughout
the world.
Its first performance at the Champs Elysees
Theater in Paris, gained international acclaim.
In 1998 the ballet made its American debut
at New York’s City Center where it is now
a resident ballet company that performs
regularly.
The Chicago Sun-Times called Eifman’s “Tchaikovsky”
thrilling.
Shows for “Tchaikovsky: The Mystery of Life
and Death” are 8 p.m., Friday 2 and 8 p.m.,
Saturday and 2 p.m., Sunday.
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