St Petersburg Ballet’s Irina Kolesnikova invents the #Instaballet dress rehearsal
Prima ballerina Irina Kolesnikova returns to the London stage this week with the world premiere of her new ballet Her Name Was Carmen. Tonight she is shunning traditional photographers and inviting Instagrammers to come along to the London Coliseum at 7pm to capture exclusive behind the scenes content and see her dress rehearsal a whole 72 hours before the rest of the world.
It’s a bold move as she is in the final stages of setting up for the world premiere of her adaptation of the old classic Carmen, but the outspoken prima ballerina hopes to reshuffle the traditional arts hierarchy by giving a peek into a performer that is more authentic and realistic.
“This is a very contemporary production,” she explained, “exploring a present-day issue – the global refugee crisis – so we want to communicate with a contemporary audience, and Instagram is the natural language in which to do that. Ballet is the only ‘high art’ to have found a niche among the predominantly young Instagram audience – naturally as it’s such a visually stunning medium – and what we’re doing is our way of acknowledging the support of Instagrammers for the art form.”
The open photo call – a ballet and London Coliseum first – will take place at 19.00 on Monday 22 August in the front row of the stalls of the iconic venue. Using #BalletShot Instagrammers will be able to join the world’s media and capture exclusive behind the scenes content and have a first look of Her Name Is Carmen before its world premiere on Thursday 25 August.
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