Sergei Polunin / Nina Ananiashvili // MARGUERITE & ARMAND (Near-Complete Ballet Performance)

Sergei Polunin (Сергей Полунин) and Nina Ananiashvili (Нина Ананиашвили) in Frederick Ashton’s “Marguerite and Armand“. Performed October 10, 2015 at the Moscow State Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre (МАМТ) This is nearly the entire ballet (there are some abrupt cuts into the scenes, where you’ll miss the dancers entering the stage. These cuts mean it also cuts out the interlude orchestral performance.) This is not a professional production. Besides cutting parts of the performance, there are camera focus and shakiness issues. But I’m sharing this video for those who would enjoy seeing it, despite those problems. I found this video on several other video-sharing sites, but haven’t seen it on YouTube, so I wanted to share it here for people to enjoy. ** ABOUT THE BALLET: Marguerite and Armand is a ballet danced to an orchestral arrangement of Franz Liszt’s B minor piano sonata. It was created in 1963 by the British choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton specifically for Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn. The ballet takes its inspiration from the 1848 novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, and other adaptations of the same story such as Giuseppe Verdi’s 1853 opera La traviata. SYNOPSIS: Marguerite Gautier, a Parisian courtesan, lies on her deathbed, gravely ill with tuberculosis. In her delirium she recalls her love affair with a young man named Armand, which the ballet portrays using many dreamlike flashback sequences. In the first flashback, Marguerite, wearing a red dress, is surrounded by admirers and suitors. She lets them flirt with her, but feels no real emotions. Armand enters and falls for Marguerite immediately, and she returns his feelings. At the end of this sequence, Marguerite tests Armand’s love by throwing a white flower to the ground as her wealthy protector leads her away. Another suitor goes to pick up the flower, but when Armand moves to take it, the other man lets him. This symbolizes Marguerite and Armand as a couple. Marguerite, now increasingly ill, deserts her wealthy protector to live in the countryside with Armand. However, Armand’s father asks her to quit her lover; she agrees, but will not tell Armand why she must leave him. A despairing Marguerite is about to leave the country house when Armand enters, and becomes distressed upon seeing her so distraught. A passionate sequence follows, portraying the characters’ love, Marguerite’s sacrifice and Armand’s confusion. Armand, angered by Marguerite’s lack of an explanation, publicly humiliates her by tearing the necklace given to her by her wealthy protector from her neck and throwing it to the floor, and throwing money in her face. In the final scenes, sad and alone, Marguerite waits for inevitable death. However, Armand’s father has revealed the truth to him and Armand makes it back to the apartment to hold Marguerite one last time. She dies in his arms. () *** DISCLAIMER: I don’t own the rights to any of this audio or video footage and have no affiliation with the original content creators. It was shared for entertainment and inspirational purposes only and not for profit, based on my best understanding of Fair Use Law. Source Video: *** If you enjoyed Sergei’s dancing you can follow his Instagram, Facebook, and You Tube page for the latest updates about his performances: Sergei’s You Tube Channel: Sergei’s Instagram: Sergei’s Facebook: Sergei’s Official Website: *** If you enjoyed this video, feel free to like, comment, or share it with others to help more people see it. And, if you’d like to see more Sergei Polunin content, including more of Sergei’s performances not currently available on YouTube, as well as fan-created music videos, feel free to subscribe to get notifications of my new videos. Thanks for watching!