Ogunquit News
Ogunquit Performing Arts presents "The Red Shoes"
"The Red Shoes" is coming to the Ogunquit Playhouse on Sept. 17. Pictured here, the ensemble of the Bossov Ballet Theatre dances to celebrate the shiny red shoes brought to life in Hans Christian Anderson's classic fairytale.
Courtesy photo
Ogunquit Playhouse on Sept. 17 at 3 p.m., the culminating event of this year's Capriccio festival of the arts.
According to OPA, while many dancers claim to be choreographers, few have the solid background and creative spirit of Andrei Bossov, who choreographed this production of "The Red Shoes."
The story of the Hans Christian Anderson fairytale "The Red Shoes" achieved a special place as a result of the superb 1948 movie starring Moira Shearer.
Like the movie, Bossov's vision of the story is, according to Michael Wyly, executive director of the ballet company, "the art-imitates-life reality of what happens to a dancer seized by the dance spirit."
Selected at a very young age to attend the State Institute of Art and Theatre and the St. Petersburg Academic Ballet School in Russia, Bossov climbed the ballet ladder very rapidly to become a principal "danseur" with the Kirov Ballet, a position he held for 20 years.
Concurrently, he was a highly respected teacher and choreographer at the much-admired St. Petersburg Vaganov Academy.
"With these credentials it is no wonder that Mr. Bossov has become an icon in the ballet world," Ogunquit Performing Arts Chairman Stuart Nudelman noted in the organization's announcement of the upcoming event. "But Andrei Bossov is more, much more than credentials. Dance is his life, and when it comes to dance for Bossov, perfection is the only way."
Nudelman pointed out - with astonishment - that Bossov spent six hours on the road to confer with lighting director Rich Latta and his crew at the Ogunquit Playhouse for 45 minutes to make certain that all was in order for the Sept. 17 performance.
More than energetic dancing, colorful sets and a solid musical score, the Ogunquit performance of "The Red Shoes" promises to be especially noteworthy and memorable because of Bossov's performance as the ballet master.
Given the rave reviews that the ballet received at its world premiere at the University of Maine's Hauck Auditorium as well as Bossov's international reputation, Bossov Ballet Theatre's performance of "The Red Shoes" looms as the dance event in southern Maine not to be missed.
Tickets are $16 and are available at the Ogunquit Playhouse, Ogunquit Camera Shop, Ogunquit Welcome Center and the Dunaway Center, and will available at the box office the night of the performance. There is plenty of free parking at the playhouse.
