The Great Gatsby - Ballet show

On November 13th and 14th, in Riga, the Latvian National Opera stage will host the collaboration project of Ukrainian Classical Ballet and Complexions Contemporary Ballet (USA) – a ballet show inspired by "The Great Gatsby."

The ballet performance "The Great Gatsby" is a stage adaptation of the famous work by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald – a novel brought to life through dance.

"The Great Gatsby" is a story of love and dreams, betrayal and death, and the high price paid when one remains faithful to a single dream for too long. The story is conveyed through dance and music.

The novel "The Great Gatsby" has been translated into over 30 languages, but this is the first time it is presented in contemporary ballet language. Moreover, it has been choreographed by contemporary dance luminaries - Denys Matviienko, Dwight Rhoden, and Clifford Williams.

The ballet "The Great Gatsby" was created through the collaboration of two notable contemporary dance companies - Ukrainian Classical Ballet from Kyiv and New York's "Complexions Contemporary Ballet." This ambitious and highly successful project, which premiered in October 2014, has already toured in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cannes, Paris, Geneva, Vienna, and other European cities, captivating hundreds of thousands of spectators. Now, it has been revitalized thanks to the efforts of the artists themselves and the support provided by their friends from various countries around the world.

Denys Matviienko remains the leading soloist and artistic director of this production. He is a star of the "La Scala" and the American Ballet Theatre, the only dancer in the world to have won four international ballet competition Grand Prix. As a guest soloist, he has performed in leading ballet theaters worldwide - from Tokyo to Paris and New York, and he is hailed as a combination of Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev, and Alexander Godunov.

The creation of the show involved one of the most sought-after contemporary ballet choreographers today, Dwight Rhoden. "Dwight Rhoden introduced street culture's sharpness into choreography. He took ballet technique - and broke its rules. He made ballet sexy, captivating, and joyful. In his pas de deux, you can see the kind of relationships between a man and a woman from which dreams are woven," said actor and star of the romantic drama "Dirty Dancing," Patrick Swayze, about Rhoden.

"We wanted to step back from the 1920s of 'The Great Gatsby' era as far as possible while still feeling the touch of its contemporary and unrepeatable charm," commented Rhoden on the project. "We have invested over a year of work into this project. It was crucial for me to find dancers who could simultaneously convey the nerve of contemporary choreography and the strength of classical dance."

The ballet's music, composed by Konstantin Meladze, provides a contemporary interpretation of the 1920s American jazz and its sense of freedom.