Coppelia

Ballet in three acts

Choreography by Alexander Gorsky in a version by German Shishkin

The ballet was written in 1870. This version was first performed in Perm in 1980. It was revived in 2006. Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes including 2 intervals

Joint project by the Perm State Choreographic College and the Tchaikovsky Perm Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre

French composer Léo Delibes went down in the history of music as a ballet reformer. All that remains in the libretto from the original source — Hoffmann’s mystical novella The Sandman — is the story of the master Coppelius, who made a doll so lifelike that all the young men in the city fell in love with it. The plot centres around a couple: Franz and Swanhilde. To win back her fiancé’s love, Swanhilde gets into the master’s house and dresses up as the doll Coppelia. The mysticism turns into a joke and the drama into vaudeville. The instrumental variety, the large number of pantomime scenes, and the alternation of classical and folk dances make Coppelia an ideal test for dancers at the beginning of their careers.