[Show] Exercise XX - Leonid Yakobson [Unknown performance] | Ballet

Описание: Leonid Yakobson (1904–1975) was a Russian choreographer renowned for his innovative approaches to ballet. With his Choreographic Miniatures he combined classical ballet with avant-garde elements, creating a distinctive artistic language. Although his works were often considered too experimental in the Soviet Union and faced significant resistance, he nevertheless left a lasting mark on the history of dance.

One of his most original miniatures is Exercise XX, created in 1971 for his troupe Choreographic Miniatures. Set to music by Bach—sometimes in arrangements, with references also to the Swingle Singers—the piece begins from something deceptively simple: the everyday ballet exercise, familiar to every dancer. At first glance, it might appear as a parody of the “classical concerts” then common in schools or gala demonstrations of technique. In reality, however, it is far more: a programmatic work in which Yakobson transforms the routine classroom exercice into a vivid, theatrical choreography.

The ballet master drew on familiar drills such as pliés or battement tendu, varying tempo, positions, and directions, even introducing new “sixth positions.” Through these playful alterations, he expanded the expressive vocabulary of classical movement, turning pure technique into dance full of imagery and theatricality. Entire new scenes emerged: a humorous allusion to the “Dance of the Little Swans,” a “classroom of mimicry” training the face as much as the body, and a “course in lifts” where refined partnering created inventive stage pictures.

Yakobson’s own “Explanatory Note” to a planned film entitled The Sixth Position underlined that Exercise XX encapsulated the very foundation of his creative method: the transformation of the exercise into a reservoir of choreographic invention. For him, the exercice was not mere craft but raw material for innovation. His method relied on consciously breaking and expanding classical forms—what he called “anticlassicism”—and through improvisation, discovering new stage realities.

The staging of Exercise XX is deliberately simple: a single long barre stands on stage, from which the dancers begin. From this minimal setup unfolds a kaleidoscope of movement, full of shifts in tempo and style, parodic turns, and poetic moments. Everything—technique, mimicry, gesture, and body language—is given equal weight. In the end, the piece is not a mockery of tradition but a hymn to the creative power of classical ballet once it is freed from routine and reimagined anew.