Context Festival

About the Show

M.ART presents the first UK showcase of the CONTEXT festival, established by Diana Vishneva, featuring the best of Russian contemporary choreography. Showcasing the best of Russian contemporary choreography, CONTEXT programme features world premieres, rare collaborations and critically acclaimed productions by both recognized and emerging choreographers. Having taken Moscow and Saint Petersburg by storm, CONTEXT starts its international tour in London in spring 2019. The audience will have a unique and extremely rare opportunity to see Diana Vishneva perform on a London stage. One of the greatest ballet dancers of our time, Diana is the founder and art director of the CONTEXT festival, prima ballerina at the Mariinsky Theatre, guest soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre and ex-principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre. Together with her regular partner and friend Marcelo Gomes, one of top male dancers in the world, Russian prima Diana Vishneva will present a piece Vertigo by Mauro Bigonzetti. Excerpts from Kirill Serebrennikov’s ballet Nureyev that premiered on the main stage of the Bolshoi Theatre in December 2017, will be shown outside of Russia for the first time. A story of the prodigious dancer, who fled USSR for the West, has been adapted by director Kirill Serebrennikov, a daring force of Russian avant-garde theatre. The UK premiere of Asunder ? a special production commissioned by the CONTEXT festival in 2017, staged by renowned Spanish choreographer Goyo Montero with the best dancers of Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre to the music of Wagner, Chopin and contemporary composer Owen Belton. A carefully curated program of dance productions by a new generation of choreographers who are shaping contemporary Russian dance scene. London audiences will see the works by the winners of Context Lab competition, including Vladimir Varnava, Olga Vasilieva, Konstantin Keikhel and Pavel Glukhov. These internationally recognized Russian names feature in jury panels of top international theatrical awards, while their dance works can be seen as part of repertoires of musical theatres in Russia and around the world.