The Sedona International Film Festival presents Ballet in Cinema on Sunday, Nov. 23 when it hosts the big screen premiere of “The Legend of Love” from the famed Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. There will be one show at 4:00 p.m. at the festival’s Mary D. Fisher Theatre.
This splendid tale of forbidden love, self-sacrifice, jealousy and suffering returns to the Bolshoi stage after a ten-year absence. “The Legend of Love” is one of Russian master Yuri Grigorovich’s earliest choreographic works, and its storyline explores the conflict between love and duty through its two heroines.
The royal apartments of Queen Mekhmene Banu are plunged into mourning – her young sister, Princess Shyrin, is dying. The Princess will only be saved if the Queen gives Shyrin her beauty. The Queen decides to sacrifice herself, but later regrets her action when she is disfigured and Shyrin falls in love with the Queen’s own lover, the painter Ferkhad.
Featuring dance movements, sets and costumes inspired by the Middle East, this stunning ballet, which uses pure dance to tell the story, is further enriched by the talent of the Bolshoi troupe.
In 1961, Grigorovich choreographed one of his first ballets, “The Legend of Love”, at the Kirov Theatre. He was then quickly invited to the Bolshoi to stage it there. From then on, he remained at the Bolshoi for thirty years as an artistic director.