Prima ballerina (A Dedication to the Anniversary of Elvira Mnatsakanyan, Peoples Artist of Armenia)

Abstract

PhD Doctor of Arts, Lead Researcher at the NAS of the RA, Nazenik Gagik Sargsyan. - Prima ballerina (A Dedication to the Anniversary of Elvira Mnatsakanyan, Peoples Artist of Armenia). The "Golden Age" of Armenian ballet, spanning the period from the 1960s to the end of the 1980s, was inseparably linked to the creative work of Elvira Mnatsakanyan, the first soloist of the A. Spendiaryan State Opera and Ballet Theater, the People's Artist of Armenia. For thirty-three years, Elvira Mnatsakyanan was the leading ballerina of the Spendiaryan Theater. Would be impossible to list all the ballet performances where she was performing the leading roles. This would mean listing all the performances of the entire repertoire of the theater in 1966-1999, which included around forty titles. Elvira Mnatsakanyan has been working with many choreographers, however, the meeting with Asaturyan proved to be life changing. She became not only the cpreographer's wife, but also his closest friend, and his muse. Ashot Asaturyan has created more than ten performances, taking into account Mnatsakanyan's dance and artistic style, with versatile and dramatic characters developed specifically for her. Today, Elvira Mnatsakanyan, the People's Artist of Armenia teaches at the Yerevan State Choreographic College, and is also a ballet master-tutor at the A. Spendiaryan Opera and Ballet Theater.