XX–XXI a. pradžios lietuviškų baletų dramaturgija
Dramaturgy of the Lithuanian ballets of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries

Summary/Abstract: In the history of the professional Lithuanian ballet which takes its roots in the end of 1925, the original productions based on specially written Lithuanian music have but an insignificant place. During the past eighty eight years, almost 200 ballet performances were produced in the professional theatres in Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda, and among these productions only one tenth were based on original Lithuanian music. The aim of this article is to present and analyse the performances produced on Lithuanian music with a certain dramatic logic. The dramaturgy of the Lithuanian ballet productions of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries is variegated: some ballets were based on the subjects from Lithuanian literature (“Jūratė and Kastytis” by Juozas Gruodis, “Eglė Queen of the Grass Snakes” by Eduardas Balsys, “Cursed Monks” by Justinas Bašinskas), others on classical dramaturg y (“Macbeth” by Osvaldas Balakauskas, “desdemona” by Anatolijus Šenderovas); some ballets were created as a commentary on present-day themes - in one case they are socially and politically engaged (“on the Sea Shore” by Julius Juzeliūnas, “The Burning Cross” by Antanas Rekašius), in other cases they are as associative paraphrases (“In the Whirl of dance” by Vytautas Bacevičius, “acid City” by Mindaugas Urbaitis); some librettos were written trying to romanticize Lithuanian history (“Fiancée” by Juozas Pakalnis, “Audronė” by Juozas Indra) or to confront abstract ideas (“Passions”, “aura” and “alive Forever” by Antanas Rekašius, “The Maiden and the death” by anatolijus Šenderovas, “The Tree of the World” by Bronius Kutavičius), and very rarely to follow the biographical motives of Lithuanian notable persons (“Čiurlionis” by Giedrius Kuprevičius). The variety of dramaturgic themes is reflected in the composition of music (paraphrases of the motives related to the theme, quotation, auto­collage), choreographic forms and scene design. Analysing the dynamics of the productions of Lithuanian ballet performances, it is clear that this musical genre is becoming less and less popular among both composers and choreographers, and the questions of the relationship between the story­line, musical and choreographic dramaturgy are being raised as the necessity of the conceptual unity of all elements of the ballet production.

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