"The Ladies of Avignon"

On February 7, at 7 p.m., the ballet troupe of the National Opera of North Macedonia will present a ballet in 9 scenes "The Ladies of Avignon", inspired by the painting of the same name by Picasso, dedicated to his muses. The choreography is developed against the background of the author's music by Kaliopi Boucle, in which instruments and musical motifs from all over the world are used. Although it is defined as modern, the performance carries the main elements of classical ballet. “While I was staring at one of my dreams in Picasso's The Ladies of Avignon, a fly landed on the canvas. She began to buzz, flying from one end of the painting to the other and examining it with curatorial precision. Touching the image, she recreated it, humming. At that moment, in my dream, I sketched the text of "The Ladies of Avignon"" - says the author of the libretto, Sasho Dimoski.

In the main roles, the Plovdiv audience will see prima ballerinas Aleksandra Mijalkova and Mimi Pop-Aleksova Atanasovska and ballet soloists of the National Opera and Ballet of North Macedonia.

The choreographer and director of the performance is the director of the Ballet of the National Opera and Ballet in Skopje, Olga Pano. She is the most established ballet choreographer in her country. Pango is a prima ballerina, choreographer and ballet teacher. She graduated from the National Ballet School in Skopje, North Macedonia. In 2005 graduated with a master's degree from AMTII Plovdiv as a ballet master, ballet teacher and choreographer. Since 2017, he has been the director of the Ballet of the National Opera and Ballet of North Macedonia. He is a jury at prestigious international ballet competitions, conducts seminars and master classes in the country and abroad. He has authored choreographies in a number of ballet, drama and opera productions, as well as in musicals, cabarets and operettas.

The tour of the ballet troupe of the National Opera of North Macedonia is at the invitation of Opera Plovdiv and is carried out with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria. As part of the cultural exchange, Opera Plovdiv will present "The Long Christmas Dinner" in Skopje a week later. The National Ballet of North Macedonia and its soloists are familiar to the audience of OPERA OPEN with their participation in the performances "Don Quixote", "Swan Lake" and "Anna Karenina".

Tickets for "The Ladies of Avignon" are sold at the Opera box office, the Eventim network and online at eventim.bg.