Saint Petersburg Eifman Ballet, established by Boris Eifman in 1977, was from day one recognized for its new and innovative concept of ballet. The company’s first performances already stirred the interest of the audiences and ballet critics who argued about new tendencies in Russian ballet.

In the 1980’s the choreographer and his company, characterized by an outstanding dance intellect, continued to explore new genres and develop new repertoires which are all distinguished for their strikingly sharp choreographies, intended to express the fiery passion of the ballet characters.

Today St. Petersburg Eifman Ballet is renowned among ballet lovers in Asia, Europe, the Americas and in Australia for such ballets as I, Don Quixote; Red Giselle, Russian Hamlet, Anna Karenina, The Seagull, Eugene Onegin, Rodin, Beyond Sin, Requiem, Up & Down, Tchaikovsky. PRO et CONTRA. These works not only represent the highest artistic level of achievements of contemporary Russian ballet, but also welcome the spectators into the immortal spiritual heritage of Russian and world culture that inspired the choreographer and his dancers. The creativity and innovation of Eifman Ballet and their new interpretations of cultural masterpieces carry a huge educational potential to involve a wide audience into the world of high arts.

Boris Eifman’s endeavor to engage his spectators in the infinite world of human passions, to form a spiritual liaison with the audience, to amaze viewers by the brilliance and dynamism of his plastique – all this has ensured a decades-long success of Eifman Ballet’s performances at leading venues around the globe.

Artistic Director & Founder: Boris Eifman

Boris Eifman is one of the few, if not the only Russian choreographer who’s energetic and brilliant artistic life has been going on for several decades. He has created more than forty ballet performances and obtained honorary titles such as the People’s Artist of Russia, the Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation, the laureate of the Golden Mask and the Golden Soffit, he is also the holder of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, and many international prizes and titles.

The choreographer was born in Siberia and received his ballet degree from the department of choreography of the Leningrad Conservatory. Already in 1977 he set up his own company – the Leningrad New Ballet today known to millions of art lovers as St. Petersburg Eifman Ballet. The choreographer and his outstanding dancers are known for creating the new dance repertory of modern Russia. According to Boris Eifman a new century demands new choreographies that closely reflect the modern human being. Earnestly concerned with the problems of today Boris Eifman openly speaks with his audience about complicated and dramatic aspects of human life; he defines his genre as “psychological ballet”. “Throughout my creative life I’ve been expanding the boundaries of the ballet theatre and, first and foremost, searching for a body language capable of expressing the life of human spirit. Dance isn’t a physical process for me, but a spiritual one”, - says Boris Eifman.

Forming a special and innovative repertoire based upon the rich traditions of Russian psychological theater, and new choreography of the XXI century are among the key priorities within the artistic mission of Boris Eifman and his company.

The Brothers Karamazov
A ballet by Boris Eifman
Based on
The Brothers Karamazov
novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Music: Richard Wagner, Modest Mussorgsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff
Set and costumes: Vyacheslav Okunev
Premiere: April 29, 2013

The Brothers Karamazov novel was the epitome of Dostoevsky’s creative development, the acme of the philosophic investigation carried ut by this colossal and restless mind throughout his life. For the last two decades, observing the march of the contemporary history of our country, I have kept getting convinced again and again of the all-time relevance of this work of literature regarded as the spiritual will and testament of the great writer.
Expanding the potential of body language as a way of exploring the inner world of man, we offer our vision of the key ideas of the novel.

Beyond Sin both carries on and develops the tradition of the psychological ballet art and strives to accomplish another equally complicated task to create a choreographic art equivalent to the subject so masterfully investigated by Dostoevsky that of the racking burden of destructive passions and of bad heredity.

The Beyond Sin ballet is an attempt to study the origins of the moral catastrophe of the Karamazovs, to understand the primal essence of the excessively broad human nature, the mystery of the inner life of human hearts and souls where «God and Devil are fighting». Having, on principle, rejected the idea of putting on stage all story lines of the novel, I focused on the process of creating choreographic insights into the souls of the main characters beset with internal conflicts.

In The Brothers Karamazov there is expressed a pivotal idea: if there is no God then all things are lawful. Our modern times could be comprehensively described with a different expression: God exists, and yet all things are lawful. For this very reason time is now ripe to rethink the issues and problems which haunted Fyodor Dostoevsky and his heroes.

A search for the ways to the happiness of mankind, the price to be paid for such a harmony, the power of vice and sin over man, the nature of true faith one who seriously ponders over these topics simply cannot cherish hopes for attaining absolute truth.But touching upon them we are step by step moving toward a better understanding of ourselves in this imperfect and ever-changing world.

Act I

For all the multitude of differences which divide them, Dmitri, Ivan and Alyosha are linked to each other by invisible threads: for the ‘stinking, sinful’ blood of their father, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, runs in their veins. The monk Alyosha tries in vain to soften the impact of passions which have got out of hand. He is an observer of the bitter rivalry between his father and brother Dmitri for the favors of Grushenka, of his father's constant drunken orgies, of his willingness to entangle everyone in a sin of lust.

A series of scandals are replaced by rare moments of peace, in that the brothers’ hearts are filled with shrill image of the mother, but then feud is erupted with renewed force But not only is Alyosha incapable of helping his nearest and dearest, he too discovers within himself to an increasing degree the despicable traits of ‘Karamazov’.

The whole family is drawn into the battle for Grushenka between Fyodor Pavlovich and Dmitri. Fyodor Pavlovich is killed... and Dmitri is accused of his father's murder.

Act II

Ivan and Alyosha argue endlessly about the meaning of existence and about human soul. Their argument assumes material form in the figures of the Grand Inquisitor and of Christ, who has come back to the sinful world, in the legend composed by Ivan. The Inquisitor-Ivan asserts that only tyranny can give people ‘weak creatures such as they have been created, peaceful, humble happiness.’ But Christ-Alyosha wishes to free people of their fear and to provide them with ‘a free heart so that they may determine what is good and what is evil.’

Grushenka is covered by the sacrificial impulse and desire for the complete purification, she comes to the prison to Dmitri. Innocently convicted, he is hardly going through a separation from his beloved.

Ivan is lacerated by pangs of conscience: he accuses himself of having harbored a wish to kill his father. Reality and fantasy become confused in his mind…

Ivan and Alyosha come to visit Dmitri. Here, in the prison bars, the brothers cognize kinship.

Dmitri has dreams about wedding with Grushenka, but it’s impossible to take her in his arms – the ruthless awakening comes.

Alyosha is unable to watch human suffering and, driven by love for his fellow men, he frees the convicts incarcerated in ‘The House of the Dead’. Their heads reeling from the belief that ‘all things are lawful’ to them, the convicts destroy everything on their path.

The family come to a dreadful end: Fyodor Pavlovich is murdered, Dmitri is in jail, Ivan goes off his head, Alyosha is made responsible for the fate of numerous innocent victims... But, however far sinful man may fall, he may be saved if he repents for his sins.