An Evening of Ballet on 16 September will feature masterpieces of world choreography: Michel Fokine’s Chopiniana, alongside Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort and Sechs Tänze. To prepare these iconic productions for their return to the stage, assistant choreographer Shirley Esseboom and technical director Joost Biegelaar have arrived at Astana Opera. 
These ballets entered the company’s repertoire during the 2022–2023 seasons on the initiative of Altynai Asylmuratova, People’s Artist of Russia and artistic director of the Astana Opera Ballet. Specialists from the Netherlands are currently working to revive the productions, with their primary focus on meticulously restoring the choreographic text and the original lighting design. The Jiří Kylián Foundation stringently monitors the precision of every performance, as even well-rehearsed material requires verification against the original source over time. Maintaining these signature productions in pristine condition is a testament to the company’s high professional standards.
Assistant choreographer Shirley Esseboom speaks of her collaboration with the Astana Opera dancers with genuine warmth and admiration. Kazakh ballet masters had already laid the foundational groundwork, enabling her to focus immediately on polishing the finer details with jeweller-like precision.
“Upon my arrival, I was delighted to see how well the local ballet masters had prepared the dancers – they already had the entire choreographic text ‘in their bodies’, as they say. Our current focus is purely on refining the style and subtle nuances. It is wonderful to see the very young dancers who are just being introduced to these roles; they are so eager to learn and are truly passionate about their craft, making them a joy to work with,” says Shirley Esseboom. “Our main emphasis is on capturing the specific style. In Sechs Tänze, for instance, acting is key. The dancers need to step away from their usual academic precision and lean much more into grotesque humour and vivid theatrical eccentricity. Technically, the company is highly accomplished, so we are now shifting our attention towards dramatic expression,” the repetiteur commented. 
Shirley Esseboom emphasized that keeping the ballets exactly as the choreographer originally intended is a matter of principle: the performance must remain alive, but strictly within the framework of the original source.
“The dancers who have already performed these roles have retained the material beautifully. Nevertheless, fine details and the original context can fade over time. When a ballet is performed repeatedly, movements inevitably become automatic. Our goal is to return to the conceptual core and the essence of the creator’s vision, ensuring that every movement on stage carries a clear intention,” the ballet master explained. “Since my last visit, the dancers have grown significantly. One can see their scenic maturity, the depth of their character interpretation, and a much more precise understanding of the choreography. This difference in awareness and stage presence is particularly striking when comparing the seasoned principal dancers with the younger generation. It is this professional maturity in dancers that I value most,” Shirley Esseboom concluded. 
Thanks to the meticulous collaboration between the Dutch team and the Kazakh company, audiences will experience two contrasting productions from Jiří Kylián’s famous Black and White ballet series, set to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: the profound, sensual Petite Mort and the ironic, expressive Sechs Tänze. Their premieres at Astana Opera (in 2023 and 2022 respectively) were major cultural milestones, introducing the capital’s public to an entirely new choreographic lexicon. The revival of these ballets to the stage will introduce an even wider Kazakh audience to the outstanding choreographer’s unique visual aesthetic and keen theatrical humour.
The evening’s programme will open with Michel Fokine’s Chopiniana, set to the music of Frédéric Chopin – a choreographic poem that represents the ultimate expression of Romantic ballet. The production first entered the company’s repertoire in 2018, staged by the artistic director of the ballet company and international ballet star, Altynai Asylmuratova.
“Michel Fokine was one of the most eminent choreographers of the 20th century, and his ballet holds a permanent place in our repertoire alongside other global masterpieces. Drawing on immense experience rooted in the traditions of the classical school, he developed ballet across a variety of styles. Chopiniana is, above all, a Romantic ballet. It features numerous waltzes and mazurkas, demanding a dance that is soaring, like a weightless haze, reconstructing an enchanted world of dreams,” noted People’s Artist of Russia Altynai Asylmuratova.
The Astana Opera Symphony Orchestra will perform this evening under the baton of Elmar Buribayev.
The performance begins at 7 pm.