The mysteriously playful and orientally colorful children's ballet "Aladdin" is set to the music of the famous Ukrainian composer Oleksandr Rodin. The play at the Kaunas Music Theater was created by the same team of Ukrainian artists who have already realized this project at the Kyiv City Academic Opera and Ballet Theater for children and youth in 2021, but the war in Ukraine interrupted the play's performances. The libretto based on the fairy tale from the book "A Thousand and One Nights" and its expanded versions in the movies were written by the director Serhii Kon himself. "Miracles, magic bring fun surprises and colors to everyday life. This ballet will involve children in the intriguing world of fairy tales, and will remind the elders of their childhood and restore their faith that everything is possible," hopes the builder S. Kon.
The source of inspiration for the ballet "Aladdin" was the classic of medieval Arab and Persian literature "One Thousand and One Nights", the plots of famous films and animations based on oriental fairy tales. By the way, it was the tale of Aladdin and his magic lamp that entered European translations of the Thousand and One Nights thanks to the French orientalist and archaeologist Antoine Galand (1646-1715) - he included this story after hearing it from the Syrian Maronite Christian and traveler Hanna Diyab (c. 1688 m.), when he was staying in Paris.
The plot of the oriental tale of Aladdin has fascinated many generations of people because it contains important moral and ethical themes: the desire for power and profit, the victory of good over evil, the superiority of wisdom over cunning and hypocrisy, the power of purity of heart. At the heart of the ballet are the stories of the fates of Aladdin, Genie, charming Jasmine, who live in different worlds, and Jafar, who dreams of taking the place of the sultan and becoming the ruler of the world.
The performance aims to emphasize the value of personality: if you are yourself, incredible miracles will become reality.
The ballet was created by combining classical and modern choreography, supplemented with various stylistics and techniques, decorated with elements of oriental dances.
