Duo

In Duo, music and dance exist in dialogue, complementing and enriching each other. The work is based on the idea of ambivalence, duality, variability of events. This is a story about how two different paths diverge from a common starting point, about contact with Another, and finding your own reflection in it, about meeting yourself face to face.
The concept of the project was born in the dialogues of the dancers and the choreographer: through the points of contact of the professional lives of two ballerinas, two Mariinsky theatre primas, two artists — through reflection and choreographic interpretation of experience in the past and present, a narrative line emerged.
Diana Vishneva: 'For me, this is not just an interesting duet or a desire to expand the repertoire, but a search for mental, internal partnership. Daria is also an artist who does not stop, continues to search and try, and is open to new things. An artist who is able to see wider contexts and get out of the usual comfort zone of a classical ballerina. We share similar views on this.'

Daria Pavlenko: 'It is very interesting for me to work with Diana, the duet with her is fascinating not only physically, but also psychologically — on an emotional and sensual level. Our partnership is full of trust, it is complementary and mutually enriching — it gives us both an impulse to shine brighter.'
Duo is a story which gives the viewer their own reflection. The musical solution of the performance created by musicAeterna resident composer Alexey Retinsky is connected with the disclosure of the image of a person's journey inside himself: 'The folklore component of ballet music appeals to archetypes that are so difficult to realize, but permeate everything and everyone. The piano trio brings the dance to the multi-coloured genre palette, showing the way through the labyrinths of drama. Electronics expands the emotional field of dancers, bringing it to an ecstatic renewal,' explains Alexey Retinsky.
The costume designer of the performance Duo was Svetlana Tegin, the creative director and founder of TEGIN Fashion House. Specifically for Diana Vishneva and Daria Pavlenko, she designed costumes that transform during the dance action.