Luxurious black stallion Zingaro has the beautiful body of a perfect, ideal "son of an actor who has chosen the profession of a father." This "gypsy", born in Belgium (the word "zingaro" means "gypsies"), pranced at all the performances of his famous host from the birth of the circus "Allegre" until the creation three years later of the equestrian theater, named after him, "Zingaro". Zingaro is the first horse of Bartabas, who at that time was not yet that famous "rider-choreographer" that makes us daydream today.
The performances of the Bartabas Theater excite the audience so much, because the love for horses in them is a real religion. A man of art becomes a poet and philosopher: "A horse is a mirror that reflects our actions and our mistakes. It sees us as if from the inside and feels our strength and our mood. A man on a horse is a union of mind and instinct."

Bartabas admits that he is self-taught, although he studied at different schools: riding, circus art and the art of bullfighting; and everywhere he found a particle of what later gave originality to his equestrian theater. Bartabas is a hypersensitive person who reacts sharply to everything; he moves forward on instinct. His great power is the ability to listen and hear horses. Since the existence of the Zingaro Theater, the main idea of ​​​​his performances has been the relationship between a man and a horse, and the plot of the performance is just an excuse for reflection.

Everything in Bartabas suggests a centaur. He himself was wild and violent at the beginning of his career, then calmed down in everyday coexistence next to horses. Today's maestro Bartabas is very close to the wise centaur Chiron.
Zingaro and Bartabas are very similar in some ways. None of them were born to be artists.
Both are inherent in black, only one wears a black skin, similar to black velvet, while the other hides this blackness in the depths of his twilight and at the same time ardent velvet eyes.

Both, horse and man, know each other so well that they can indulge in the highest chic and pleasure: improvisation. They are allies, and therefore Zingaro often even takes the lead in the scenes of the play, where he acts like a real star! At the start of their career together, Bartabas had Zingaro thrown off his back and landed among the terrified yet fascinated spectators. A few years later, in the finale of Eclipse, Zingaro remained alone in the arena and sat in the center light circle formed by spotlight beams. And this luxurious jewel of the color of obsidian in snow-white, with a mother-of-pearl tint, was patiently and imperturbably waiting for the hall to burst into applause. This imperious stallion, impudent, even impudent and arrogant at the beginning of his career, turned over time into a horse-king, into a clot of incomprehensible mystery, which the light snatches out of the darkness and outlines with jewelry precision.

Zingaro, bought by Bartabas in 1984 as a one-year-old or one-year-old, never walked during performances of the equestrian theater under saddle, even Bartabas himself did not ride him, although he is the "chief ceremonial master" there. Zingaro has been an emblem, a symbol of the equestrian theater for fifteen years of its existence; but the troupe during this time was replenished with another three dozen horse artists. In the stalls, 29 horses of 17 different breeds have become neighbors of the black stallion of the Friesian breed, and all of them show themselves as full-fledged artists. They really compete with each other in grace.
At the age of 17, Zingaro left the stage. He died in December 1998, far from his homeland, away from a friend, despite all the worries. But he forever remained the soul of the theater, bearing his name across borders and through time.

Friends - Associates!

My name is Evgeny Tkachuk, I want to tell you about my equestrian drama theater called "VelesO".

There is such slavic god Veles is the cattle God and the patron of all poets and musicians, hence our name came from.

We are recruiting a team!

We need grooms, groomers, trainers, administrators, actors, musicians, poets and all those who feel what they want and can be useful!

In July, we plan to launch a laboratory for the study of equestrian drama theatre. The recruitment will take place in three stages:

Anyone who wants to try themselves and experiment with us, please send your resume to the address: .

Your resume must:

Tell about yourself;

Highlight your creative and professional experience;

Answer the question: what is equestrian drama theater?

Waiting for you!

Creating an equestrian theater is my old dream, the embodiment of which I have been doing almost all my life. main idea- this is the production of such performances in which the horses are self-sufficient artists, and not just performers of tricks. The person, in turn, in such productions acts as a framing and, most importantly, guiding element. Our theater combines actors, directors, artists, musicians, animal trainers, stuntmen - everyone who can and wants to create and create in harmony with nature.

Due to the lack of a permanent location, during our existence we staged performances at various venues in Russian cities. Play « A little prince» by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and "In Her Name" by epics Ancient Greece were staged in the city of Syzran, and the performance "The Cossack's horse is dearest of all"- in Stanitsa Veshenskaya Rostov region immediately after filming Quiet Don”. This is the first performance that we would like to reproduce on the new stage.

Now at the disposal of the theater three trotters: Honey, Valdai and Grotesque.

And also trainers, grooms, horse breeders and I work - artistic director Evgeny Tkachuk.

Recently, we finally have a wonderful permanent place home base that meets all our needs. It is located near St. Petersburg. After the construction and arrangement of our base, we will be able to work thoroughly and fruitfully and create there all year round!

For the future we have big plans. We have to:

Build levadas for walking horses

Arrange stables (for 30 and 8 animals)

Build a stage and an auditorium designed for 1000 people

Purchase of horses and ponies.

But at the first stage, we need your support and participation. To begin with, we want to build the main residence for our artist horses: levadas and a small stable for 8 horses. To do this, we need an amount of 600,000 rubles.

We have prepared for you many interesting offers-lots in response to your financial participation in our project. Watch, choose, participate!

We are already heartily supported Cossacks and Cossacks from the village of Bokovskaya - Military Municipal Ensemble Cossack song"Orthodox Don":

I would be very glad to see you in the ranks of our viewers in the future and I believe that together we will succeed!

The money collected in excess of the amount will be used to reward our employees and feed the artist horses.

Thank you for participating!

Artistic director of the VelesO theater Yevgeny Tkachuk.

Horses of the wind. Equestrian theater Zingaro. V International Theater Festival named after A.P. Chekhov

Kommersant, May 27, 2003

Horse Prayer

Theater "Zingaro" showed the world premiere in Moscow

The world premiere of the performance "Horses of the Wind" by the French equestrian theater "Zingaro" took place in Kolomenskoye Park - one of the most ambitious projects of the Chekhov Theater Festival in Moscow. The head of the theater, Bartabas, involved horses, riders, Tibetan monks, a donkey and even geese in the performance. By ROMAN DOLZHANSKY.

Spectators going to the performance experienced deja vu when descending from Kolomenskoye Hill - just like two years ago, during the theatrical Olympics, a huge black tent-tent was laid out on the banks of the Moskva River, resembling either a sprawling sea monster, or a UFO, not to the four-domed temple of some unknown cult; next to it, a large white tent-buffet turns white in contrast. But the play "Horses of the Wind" itself differs significantly from the "Triptych" shown the year before last. No, Bartabas' way of composing remained the same - a free musical-plastic composition from seemingly independent episodes with the participation of horses and people. But the tone and mood of new job completely different. "Triptych" was defined by the music of Stravinsky and Boulez, it was (as is clear even from the title) more strictly structured and was mistakenly loved by many as an exotic variant of modern dance involving animals or a theatrical circus.

Now they will probably begin to stretch their lips with a tube: "Boo-o-o-ouch!" - and complain that Bartabas is no longer entertaining them. "Horses of the Wind" go along with almost non-stop live singing of living Tibetan monks from a Buddhist monastery somewhere between India and China. Experts say that this is not throat singing, which most viewers take the soundtrack for, but the so-called "ox voices", but that's not the point. The monks, located on balconies in front of two camping altars, directly above the two exits to the arena, "perform", in essence, their prayers. The words and its true meaning for an ordinary Moscow (and even Parisian) viewer are sealed with seven seals, and the very structure of a drawn-out, high, monotonous scale is not for capricious ears. But all the same, "Horses of the Wind" are not intended only for lovers of ethnographic and confessional exoticism. Because Bartabas reinforces the prayer with quite intelligible images.

At first, the arena is closed by a huge dome-lid, on which pale, as if faded, wavy patterns are visible. Dark human figures are placed around him. And suddenly this hemisphere begins to rotate silently, as if the planet is floating in the vacuum of space. Then the earth's firmament turns out to be transparent, and in its belly the contours of horses hidden there appear, not "minerals", but, according to Bartabas, carriers of the true essence. Still later, the edges of the dome, like a canopy, will pull back, and in a sheaf of powerful light emanating from somewhere above, a person will appear, dancing ritual dance. And even later celestial sphere it will definitely turn inside out, hanging over the sad rider. In rhyme with this motif of the "wrong side" of our world, the most expressive episode of the performance from the point of view of the usual theatricality will sound - riders and riders, standing on the barrier of the arena, literally turn their civilian clothes inside out, in which they came, before saddling the animals waiting in the arena of people.

There is quite a bit of the usual trickery in the performance, its rhythms are viscous, invisible energy currents flow through the entire two-hour performance. But these, following physical terminology, "weak currents" are capable of causing a magnetic storm in the imagination of the viewer. The hidden plot of "Horses of the Wind" is a struggle for power over the world between forces that change their appearance and hide their essence. Bartabas arranges a meditation, which is imperceptibly replaced by a mystery. Incense is heard in the air, praying and persecuted, bright ritual masks and death masks appear on the arena covered with reddish-rusty sand, but horses of various colors reign here - submissive, but strong, calm, but sensitive. Able, as in the previously seen works of Bartabas, to mysteriously interact almost according to the laws of acting.

However, in one of the episodes, all the attention of the public is taken away not by horses, but by geese. With a cackle, a flock of long-necked ones pouring into the arena also reveals the ability for meaningful collective behavior, for some kind of "mise-en-scenes". But soon they acquire a master - a rider on a white horse, scattering food and forcing starving white geese, in anticipation of a new portion of crumbs, literally rush around the circus circle behind the horse in a quacking crowd. Maybe this is how Bartabas wanted to show the human crowd, thirsty for nourishment and accepting everyone offering food for a real guide. Or the best award the creator of "Zingaro" would have been an exclamation "You would be so!" - one of the geese stumbled on the edge of the arena, limped, and the spectator, frightened for the bird, shamed her laughing neighbor.

It is not known what Bartabas actually put into each of the scenes. However, he has his own solo line in the performance, or rather, a duet, because he performs it on horseback. Several times he appears under the dome on a gracefully prancing, one would like to say, a dancing horse. A pensive, silent horseman, obviously knowing some important truth, but not going to share his knowledge with anyone. His knowledge of the world is certainly sad and unoptimistic, so this whole amazingly beautiful and refined performance is covered with a gloomy, sometimes even painful mood. And now the rider cannot bear the burden of knowledge. The strongest, final scene of the performance is also the simplest: inside the hemisphere on the desert sand, Bartabas sits with his head bowed, and his horse stands dejectedly above him. Blackout - and now there is no man at all, one horse remains. Then there will be another ideological finale with dissimilar friend by people, laying out the mats and lying down looking at the video footage from the real Tibet. But the true meaning of "Horses of the Wind" lies outside the problems of the occupied highland country. It is that horses are doomed to outlive their people.

Russian newspaper, May 26, 2003

Alena Karas

He's from the hippo family

The world premiere of the equestrian theater "Zingaro" took place in Kolomenskoye as part of the Chekhov International Festival

WHAT is happening these days in the Kolomenskoye park can hardly be called a theater. Bartabas, creator of the unique equestrian theater "Zingaro", presents his new work. "Horses of the Wind" is an act in which the ritual aspect of the Tibetan "Book of the Dead" is turned into the basis of a complex cultural dialogue that pleases the eye and excites the imagination of every cultured European. The huge tent arena (exactly the same that was used for their first performance in Moscow during the theatrical Olympics) becomes a platform for real Tibetan meditation. Tibet is a theocratic state like the Vatican. But by coincidence, it is located inside communist China. It is not easy for them to live in connection with this. Indeed, for hundreds and hundreds of Tibetan monks and ordinary Tibetans, the structure of life is connected with the experience of their deep and mysterious connection with the world of the dead.

Without any doubt, Bartabas, who spent four days on his way to the Tibetan Gyuto monastery on the border with India and underwent a kind of initiation there, wanted to tell about this amazing land. It is for this reason that at the end of his performance, the huge tent in the center of the arena turns into a screen on which motion pictures of Tibetans gather for the annual New Year's ritual of honoring their dead. The finale of the performance is a tribute to a European who wants to enlighten his fellow tribesmen.

The performance itself completely ignores any kind of popularization. First, an actor enters the center of the arena, performing his mysterious, unique dance in complete silence. This dance is dedicated to the gods, higher powers that oversee a person. In full accordance with the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, he dances, now with one foot, then with the other, touching the ground. Each touch is exactly a call and communion of the memory of ancestors.

scary masks Tibetan mysteries "Cham" - the mysteries of the dead - gradually fill the arena, the riders merge with the horses, and, gallop after gallop, we understand the strange plan of Bartabas. The silence of the endless run and the exciting stature of a horse, the smell of incense from Tibetan censers, which turns the action into an unknown temple holiday, reminds us more and more of the connection that exists in all the mystical rituals of the world. When, after this exciting race of horses with riders dressed in masks of the Tibetan dead, in the costume of a mysterious knight, the lone rider Bartabas rides out on his white horse, it seems that this Horseman of the Apocalypse portends the end of the world.

But there is no horror... There is an amazing beauty that arises from the union of a man and a horse into a single being. And even when, following the rider on a huge horse, the white geese, like soul-birds, will gracefully and funny run around the arena, at least two thoughts will visit you. One of them is about the absurdity of the human herd, about how similar these geese are to European medieval iconography " doomsday"with white souls flying after the rider of the Apocalypse. And the second is about the wondrous beauty of God's creation, in which ordinary geese, in strict harmony, marching behind a white horse, can form a beautiful and eye-pleasing ornament. Even if this ornament belongs to the mystical landscape of the afterlife.

Something needs to be clarified here. The Tibetan ritual "Cham", based on the famous "Book of the Dead", explores the stages of the soul's transition from earthly life to eternal life. For Bartabas this myth is the basis of cultural synthesis. Quiet and gentle compassion for the world sounds in the last scenes of his wonderful fresco, when horses slowly, one after another, come out into the empty arena - saddled, but without riders. I don't think Bartabas wanted to say anything about nuclear winter here. But the image of a beautiful horse, decorated with a festive Tibetan blanket and not finding its rider, excites the imagination.

The low voices of the Tibetan monks, discovered by the horse king Bartabas in a monastery on the border of China and India, penetrate the very depths of the human being, and even the last cynics joyfully respond to this harmony of sounds and natural grace.

At the very end, Bartabas performs another miraculous transformation: people come out to lonely horses - ridiculous residents modern cities. Just a few movements, and their costumes open their wrong side - the outline of ancient robes, comfortable for life and hunting. The world has not gone wild. He has only returned to his oneness with earth and sky.

Newstime, May 26, 2003

Anna Gordeeva

The East is horse business

Bartabas presented a new portion of miracles

Before the beginning of the Horses of the Wind, an announcement is heard on the radio. Turn off mobile phones (understandably), do not take photographs (also clear, horses are frightened), and “due to the fact that Tibetan monks, applause until the end of the performance is prohibited.

However. If the monks are participating in a performance, they must be prepared for some kind of reaction from the public, no? They are in a foreign space, in the space of a show, but in a foreign space with their own charter, you know ... But it seems to me that the radio announcement is one hundred percent just in time for the "charter of the show" - to impress the audience, to make them immediately humble and watch, as an uncle pulls a hare out of a hat.

This is a man who has chosen the pseudonym Bartabas for himself and has been directing the French equestrian theater "Zingaro" for twenty years now, it turns out quite well. The hare here is the East - wondrous and unknowable. A different rhythm of existence is pulled out and presented to the public. Before the start, men walk in a circle around the arena. Prostrate in prayer posture. They get up again. Take a few steps. They lay down again. Monotone. closed. Twilight. It smells thickly of some oriental things, like next to a specialized kiosk. The audience freezes. Fantastic masks of demons and spirits are demonstrated (bulging eyes, cow noses, red lacquer on black, five small white skulls for decoration on top). The audience admires. The monks sing in the same “buffalo voices” that the advertisement promised - a kind of low, frighteningly unscary sound (my grandmother used to tell bedtime stories about this). The audience is in awe.

Reverence, perhaps, is still superfluous, and Bartabas rightfully receives attention and admiration. Horses of the Wind is a very high quality show. Well thought out lighting effects. For example, at the beginning, the arena is covered with an upside down giant bowl. The tent, having become transparent, is penetrated by rays of light, and it turns out that pink ghost horses roam dreamily in it. The spirit is captivating. The rhythm of the show was calculated, the ratio of the familiar to the unfamiliar, simple and virtuoso. Episodes "philosophical" are replaced by episodes of frankly circus (among the "demons" there are a couple with tricky manners). After the ritual dance (a lone man in a burgundy skirt and vest jumps from foot to foot in the center of the arena), three riders in demonic masks are recklessly engaged in vaulting. Then three more join them, and they line up in a three-tiered pyramid.

Sometimes it seems that Bartabas believes too much in his power over the audience, does not emphasize his own virtuosity too much (his solo in a transparent tent, when the horse dances in place, then moves sideways without a visible message from the rider, is a miracle of dressage, served as a modest daily ritual ). But he does not hide the virtuosity of his artists, and the six "demons" "come off" ad libitum.

Yet visual effects Bartabas is obviously more interested in technical ones: a dark-haired girl in a white suit looks great on a white horse, but if you line up a chain of white geese after her, it will be even better. Another girl, a redhead, can be painted entirely in crazy blue and put on a brown donkey. He wants to lie down and, scratching his back on the arena, will scatter red sand in small fountains. Also impressive.

By the end, Bartabas will put all the artists on mats to sleep and see projected dreams about Tibet - birds, buffaloes and temples. And you will understand that with dressage, vaulting, advertisements, boyish arrogance and gypsy calculation, he sold you two hours of slow pulse and pictures of unimaginable beauty talking about Tibet. And you won't regret your purchase.

Izvestia, May 26, 2003

Alexey Filippov

Horses and Buddhists

Equestrian Theater "Zingaro" at the Chekhov Festival

In Kolomenskoye, the equestrian theater "Zingaro" performed with the play "Horses of the Wind". This is one of the main events of the current Chekhov festival.

The name of the head of "Zingaro", Mr. Bartabas, is derived from "bar" and "tobacco". In fact, the name of the trainer is Marie Clement. "Zingaro" means gypsies "(that's the name of his favorite horse). Many years ago, Bartabas came to the Avignon festival. He was sitting on a horse, and he had a trained rat on his shoulder.

Over time, Bartabas has become a French national treasure: he recently headed the Academy of Equestrian Performance located in Versailles. On the other hand, domestic trainers of Bartabas do not like - but, no matter what they say about the level of his horse riding, the strength of "Zingaro" is different. The horses here seem to be quite meaningful creatures, the theater critic can make out the performance of Bartabas as a dramatic performance, and the ordinary viewer enjoys an extremely beautiful performance.

Real Tibetan monks, temporarily borrowed from the Gyuto mountain monastery, took part in the Horses of the Wind, authentic music sounded, and the audience was fumigated with genuine Himalaya-made incense sticks. In the arena there is a dark dome, as if forged from iron, people lying prostrate around it, Tibetans with incense walk along its perimeter, a Himalayan trumpet howls thickly from the side. (This is reminiscent of the roar and grunt of a hippopotamus making its way to the stern.) Tibetan bells ring out to drive away evil spirits, the dome resembling a huge wagon is illuminated from the inside - and the audience gasps. The wagon becomes transparent, and it is clear that inside it there are many beautiful, well-groomed, white and fawn horses. They are circling, following the girl in a white dress, and a huge rider in a maned antique helmet, the founder of "Zingaro" Bartabas, rides around the dome.

Here we should talk about the content and philosophy of the presentation. Tibetan monks fight against the white horsemen of the Apocalypse dressed in death costumes, people of darkness (their clothes suspiciously resemble the cassocks of Catholic priests) drag the weakly fighting Tibetans out of the arena, a fat and clumsy, but genuine Buddhist, taken from the Himalayas, dances a dance that drives away the devil. World free people and beautiful horses die: the dome is again highlighted, under it is Bartabas sadly looking at the arena, and then the man disappears, and only the sadly neighing horse remains ... You can think of something else - the plot of the performance is vague, it's not about him. The main thing - in successive live pictures.

They are really beautiful - what is worth at least a flock of geese, with all their paws, like drilled soldiers after a commander, running after a rider, or a wonderful donkey that understands every movement of a girl portraying a sorceress. But the amazing atmosphere of the previous performance shown at the previous festival in the "Horses of the Wind" is gone: the current performance is long and heavy, the audience left it.

To some, the choice of ethnographic material will seem unfortunate: sedentary Tibetans are unlike the dexterous, like wild cats, Indian acrobats who participated in the previous Zingaro performance. Someone will be unpleasantly struck by the music - the throaty Tibetan singing and the howl of huge wooden pipes are very different from those that sounded in the previous performance by Stravinsky. But this is not the only thing: it seems unnatural to try to combine an authentic, mystical spiritual practice with a show.

Elements of Buddhist rituals have become part of the entourage framing the equestrian performances: this is a clever, multicultural staged move. Buddhism is now in vogue - many people live by it Hollywood stars, from Richard Gere to the Madonna, Moscow Buddhist Grebenshchikov constantly visits Tibetan monasteries. Now Buddhism seems to have taken to the streets and seized the masses: Westerners have learned that the master of hell, Yama, must be accompanied by a retinue of dancing skeletons. It was then that Bartabas put them on horses.

The dramaturgy of the performance could not stand it: the slow and static Tibetan ritual performances are not akin to a horse circus. In addition, what Bartabas came up with, this time smacks of sweet politically correct kitsch: imagine Orthodox priests brandishing a censer in the arena, or the real mullah, taken out from God knows where and for a similar fee, working in Zingaro.

Newspaper, May 28, 2003

Artur Solomonov

The goose is not a friend to the donkey

Moscow hosted the world premiere of the performance "Horses of the Wind" by the equestrian theater "Zingaro". The head of the theater Bartabas invited Tibetan monks to participate in the performance. Also geese and donkeys.

Beauty. Horses are from Argentina. Tibetan monks play ritual instruments, detached and lofty. The memory remains: the smell of oriental incense, mysterious music; a request “not to applaud during the performance, as monks are participating in the performance”; a “troupe” of hopelessly stupid geese fed by a horsewoman, but they are afraid of her and want to eat (how many meanings - sacred and not so - you can download this magnificent scene!); the often arising feeling that in front of you is not a man and a horse, but a centaur; a woman painted in unbearably blue light, "prancing" on a brown donkey; a huge transparent tent, creating the illusion that everything that happens under this dome either happened hundreds of years ago, or rushes to where "there will be no more time."

Theme: man and time. Riders rush through the arena Tibetan masks of death. It's mesmerizing. The herd is grazing. There is no man yet. The beginning of the world. In the center of the arena, a rider is prancing - Bartabas himself. The closer the end of the performance, the less space and time this rider has. And in the end, he disappears altogether.

Forces alien to man appear when a monk dances on the stage in a beam of light, when someone's figures ride on horseback in ritual masks of death. For Bartabas, the natural and the mystical are one and the same. They merge, but rarely come into contact with a person. Only when he seeks understanding with the animal and when he tries to "fall to the roots." This is what Bartabas did, showing on the stage the relationship between man and animal and trying - not for the first time - to turn to the ritual theater.

The desire to create a show - from the theatrical past of Bartabas: he was an artist street theater and worked in the circus. The desire for a ritual theater comes from the desire to overcome this past. And the need to merge the theater of the East and the West, meditation and the circus is a tribute to modern eclecticism. They say everything in modern world tends to fit together. Cultures strive for synthesis, religions for interpenetration.

Bartabas wanted to feed everyone - both those who are in the mood for the ritual, and those who want to admire the horses, and show lovers, and ethnographers. And laymen, and those who think that he is a Buddhist. The abundance of tasks, it seems to me, let me down. Although if he pulled out only one line, it would be deafeningly good.

It seems that Bartabas himself is somewhat indulgent about what he is great at doing: all these tricks, attractions, horses that, without the presence of a person, dance and line up and gallop in orderly rows ... Bartabas really aspired to a theatrical spectacle - with a thoughtful dramaturgy, fusion of picture and music, plot and acting. But this time Bartabas, inviting Tibetan monks, introducing elements of Tibetan music, ancient masks, religious dances, led his performance towards the ritual theater. Not less.

But since Bartabas, in whose theater horses play, and this time a flock of geese and one donkey, directed his search in this direction, the problem of ritual theater appeared in such a paradoxical aspect that it would be a sin not to designate it - at least slightly.

Today's room is the Tower of Babel in regards to matters of faith, religion and ritual. If masks, gestures, music of Tibet are used - can I treat this action as a kind of religious worship? Or can these gestures, masks and music only live if reverent glances are directed at them? If my interest is only ethnographic - is it possible to speak of a ritual theater?

NG, May 28, 2003

Grigory Zaslavsky

Noah's Ark in Kolomenskoye

The Equestrian Theater of Bartabas showed the world premiere in Moscow

"Horses of the Wind", a performance by the French equestrian theater "Zingaro", is another long-running project of the current Chekhov Festival. The first - "Twelfth Night" - a performance by Declan Donnellan, has already been played, and if you did not have time to see how our Russian actors are equally good in roles Shakespearean heroes and heroines, then most likely you will not have such an opportunity in the near future. The projects of the International Confederation of Theater Unions have some joyful and sad features at the same time: they are in demand, so after the Moscow premieres, performances are usually sent to conquer the theater capitals of the world, they are included in the posters, it seems, of all theater festivals. In any case, they will no longer be seen in Moscow, so we can only rejoice that our theater abroad, albeit fueled by foreign directors, is still in good demand and is a success.

Bartabas is the same favorite of the International Confederation of Theater Unions as Donnellan, the presence of both in the poster can be considered a trademark of the Chekhov Festival (of course, it is important that our audience also fell in love with both).

"Horses of the Wind" is a production that came out without our Russian participation, unless, of course, we count the fact that for the sake of this premiere a big top was rebuilt in Kolomenskoye, where the Bartabas equestrian theater will play until mid-June. "Horses of the Wind" was played in Moscow for the first time, this is the world premiere of the new performance "Zingaro".

The “horses of the wind” will surely conquer Moscow, which will not be hindered by some inconvenience of the road, since it takes another fifteen minutes to walk from the metro. "Horses of the Wind", perhaps to an even greater extent than the previous performance of Bartabas "Triptych", convinces that his equestrian theater bears little resemblance and similarity to a circus. This is not a circus, although there are some tricks of the circus: in order to “set up” a trick, animals are fed, and running horses in a circle, they are conducted by running with a whip in their hands.

But all the same, the feeling that the horses "in the hands" of Bartabas live and play "according to the System", that is, "according to Stanislavsky", does not leave. That Bartabas really talks to them, rehearses, explains and inspires something, and the horses do not just go to the arena, but - in understanding their roles, and neigh - also not just like that, but in the appointed place, and that's exactly what and should have neighed in this scene.

Participation of Tibetan monks, their playing on musical instruments and throat singing make one think that horses at some moment, under the influence of their guttural sounds, begin to meditate. Bartabas himself ideally embodies his own idea that the actor in his performance is nothing without a horse, and the horse is a single whole with the actor. Appearing on stage on horseback, he seemed like a strange centaur, and on the arena they thought and moved together, obeying one common thought, equally understandable to his hands and feet, and the hooves of his horse.

Russian courier, May 28, 2003

Elena Yampolskaya

Hello from Kashtanka

The equestrian theater "Zingaro" under the artistic direction of Bartabas came to Moscow for the second time - again at the invitation of the Chekhov Festival and again with a hospital in Kolomenskoye

The mysterious "Zingaro" is just a horse's name. This was the name of the favorite artiodactyl partner of the founder of the theater during his lifetime. But why the founder himself is called in one word, and what, in fact, Karabas-Bartabas means - name, surname or nickname, by golly, I find it difficult to say exactly.

The year before last performance of Bartabas - "Triptych" - was one of the most beautiful visions of the Moscow Theater Olympics. The unity of man and beast, their merging to complete indissolubility, a common pile of muscles, common blood circulation... Magnificent centaurs of both sexes rushed around the arena, and any reviewer without a twinge of conscience could recommend this spectacle to connoisseurs and profane, adults and children, aesthetes and jockeys, smelly saddle. The only exceptions were those who are unable to visit either the circus or the zoo due to allergies ...

The current world premiere dedicated to the festival - "Horses of the Wind" - is a much more confused phenomenon. In addition to horses of various colors and riders, thirty white geese participate in it, as well as real Tibetan monks, whom Bartabas tempted to leave the high-mountainous monastery and go around the world with a "chess". Thus, if you are an advanced Buddhist, or a passionate hunter of horses, or love a goose (at least a Christmas one), Wind Horses is definitely for you. I advise everyone else to be careful: personally, I was simply bored with Bartabas.

The equestrian theater is a romantic enterprise and requires certain sacrifices from its audience. First, you have to stomp around the park for a long time to an inflatable tent that looks like an inverted udder, then languish for hours on the street, waiting for various technical overlays, then get stuck in sandals in the wet sand, climb a steep, almost indistinguishable staircase, look for a place in the dark, stepping on other people's palms, and quarreling at the same time only in a whisper, because the monks have already tuned in, the process has begun, and it is strictly forbidden to interfere with them. Just like applauding until the end of the performance. Why is not explained. You can't and that's it.

"Horses of the wind" is a beautiful thing, but too tricky. In this audiovisual cacophony, only a trained eye and ear can find the harmonic beginning. Tambourines, timpani, drawn-out groans of wind instruments, Chinese incense, a translucent tent with an outline of blue mountain ranges... Fantastic costumes are quite in the spirit of the current fashion, which is so not indifferent to everything oriental: crazy headdresses, peacock feathers, ornaments, shreds and rags, straps and pigtails - everything is bright, colorful, intricate. Not a single word will be spoken in the performance. The permanent sound background is the "buffalo" singing of the monks, which is very entertaining if you listen to it for three minutes, and extremely depressing for two hours. In general, guests from Tibet, no offense to them, are the least interesting component of the "Horses of the Wind". It is difficult to surprise a modern person with another person, while we are ready to be amazed and moved to infinity with our smaller brothers. As soon as a well-fed monk in a crimson skirt danced on the orange sand, a child, apparently not familiar with the art of meditation, wept bitterly in the hall. Follow him to different points from the amphitheater, several more babies screamed desperately, and they had to be led out in disgrace. About twenty minutes later the adults followed the children. Until the finale, people left the big top in batches, with a break, except perhaps for a benefit performance of geese. No, we, of course, are still from the Russian classics (specifically, from "Kashtanka"), we know that geese are amenable to training, but their swift silent running in a circle, half a body behind the horse, with strict observance of the formation in pairs, produces a truly grandiose effect. Hall clenched its fists with all its might, so as not to inadvertently clap. In the souls of the audience, temptation and prohibition fought - the prohibition won, but the sediment remained. Is it fair that the birds lost their well-deserved ovation? Well, I feel sorry for the birds.

"The horses of the wind" tell, in particular, that the horse - best friend Tibetan person. But only in particular. In addition, a number of abstract philosophical questions are clearly raised here - and nightmarish masks of death cut circles around the arena, demonstrating miracles of voltage; and two dark-skinned madmen rush along the side like excited monkeys; and the clowns from some otherworldly commedia dell'arte grimacing, spinning the "wheel", pulling the horses by the tail ... I don't know about Tibet (I haven't been), but Inner Mongolia from "Chapaev and the Void" stands before my eyes distinctly. Especially here and there horses ...

The pathos of Bartabas is that life, like a jacket, can be turned inside out. Throw off one civilization and merge in ecstasy with another. It's not entirely clear, though, why. Life from this, judging by the play "Zingaro", does not become clearer.

Vedomosti, May 29, 2003

Oleg Zintsov

horse care

The riders of Bartabas played a Tibetan mystery

In "Kolomenskoye" until June 12, shows of the play "Horses of the Wind" - the main pride of the organizers of the Chekhov theater festival. The equestrian director Bartabas, adored in France, and his equestrian theater "Zingaro" played the world premiere in Moscow; the French public will see the new production only in July.

For the first time, "Zingaro" visited Moscow two years ago - at the Theater Olympics, Bartabas' performance "Triptych" to the music of Stravinsky and Boulez was shown. The event, of course, was called unique: newspapers vied with each other about the record cost of the tour, about the environmentally friendly hay brought to Moscow for Bartabas's artists, who bear the proud names of ballet legends (horses Balanchine, Lifar, Nijinsky, Baryshnikov), and finally, that nothing , there is no such "Zingaro" in the world. It's true: other equestrian theaters are engaged in the fact that, having seated actors on horses, they play, for example, Shakespeare, diluting dramatic action horse riding. Bartabas insists on more, explaining with French grandiosity that his "Zingaro" is not a circus or even a theater troupe, but "rather a tribe in which a certain spirit has moved." The excitement around the first Moscow tour was great: a few skeptics shrugged their shoulders, but the majority of the public "Triptych" was received enthusiastically, and Bartabas agreed to arrange the next premiere in Russia, for which he seems to have special feelings - suffice it to say that in the mid-90s he shot the film "Shaman" here, playing his favorite story about the mystical connection between a man and a horse in Siberia.

In the two years that have passed since Zingaro's first visit to Moscow, Bartabas changed horses, and now the program includes the names of the Greek gods: Apollo, Ares, Asclepius, Hera, Hephaestus, Chronos, Eros, Poseidon.

When you look at these horses, first appearing in the arena without riders, you unconditionally agree: they are divinely beautiful. When choosing horses for a new performance, Bartabas seems to give them names that are consonant with the idea of ​​the production. Just as the famous ballet names in the performance to music by Stravinsky were not accidental, the names from the Greek pantheon in Horses of the Wind, played according to the script of the Tibetan myth, are so organic.

Bartabas is not the first time composing a play, looking to the East: in "Chimera" and "Triptych" he used Indian motifs, in "Eclipse" - Korean ritual. Tibetan monks from the Gyuto monastery participate in the "Horses of the Wind" on an equal footing with riders and horses. All three years that the performance will run, they will live together with "Zingaro" - the official permission of the Dalai Lama has been received for this. "Horses of the Wind" go to ritual music, so fans of the circus and horse riding should be warned: despite the name, this spectacle is not for them.

The music of the Tibetan monks dictates a very unhurried rhythm of the action, and stunts in a two-hour performance are allotted at most 15 minutes. All the rest of the time, a symbolic plot based on the mystery plays out in the big top of Bartabas. First, incense is lit, and one of the monks in yellow-burgundy robes performs a ritual dance, then riders in stylized demon masks and skeleton costumes circle around the arena: a similar performance, only without horses, could be seen two years ago in the "School dramatic art", where the Tibetan monks played the mystery "Cham".

Bartabas does not explain the mystery plot, but highlights it with metaphors and layers it with interludes, to which the audience reacts noticeably more vividly than to a stylized ritual: if it were not for the strict ban on applause during the performance, an ovation would have been torn, for example, by a girl on a white horse, behind which funny and beautiful white geese run. Several times, Bartabas himself rides out imperturbably on a gracefully prancing black horse. Periodically, the arena is covered with a translucent dome - either a huge inverted cup, or a Buddhist "veil of maya", a veil that prevents consciousness from seeing the true reality. Bartabas' own plot is connected with this image: he plays the motive of the visible and true in one of the last scenes - the actors leave the hall in ordinary clothes (suit, dress, sports tights), then they begin to undress and turn the suits inside out; it turns out that these are horsemen's clothes - putting on it, people descend from the edge of the arena to the saddled horses waiting for them. In the finale, the actors enter an empty arena, spread mats in a circle and lie on their backs, and a video projection appears on the dome hanging over them: mountains, horses, monastery walls; dreams about Tibet.

New performance is more complicated than the "Triptych", the plot of which was much more illustrative, but the pathos of Bartabas is unchanged. The theater for him is the place of action of the myth, and the horse is a medium, an intermediary that helps not only to feel unity with nature, but also to gain spiritual (or, if you like, mystical) experience. Although at times it seems that this stately horseman, who knows how to behave with amazing dignity, simply attracts everything beautiful: horses, clothes, rituals. But in order to be captivated by the "Horses of the Wind", it is not at all necessary to consider their creator a philosopher.

The ancient art of the equestrian carousel or equestrian ballet lies. About the life of actors-riders - in an interview with the founders of the theater, Ekaterina Sibarnova and Nadezhda Kutuzova.

Who are you more - riders or actors?

E.: Still, riders. Horses are something like a disease, if you are addicted to them, then it is not cured at all.

In my kindergarten empty containers were carried on a nightingale mare and she often stood in the yard, and my dad and I fed her with crackers and sugar. She had a wonderful soft plush nose and she took treats very delicately - many years have passed since then, but love has remained.

How did you get into equestrian sport?

E.: My case is atypical, because for the first time I got into the saddle as an adult, I was engaged in show jumping, then for a couple of years I led the Russian national team in Paralympic dressage, and was engaged in therapeutic riding. I had good teachers- my first jumping coach taught me how to jump correctly and not be afraid of anything.

N.: At school, I studied theater studio, put on performances at school, at the same time she studied horseback riding at the Sports School. At some point, their own horse appeared, met Ekaterina and began to cooperate.

How was the idea of ​​creating such a theater born?

E.: Equestrian Theater "On Broadway" was created by a group of private horse owners in April 2013 in the format of an integration theater in which they performed together ordinary people and athletes with disabilities. So three performances were staged.

But later we realized that it would be much more effective to create a permanent troupe and hold charity social performances. By that time I had two horses and my friend Nadezhda also had two. We attracted the owner of the pony, Olga Mullakhmetova, and made the first horse show.

N.: It is difficult to see a complete performance with horses - there are almost none. And this is one of the reasons why it became interesting for us to develop within the framework of the equestrian theater.

E.: The first show in the new line-up, "Angel's Day", we staged on St. Catherine's Day on December 7, 2013. I had to rehearse in a cold arena late at night. It was very hard for both people and horses, but the success of the first performance inspired and united us all. And now, six months later, we have prepared a spectacular commercial show, with which we plan to go on tour in the warm season.

What are you trying to convey to the viewer?

E.: Our theater is based on the principles of equal relations between man and horse. Even more - we consider the equestrian theater as the House of the Horse, where people are only guests. We do not aim to surprise the audience with circus tricks, we try to show the harmony of the relationship between man and horse.

Spectators find themselves in a special world: in order to get to the performance, they must go through the forest, through the territory of a large stable to the arena. At the same time, they constantly see horses very close, they can communicate with them and ride after the performance.

What was the most difficult thing in mastering the profession and creating the theater?

E.: To learn how to ride a horse is quite simple, but to learn to understand a horse, to create comfortable conditions for it, to establish partnerships is very difficult. We work with our horses in gentle ways, using elements of the natural relationship system, but this is only the beginning of the journey.

In working on the theater project, all the skills acquired during my life were useful to me - basic artistic and musical education, knowledge foreign languages, profession, skills in the field of web development, experience in public speaking and project management.

N.: For me the most difficult is . We all work on different schedules, and training and rehearsals are required in common, and we have to work late at night and early in the morning, because we don’t have our own base. Other riders are also training in the arena, but we need a free arena.

You are still at the very beginning of the journey. Is it easy to assemble a team?

E.: Correct shots are, of course, a problem. In our theater, quite strict requirements are imposed on potential participants: in addition to the obligatory love for horses, good riding skills and the ability to work in a team, they must be willing to contribute to the development of the theater and rehearse in the evenings in a cold arena. Many come and try, only a few remain.

The personnel problem is aggravated by the fact that the main requirement for the project participants is a humane attitude towards horses and strict observance of the Horse Welfare Code of the International Equestrian Federation. We do not allow beatings, cruelty to our animals.

What is the main difficulty of your work?

E.: In our work, a well-coordinated teamwork, because the elements of the horse carousel are performed synchronously, the viewer should have the impression of lightness and ease. Therefore, riders must constantly look at each other and solve emerging problems right in the process of performing.

N.: In my opinion, the readiness to live according to the established rules of the theater is the most important thing. And it is also very important not to get lost in difficult, emergency situations. For example, between scenes we sometimes have to quickly change clothes on horseback. To do this, you must simultaneously monitor the horse and change clothes.

The audience sees you on stage - but what happens behind the scenes?

E.: We are working behind the scenes. For prompt communication of theater participants and discussion of all working moments, a closed group on social networks has been created - this is our working platform. At first it was difficult to get used to working together because everyone had different skills and a different approach.

N.: Behind the scenes, we are constantly discussing new projects, honing our riding skills, teaching horses new commands on the ground, designing and preparing costumes, looking for music for performances, and of course doing daily work with our charges.

What does your job give you?

N.: At one of the performances, I traveled in two roles. One is positive, the other is negative. In the second role, I put on a formidable look - and what do you think? My horse also made a brutal "face"!

When you see the happy faces of children and adults, you want to go to the arena again and again and work for them. Working with horses was my childhood dream, and I also once dreamed of the stage. The equestrian theater is the only place that allows you to combine stage and horses.

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