Eifman Ballet presents the London premiere of Up & Down

Eifman Ballet will return to London Coliseum 6th – 10th December with the London premiere of Boris Eifman’s ballet Up & Down featuring the invigorating music of George Gershwin, Franz Schubert and Alban Berg. Taking place in the magnificent Jazz Age – the piece evokes the unstoppable feast of life; the era of freedom, sensuality, and hedonism.

Following recent visits from Eifman Ballet in 2012 (Rodin) and 2014 (Eugene Onegin and Anna Karenina), this special visit will also be a celebration ofthe internationally renowned Company’s 40th anniversary.

Based on the 1934 F. Scott Fitzgerald novel Tender Is the Night, Up & Down follows the rise and fall of a promising young psychoanalyst and one of his patients; presenting the bizarre kaleidoscope of obsessions, fears and fragments of patients' minds. The characters’ ups and downs masterfully recreated by Boris Eifman and his dancers.

“… there is no better story-telling choreographer around today.”
Graham Watts, DanceTabs (on Up & Down, St. Petersburg, 2015)

Boris Eifman has been described a “philosopher choreographer”, defining his work as “psychological ballet”. Up & Down was borne out of the choreographer’s own psychoanalytic research. Rightly believing that ballet tools open truly unlimited research opportunities before a dance creator, Eifman plunges into the unknown depths of his characters’ inner worlds and penetrates into the most hidden places of the subconscious. With the help of the original vocabulary Eifman depicts the disintegration of characters’ consciousness, bringing their nightmares and delusions to the surface.

“Up & Down is a tragic and bright chronicle of a person’s spiritual death. The story about how a dream of happiness turns into a disaster, and an externally beautiful and carefree life flowing to the rhythms of jazz – into a nightmare.” Boris Eifman

Eifman Ballet was established by Boris Eifman in 1977 and is one of the world’s largest non-classical ballet Companies. Distinguished by its technique, dedication and high onstage intelligence, the Company is renowned among ballet fans the world over for works such as Anna Karenina, The Seagull, Eugene Onegin, Rodin, Beyond Sin, Requiem, Red Giselle and Tchaikovsky. PRO et CONTRA.

Set design by Zinovy Margolin, costumes design by Olga Shaishmelashvili and lighting design by Gleb Filshtinsky and Boris Eifman.

VTB Bank is the General Sponsor of Eifman Ballet's London season.

Box Office: www.eno.org / 020 7845 9300