The dance company of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, Croatia’s leading and oldest theatre institution, is making its debut at the LAC with a choreographic diptych paying tribute to Igor Stravinsky and the revolutionary Ballets Russes movement.

The award-winning Zagreb-based choreographer Maša Kolar offers a new interpretation of the Russian fairy tale The Firebird, distilling the narrative into a more concentrated and conceptual form, built upon Stravinsky’s 1919 suite, an abstract version of the original score. The result is a reimagined tale, interwoven with abstract elements and a different balance of power between the creature and Prince Ivan, who finds himself lost in an enchanted garden in the dead of night. In this interpretation, the Firebird dominates the stage, whilst the prince ends up surrendering completely to its power.
The Romanian choreographer Edward Clug presents a reinterpretation of Petruška in dialogue with the original, with the legacy of Fokine and Stravinsky and with the tradition of the Ballets Russes, enriching it with a personal vision. The result is a ballet characterised by a refined aesthetic and an intense use of colour, capable of evoking the spirit of the historic company both visually and choreographically. At its heart lies the universality of the story of a puppet tragically destined for defeat, who, consumed by love and desire for an unfaithful ballerina, sacrifices his own lifeless existence. A tale that surprisingly mirrors today’s world, where the individual is often surrounded by people who act like puppets, unaware.