Rodin, Her Eternal Idol
A ballet by Boris Eifman
Posters
Rodin, Her Eternal Idol
A ballet by Boris Eifman
Boris Eifman’s ballet Rodin, Her Eternal Idol tells about the life and work of two great sculptors: Auguste Rodin and his disciple, mistress and Muse – Camille Claudel.
The story of their love is truly a tragic one. For over 15 years Rodin and Claudel were one integral whole, both sensuously and creatively. The breakup of the lovers that ensued eventually was a fatal blow to the mental health of Camille leading to her tragic end. Half-forgotten, hardened, hopelessly impecunious, Camille goes mad. A paranoiac idea of a conspiracy against her being lead and inspired by Rodin himself incessantly torments the already weakened mind of the wretched woman. 30 long years had she spent in a mental clinic just to die in 1943, forlorn and completely forgotten by all and everybody.
Eifman’s Rodin, Her Eternal Idol is a comprehensively creative study of such a subject as how tragic may be people of genius’ lives. By resorting to the uniquely plastique of the modern psychological ballet, that was so brilliantly mastered by the choreographer in his other productions (Eugene Onegin, The Seagull, Anna Karenina, Russian Hamlet, etc.), Boris Eifman not only offers a new interpretation of the world of human passions studied masterfully by Rodin and Claudel, but creates a picture of the insoluble mystery of the creative process.
Rodin, Her Eternal Idol is a reflection on the extreme price that people of genius have to pay for the creation of eternal masterpieces. And, of course, it is a reflection on those torments and mysteries of creative process that will always be of concern to any artist
Boris Eifman
