8/28/2021 Babek (ballet) - Wikipedia

Babek (ballet)
Babek (Azerbaijani: Babək) is a heroic Spartacus-like ballet in two acts, based on the story of the people’s liberation struggle against
Abbasid Caliphate under the leadership of Babak Khorramdin. Akshin Alizadeh composed the music and the prominent Azeri
choreographers of the Soviet era Rafiga Akhundova and Maksud Mamedov choreographed the ballet for Azerbaijan State Academic
Opera and Ballet Theater (National Ballet of Azerbaijan) in 1986.[1]

Contents
Story
World premiere
Presentation in the West
Legacy
References

Story
The ballet creation narrates the story of the brave Iranian and Azerbaijanian national hero, Babak Khorramdin, who in the 9th century
led the rebellion against foreign occupying forces and local feudal lords in Iran. Babak succeeded Javidan, a rebel who had led the
resistance during many years. On his deathbed, Javidan declares Babak as his successor and the one who would lead the resistance
against the foreign occupation. For more than twenty-two years, Babak bravely fought the Arab invaders from his remote castle in the
mountains of northwestern Iran and inflicted heavy casualties on the army of the Abbasid Caliphate. Finally he was betrayed by Afshin
and captured by the army of the Caliph. Babak was brutally executed but his legend lives until today.[1]

World premiere
Created for the National Ballet of Azerbaijan, the ballet was staged in Baku at V.I. Lenin Palace[2] (now Heydar Aliyev Palace) on 20
May 1986. The principal role of the ballet was performed by Vitaliy Akhundov,[2] winner of the Grand Soviet Ballet Contest. Four
performances were staged at the V.I. Lenin Palace and later the ballet was included in the repertoire of the national ballet at Azerbaijan
State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babek_(ballet) 1/2
8/28/2021 Babek (ballet) - Wikipedia

Presentation in the West

A series of performances followed the world premiere in Baku during 1986. After a successful season during the same year, the ballet fell
into oblivion and was never re-staged in Azerbaijan. Nima Kiann, the founder and artistic director of Les Ballets Persans discovered the
forgotten ballet and invited the choreographers to revive the ballet in order to be included in the world premiere production of the
newly established Les Ballets Persans in Sweden. Thus, Babek was introduced for the first time in the West and for a European audience
sixteen years after its world premiere in Baku. Staging of Babek in Stockholm was also the first presentation of the art form of
Azerbaijanian ballet outside the country after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Legacy
The expressing and colorful music of Babek is one of Azerbaijan's musical compositions best representing the genre of historical and
epic music. The composer, Akshin Alizadeh, has mentioned Babek as the composition he was born and living for to create:

"Babek" is my whole life. I applied much effort into this ballet. When I was working on this ballet, I felt myself like a gladiator. I wrote
this composition during the course of 10 years.[4]

References
1. "Les Ballets Persans. World Premiere souvenir program booklet" (http://www.balletspersans.org). Stockholm: LBP Publications.
2002.
2. "Хроника культурной жизни". Литературный Азербайджан. 1986.
3. Azərbaycan Dövlət Akademik Opera və Balet Teatri (1996). Memorial book for Azerbaijan State
Theatre of Opera and Ballet. Baku:
Published by United Nations Development Programme
4. Д. Кямалгызы. (2012). Путь человека-одиночки (https://archive.is/20130627225355/http://arx.echo.az/index.php?aid=21726). 99.
Baku: Эхо. Archived from the original (http://arx.echo.az/index.php?aid=21726) on 2013-06-27.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Babek_(ballet)&oldid=1032115522"

This page was last edited on 5 July 2021, at 16:10 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;

additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babek_(ballet) 2/2