Tolstoy’s tragic tale of love, sacrifice and forbidden passion. Tchaikovsky’s stirring music. Eifman’s breathtaking, modern choreography. Anna Karenina arrives this December, from the ballet capital of the world, for its India premiere at the NCPA.
By Aishwarya Bodke
It may appear like an arduous responsibility: distilling one of the most celebrated works of Russian literature—characterised by descriptive prose that may seem indulgent today—into an art form devoid of words. But in the hands of Boris Eifman, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina succeeds eloquently.
As part of its world tour, the Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg will bring Anna Karenina, the company’s critically acclaimed adaptation of the literary masterpiece, to India for the first time. The multicountry tour begins with four cities in China, followed by the company’s debut in the Vietnamese cities of Saigon and Hanoi, and will arrive in Mumbai for three performances at the NCPA this December.
“St. Petersburg is renowned for its world-class ballet. From Anna Pavlova to Vaslav Nijinsky, dancers of great fame have called this city home. The Eifman Ballet is remarkable for its proficiency. We are delighted that audiences in India can now witness Tolstoy’s masterwork presented with balletic fervour,” says Mr. Khushroo N. Suntook, Chairman, NCPA, whose vast connections in the world of the arts have been instrumental in bringing Anna Karenina to Mumbai.
A cornerstone of classical Russian literature, Anna Karenina is a tragic tale of a woman torn between desire and duty. Tolstoy’s novel also provides a panorama of life in 19th-century Russia, with various intertwining subplots. The ballet, choreographed by Eifman, focuses on the central love triangle between Anna, her husband Alexei Karenin and her lover Count Vronsky. The measured and monotonous life of the Karenin family amidst rigid high-society conventions is destroyed by Anna’s illicit romance with Vronsky.
“Tolstoy’s novel has always been the object of my keen interest,” says Eifman, who first premiered his rendition of Anna Karenina in 2005 in St. Petersburg. “In the novel, one is immersed in the psychological world of the chief character and a psycho-erotic interpretation of her personality. Even in contemporary literature, we won’t find similar passions, metamorphoses and phantasmagoria. All of it has become the gist and essence of my choreographic reflections upon the book,” he adds.
Eifman describes ballet as a ‘very specific realm where psychological drama is reenacted and fulfilled.’ It is an opportunity to get an insight into the subconscious. It is no surprise then that he is interested in a deeper rendezvous with the characters and in visualising emotional tumult. He approaches the interior worlds of the protagonists, cuts them open with their many contradictions and places them in a moral world of their own. Consequently, his ballet vocabulary revels in images that are often lurid, unexpected and always thrilling. His dancers leap across the stage with raw athleticism. They extend with angled limbs and let their hair loose. Pointe shoes come undone, if only briefly. Fast and sudden bursts of motion and contortion complement the narrative, in contrast to the slow and deliberate unfolding of Tolstoy’s prose.
The choreography draws much of its emotional voltage from its musical score, a mosaic of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s most poignant works, including the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, Eugene Onegin and The Nutcracker. Both Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky were products of a Russia suspended between aristocratic conceit and individualism. The Russian composer arrived at a time when the Romantic period, too, was straddling a progressive sound and a conservative form. Tchaikovsky’s influence is evident in the era’s music, especially through a genre that was perhaps most natural for him and which he greatly revitalised: ballet. Eifman’s longstanding contemplation of the great composer’s inner conflict and suffering, using his music as a foundation, also led to his ballet titled Tchaikovsky.
A lighter, elegant composition like the Serenade for Strings frames the stately circles that Anna inhabits, while the finale of the Pathétique becomes the sonic mirror of her unravelling.
Finally surrendering to passion, Anna’s life ends in one of ballet’s most tumultuously depicted deaths. Many female characters in ballet, like Odette, Giselle and Juliet, suffer death. Anna’s departure, though, is brutally lonely and crushing. She is perceptive and morally aware of her transgression. She is both a victim and an agent. This intimate portrait of a woman’s limited life through an all-consuming affair asks many complex questions. Is it more important to maintain the conventional illusion of harmony or submit to a sincere passion?
Eifman explains, “All these questions haunted Tolstoy in his time, and we cannot avoid thinking them over again and again today. But answers are still far off! What remains is our longing to be understood, both in life and death.”
This realism is a signature of several of Eifman’s creations. He established the Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg (originally called the Leningrad New Ballet) in 1977. Since its inception, it has aspired to serve as a laboratory where artistic explorations of ‘psychological ballet theatre’ could thrive.
It was in the city of St. Petersburg that this vision could truly be realised. Ballet arrived in Russia in the late 17th century during the reign of Peter the Great, and in the ensuing decades, the city became the epicentre of professional Russian ballet through institutions like the Mariinsky Theatre and Imperial Ballet School, later renamed Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, where Eifman was a choreographer in the 1970s. Dancers and choreographers trained in St. Petersburg set the standard of excellence. Many migrated after the Russian Revolution, spreading the technique and repertoire to Western Europe and the United States. The art form may not have originated in Russia, but this is where it certainly flourished.
The repertoire of Eifman Ballet spans productions based on gems of classical literature, including The Marriage of Figaro, Twelfth Night, or What You Will, Russian Hamlet and Crime and Punishment, as well as a host of contemporary ballet works. The company’s ability to immerse their audience into the world of overwhelming human passion has earned them admiration across the globe.
Performed by a troupe of over 60 dancers, Anna Karenina is being brought to the NCPA through the support of Wu Promotion, a leading promoter of the performing arts in Asia and around the world. The organisation has been instrumental in facilitating tours for the Symphony Orchestra of India, the NCPA’s homegrown ensemble, in Europe and the Arab region. In addition, the NCPA has invited the China Philharmonic Orchestra and the German Bundesjugendorchester through this collaboration; ensembles that still cherish the warmth and enthusiasm of Indian audiences.
Jiatong Wu, President of Wu Promotion, says, “The NCPA is one of India’s most important cultural institutions. For more than 25 years, I have held an admiration for Mr. Khushroo Suntook and his work, alongside the beautiful and personal friendship we have shared. When the Eifman Ballet asked us if we could extend the tour to countries they had never performed in before, there was no other place in India I could have chosen for the presentation of this ballet.”
Mr. Suntook fondly looks back on this longstanding relationship. “For an organisation such as the NCPA, to thrive and spread its wings, it needs carefully chosen partners and collaborators, both nationally and internationally. An important association has been with our friend, Mr. Jiatong Wu. His fine organisation played a vital role in some of our orchestra’s overseas tours and now, in bringing the acclaimed ballet to the NCPA. We cherish this friendship,” he says.
Wu takes a moment to reflect on the role of the arts in a fractured world. “Despite the turbulent political times the world is experiencing, our goal remains to connect people and nations through cultural bridges. I sincerely hope we can expand cultural exchanges with the NCPA and SOI, whether in China or elsewhere,” Wu adds.
Myriad manifestations of Anna have been dancing with abandon in theatres and concert halls across continents. Tolstoy’s timeless story finds its relevance in the love audiences pour in centuries after. Anna’s arrival to this side of the world has been long overdue and India patiently waits.
This article was originally published in the November 2025 issue of ON Stage.
