Three Duets of Katarina and Petruchio in John Kranko's Ballet The Taming of the Shrew: on the Question of Choreographic Interpretation of the Literary Source

Khokhlova Dar'ya ORCID: 0000-0003-0426-7469 PhD in Art History Principal Dancer of the Bolshoi Theatre 125009, Russia, g. Moscow, ul. Teatral'naya Ploshchad', 1 daria.khokhl@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

     Choreographer John Kranko (1927-1973) explained his appeal to the plot of the comedy by W. Shakespeare in this way: "Once I read The Taming of the Shrew, and suddenly I caught myself thinking: why did no one think of staging a ballet based on this work? After all, it is so pictorial!" ^{[24, p. 196]}. In fact, at that time Maurice Bejart had already addressed this topic, but it was Kranko's ballet to the music of D. Scarlatti, arranged by K. H. Stolze, which premiered on March 16, 1969, that was destined to become a European classic of the twentieth century. The performance was created for the Stuttgart Ballet, and subsequently was staged in many leading ballet companies, including the Bavarian Opera (Munich), the Royal Ballet (London), the Swedish Royal Ballet (Stockholm), the Ballet of the La Scala Theater (Milan), the Australian Ballet (Sydney), the Roman Opera, the National Ballet of Canada (Toronto). In 1996, The Taming of the Shrew was staged at the Moscow Bolshoi Theater.

     The subject of this article is the interpretation of J. Kranko images of Katarina and Petruchio in three duets of the ballet "The Taming of the Shrew", studied in contextual comparison with the original text – the comedy of W. Shakespeare. The purpose of the study is to determine the place of the three duets of the main characters in Kranko's performance, drawing ideological and figurative parallels with the text of the original source, and to identify expressive means and choreographic elements used by the choreographer in their production.

     The methods of ballet analysis approved by ballet historians G. N. Dobrovolskaya, V. M. Krasovskaya, E. Ya. Surits ^{[6, 9, 15]} were used as the theoretical basis of this study; the methodological basis for the analysis of choreography was the work of choreographer and ballet art theorist F. V. Lopukhov ^{[11, 12]}.

     Other sources used include video materials from the archives of the Staatsoper Stuttgart and the Bolshoi Theatre. The work on the article required a historical approach – the involvement of materials (videotapes and reviews) from 1969 to 1996.. Also, in the course of the research, the author applied methods of ideological and artistic analysis and semantic analysis of the choreographic construction of duets by Katarina and Petruchio.

     To the creativity of J. Several publications in foreign languages (English, German) are dedicated to Kranko: the book of the English ballet critic "Theatre in my blood" ("Theatre in my blood"), containing information about the biography and the main productions of the choreographer; a two-volume German edition with extensive illustrative material about the Kranko ballet troupe ^{[21, 22, 24]}.

     There are relatively few Russian-language studies of the choreographer's work. Choreography historian V. M. Krasovskaya in the book "Ballet through Literature" studies the interpretation of Shakespeare's works in the ballet theater and, as a confirmation of the scenic character of Shakespeare's comedies, mentions "The Taming of the Shrew" in the choreography of J. Kranko ^[9]. The logic of the tonal development of the musical score of Kranko's ballet "Onegin" to the music of P. I. Tchaikovsky is studied by composer Yu. B. Abdokov in the book "Musical Poetics of Choreography" ^[1].

     The author of this article has a PhD thesis, a monograph and several analytical articles, where a multidimensional ballet studies analysis of the performance "Onegin" is carried out and the place of the studied ballet is determined not only in the works of J. Kranko, but also in the context of the entire development of Western European choreography ^[16]. The analytical article by O. V. Kushnir examines the music of the ballet "Onegin" in interaction with the libretto and other aspects of the performance ^[10].

     Thus, a detailed analysis of the choreography of the ballet by J. Kranko "The Taming of the Shrew" has not yet been attempted, meanwhile this performance occupies a prominent place both in the work of the choreographer and in the Western European ballet theater of the second half of the twentieth century. The study in this article of the plastic interpretation of the images of Katarina and Petruchio in three duets from this performance can significantly contribute to further research of the choreographer's creativity.

     John Kranko is a choreographer who worked on the embodiment of literary plots on the ballet stage at a time when interest in this direction in Europe has almost faded. It was thanks to the success of such multi-act productions of Kranko as "Romeo and Juliet" by S. S. Prokofiev, "Onegin" to the music of P. I. Tchaikovsky and "The Taming of the Shrew" to the music of D. Scarlatti, attention was again drawn to multi-act plot performances and the next generations of European choreographers continued to work in this direction (J. Neumeier, J.- K. Mayo, K. Shpuk, K. Wheeldon). Kranko became the head of the Stuttgart Ballet in 1960, having previously staged the ballet "Prince of Pagodas" by B. Britten specifically for this troupe. The choreographer devoted twelve years of his leadership not only to the creation of a permanent author's repertoire, but also to the systematic development of the troupe. He discovered the names of Marcia Heide and Richard Cragan, who became legends of the Stuttgart Ballet. The individuality of the artists largely determined the characters of the main characters of Kranko's ballets. This was especially evident in the ballet under study with the choreographic interpretation of the part of Petruchio, created for 24-year-old Richard Cragan. John Percival noted that the dancer "possessed exactly the character and bright virtuoso technique that are necessary for the performance of Petruchio" ^{[24, p. 196]}. Of course, the artist's special qualities were also manifested when creating duets, where his partner was Marcia Heide, the choreographer's muse, who shone in the roles of Juliet and Tatiana before the production of The Taming of the Shrew.

     John Kranko's ballet The Taming of the Shrew consists of two acts and ten paintings. The design of E. Dalton is stylized for the era of the literary source, with lightweight and shortened ballerina dresses (which the whole performance dances on pointe shoes).

     The first duetCatarina and Petruchio are staged in the third scene of the first act, taking place in the Baptista's house. Here the interaction of the main characters is identical to the first scene of the second act of Shakespeare's comedy, where Petruchio woos Katarina, the characters meet for the first time and their first dialogue, a "verbal duel" takes place. In the text of the original source, Petruchio, while waiting for the arrival of Katarina, thus voices the plan of his further behavior:

When she comes, I 'll take care of her;

If he starts to get mad , I 'll start talking,

What is sweeter than a nightingale displays trills;

If he frowns, I will say that he looks clearly,

Like a rose sprinkled with dew... ^{[18, p. 474]}

     In Kranko's performance, Katarina's performer stands in the center of the stage before the start of the first duet. She was left alone after, literally interpreting Shakespeare's text, she hit Hortensio with a lute with such force that his "head went through the soundboard" ^{[18, p. 474]}. The performer Petruchio appears from the lower left corner of the stage. Obviously trying to impress the bride, the dancer performs a double tour en l'air twice with bent non-inverted legs and bows ceremoniously (a bow from a historical dance). Coming up to Katarina with long strides from the heel, Petruchio stands next to her, arms crossed on his chest. The performer of Katarina, measuring him with a careful look, moves to the left corner of the stage and stops, also crossing her arms over her chest. The duet of the main characters begins: the performer Petruchio touches the ballerina's elbow and, turning her partner sharply, deftly grabs her by the arm. The dancers begin to move pas chass?, during which the performer Katarina performs a buttress rotation tours cha?n?. The heroine tries to escape, but every time she "wraps herself" in Petruchio's hand again, until she bumps into his chest and walks away in indignation. Approaching the performer Katarina from behind, the dancer lifts her up, and the ballerina awkwardly bends her legs with shortened feet and waves her hands clenched into fists. The support is repeated twice, after which the heroine finally "throws off" her partner's hands and, extremely pleased with herself, with her hands on her hips, stops, spreading her legs wide and non-inverted.

     At this moment, the hero abruptly turns Katarina to himself and tries to kiss her, after which the previously fairly measured pace of the dancers' movements changes. The ballerina convulsively breaks out of her partner's embrace and moves towards him with jerky and torn petit pas de chat, throwing her hands forward as if trying to scratch the hero. When he tries to restrain the movements of her hands, the dancer turns on two legs and the combination repeats again. After the second turn, the performer of Katarina tries to free herself again, but the performer Petruchio holds her by the hand. In retaliation for this, the heroine, with all her might, with a loud stomp (plastic imitation), steps on him first on one, then on the other leg and, with her head high, walks towards the "exit" from the room (upper left wing). Deliberately grotesquely "limping" a few steps, the dancer suddenly quickly catches up with the heroine and lifts her off the floor, turning her head down. The ballerina swings her legs and arms, pounding her partner with her fists. The hero suddenly returns the dancer to her feet and, standing behind her, grabs her hands, as if blocking any movements. The brushes of the performer Katarina, at first awkwardly frozen, gradually relax and come to a classic position – which, without a doubt, is the first sign of changes in the character of the plastic of the main character.

     The performer Petruchio tries to stroke the girl on the head, but she, as if remembering that she should resist, hangs on the partner's arms and moves her legs wide, without descending from the pointe shoes. Thus, the characters move from side to side until they freeze again in the previous pose, where the dancer "blocked" the heroine's hands. The performer of Katarina, feigning surprise at being forced to use the help of a partner, leans on his brushes and performs pas de chat with his support, stands in the arabesque pose. Nozatem suddenly drives across the floor and slips out of the dancer's hands, crawling between his legs. This turn somewhat discourages the hero, he bends down in surprise in search of Katarina, and she grabs his hands and pulls in such a way that the dancer performs a somersault and ends up on the floor. Extremely pleased with the resulting effect, the heroine sways from side to side, performing a small pas balanc?, and then imitates laughter, arms akimbo and throwing her head back. Here the performer Petruchio grabs the unsuspecting Katarina by the leg, and now she finds herself next to him on the floor. Trying to hug the girl, the dancer rolls along with her on the stage. Jumping to her feet, the ballerina again grabs the partner's hand and pulls it with a flourish, provoking him to a gymnastic somersault, again ending on the floor. The performer of Katarina pretends that she did not expect such a result: at first she walks away in confusion, then returns and gives Petruchio her hand, wanting to help him get up. The dancer sprawled on the floor twitches several times, pretending that he is unable to get up, and then jumps to his feet as if nothing had happened. Frightened by his pressure, the ballerina gets into a "fighting stance", putting her hands clenched into fists in front of her and looking like a boxer. But the performer Petruchio answers her with a ceremonious bow. After that, the duo of heroes begins to acquire a traditionally classical character: the partner lifts the ballerina by the waist in pas de chat (with a small addition - before jumping, the dancer first takes out the d?velopp? crois? en avant, and only then changes her legs to the classical position), supports her hand during fouett? to the attitude position. But the next combination breaks the barely established harmony – after double tours d?gag?s, the ballerina descends into an acrobatic twine, from which the dancer throws the partner over his shoulder in one movement. After the second repetition of the combination, the heroine begins to beat the performer Petruchio on the back. When he finally puts it down, Katarina's performer walks away in confusion.

     In the next part, the heroine continues to avoid her partner, but she does it less violently. Moving away from him, she independently performs the tour in the arabesque pose, but on the second turn, the performer of the main character catches up with the ballerina and gently picks up the jet? en tournant. After repeating these movements twice, Katarina's performer begins to convulsively pull out of her partner's hands, spreading her fingers. As if wanting to calm the heroine, Petruchio gently takes her hands and bends down slightly with her. Having transferred the ballerina in pas de chat to another part of the stage, the hero gallantly moves away from her and offers his hand. Katarina's performer carefully and cautiously hands him her own. The duet dance receives choreographic development: the dancer performs a pirouette by the hand with a partner, then support with support on his hands. These elements can no longer be performed independently, that is, it is obvious that according to the choreographer's idea, the heroine begins to trust Petruchio and his help. After two repetitions of the ligament, a twist is added to the pirouette, and the support develops into a high rise to the level of the dancer's head.

     The characters perform a further combination diagonally: leaning on the shoulders of the performer Petruchio, the ballerina bends and finds herself in high support, then with her knees rests on the partner's chest. Frozen in this position, she points her finger down, clearly indicating with this gesture her desire to go down. The dancer gently lowers her to her feet. Without looking into each other's eyes, the heroes synchronously sit down on all fours. Katarina looks away in confusion, and Petruchio looks at her with mock surprise. The heroine is even a little embarrassed and hurriedly moves away from the dancer to the lower right corner of the stage. The dancer too impetuously catches up with her and, turning her around with a jerk, tries to kiss her again. The ballerina's feet immediately contract, her fists clench, she again begins to convulsively pull out and beat the performer Petruchio. The hero turns away at this time and defiantly shows that he does not care about her attacks. Calming down a little, Katarina lowers her hands and also turns away. The dancer takes the girl's hand and selflessly presses it to his chest. The main character indignantly pulls her hand away, moves with rough steps from the heel to another part of the stage and turns away, crossing her arms over her chest. The performer Petruchio walks around the ballerina so that she can see him, and sits on his knees in front of her, "mimicking" her pose with her arms crossed on her chest.

     The final part of the duet can be called the culmination from the point of view of choreographic development. In the next bundle, the effect is created that the performer of Katarina is sailing on a rowing boat: the ballerina leans on her partner's hands and moves with his help, without unclenching her legs joined together with her feet and knees outstretched. After a self-performed pas de chat, the dancer stands up in arabesque, the partner holds her by the shoulders, and she bends down and turns under his hands, as if performing a "wheel". At the end of this movement, the dancer squats and puts the partner on his shoulder, continuing to hold only by the armpits. The combination is repeated twice from side to side. The final part of the duet is a wide run of the characters across the stage, during which Petruchio pulls the resisting Katarina, and then happily follows him, and periodically throws her into the air in a flight pas de chat. The choreographic fragment ends with the hugs of the heroes (the dancer stands behind the ballerina) in the lower right corner of the stage.

     The first duet of Katarina and Petruchio in the ballet by J. Kranko is built as an alternation of short parts contrasting in the plastic nature of movements. The choreographer interprets the quarrels and quarrels of the heroes with the help of jerky, sharp, syncopated pas, including acrobatic elements and movements on the floor; rare and fragile harmony between them – with the help of classical movements or duet elements, the performance of which is impossible without relying on a partner. The analyzed duet can certainly be called a "choreographic duel", which conceptually brings it closer to the first dialogue between Katarina and Petruchio in the text of Shakespeare's comedy.

     The second duet of the main characters of the ballet is staged in the third scene of the second act, taking place in Petruchio's house. It is worth noting that the dramatization of the first scene of the fourth act of Shakespeare's comedy, in which Petruchio swears with the servants because of a "burnt" lamb, was carried out by Kranko in the first scene of the second act. In the text of the original source, the hero says this about the "taming" of his wife:

I started my reign wisely.

I hope that I will complete it successfully.

My falcon is hungry and annoyed.

Until he submits, I won't let him eat... ^{[18, p. 502]}

     The next scene of the comedy with the presence of the main characters is the third scene of the fourth act, where the dress fitting takes place at Petruchio's house, and then the fifth scene of the same act, taking place on the road during the heroes' journey. But Katarina and Petruchio are not alone in these scenes. Accordingly, the second duet, which takes place in the interval between these scenes, is not a choreographic interpretation of a specific Shakespearean dialogue (as in the case of the first duet).

     In the ballet, the second duet becomes the beginning of a new scene, taking place after a light blackout for a decorative change. The first thing the audience sees after turning on the stage lighting is the fireplace in the center of the stage and the performer Katarina, dozing near it (in the previous scene with the participation of the main character, she, frozen and hungry, was left alone by the fireplace). The ballerina is dressed in a short gray dress with a torn skirt resembling rags – probably, according to the artist's plan, this is all that remains of her wedding dress. Almost immediately, the performer of the part of Petruchio appears, who flies onto the stage, performing a double tour en l'air with bent non-inverted legs, as at the beginning of the first duet. He has a letter in his hands. Turning away from the fireplace, the dancer pretends to bite and chew something. Katarina runs up to him with impatience – because she is terribly hungry – and looks over her shoulder. Petruchio turns to her and gives her the letter with alacrity. Realizing her mistake, the ballerina indignantly throws away the scroll and attacks her husband with her fists. In response, he just kisses her on the cheek. The performer of Katarina pushes him away and the characters disperse to different parts of the stage, stopping with their backs to each other: the mise-en-scene prelude is over, the dance part of the duet begins.

     The heroine turns around and sees that the performer Petruchio is still standing, turning away. She turns around again, this time the dancer takes a step to the center of the stage. The ballerina also begins to move her back and comically backs away on her outstretched knees. When she finally turns around, it turns out that she has already missed her partner. Realizing this, the dancer freezes in a pose with her arms crossed on her chest, and the hero, who once again laughed at her, comes up and puts his head on her shoulder. Suddenly Petruchio points at something with his finger and even sits down to examine it. The performer of Katarina immediately forgets her offense and, intrigued, joins him – even pushes him away in search of something on the floor. However, he soon throws up his hands in disbelief. And at this time, the dancer is already pointing to something in the other direction and, depicting an extreme degree of amazement, covers his mouth with his hand. The ballerina looks in that direction, but again shakes her head in disappointment. Meanwhile, the hero has come up with a new prank – he grabs his stomach and stands with a plaintive look until Katarina approaches him with sympathy. But as soon as she does this, the dancer immediately jumps out into the pas de chat en tournant, swings from side to side, imitating laughter, and dodges the blows that the performer of Katarina begins to inflict on him. Soon the ballerina rushes away, jumping grand jet? into arabesque with a run, and the performer Petruchio grabs her by the leg raised in the air (working). So the dancer is "caught by the tail" and, in order to cope with inertia, is forced to throw the body down. The hero continues to pull her leg in such a strangely dropped position, while the ballerina constantly performs temps glac? on the supporting leg, and then, after making a fouett?e, turns to her partner and tries to reach with her fists. Such absurd "bouncing" with a limited range of motion produces a comical effect, while forcing the audience to sympathize with the heroine. Suddenly, the dancer picks up his partner and begins to circle her, then lifting her up, then lowering her down. The ballerina, as a sign of her "protest", shortens her feet and points to the floor. Nothing happens: the performer Petruchio continues to hold her "in an armful". She begins to jerk her legs and arms, then the dancer, slightly tossing her, lowers her to the floor, continuing to hold one leg and one arm. In this position, he "drags" his partner around the stage, then lifts and circles her in tour lent. Only after that, the performer of Katarina manages to free herself. In retaliation, she runs up to her husband and violently bites his hand. In response, the hero only slightly moves his brush and goes after the shrew who left him.

     The next part of the duet begins. Holding the partner only by the shoulders, the performer moves her from side to side. The ballerina moves in jumping steps (resembling non-rotating petit jet?), performed without leaving the pointe, and then performs a full turn in the air. At the same time, the dancer imitates the absolute relaxation of the upper body and waves her arms as if she has lost control of her body. The combination ends with a slight rise, in which the partner still holds the ballerina only by the shoulders. Before the next bunch, the performer Petruchio gallantly gives the girl his hand, and she absently holds out her hand to him. After completing the tour piqu?, the performer of Katarina hangs on the shoulder of her partner in support, before exiting which she carelessly cuts her feet and literally jumps out of the dancer's hands. The emotional tension that has arisen between the characters develops into high support on the partner's outstretched arms (the partner is in the arabesque pose with her hands pressed to her head), from which he throws her off with a spectacular turn and, holding her leg again, provokes her to perform temps glac?, as in the first part of the duet. This is followed by another high support with the deflection of the dancer back, which ends with an additional turn on the descent. After such an impressive element, the performer Petruchio begins to rock the heroine, who has again relaxed her body and arms, from side to side. So, continuing the "loose" movements, the ballerina moves away from the dancer and independently performs double tours d?gag?s, and then stops and covers her face with her hands in despair.

     The main character with unexpected participation approaches Katarina and, hugging her shoulders, begins to gently sway with her. Then he lifts the ballerina, who is still covering her face with her hands, and shifts her from one of his knees to the other, like a doll. The heroine convulsively breaks out of his hands, but does not have time to run away, as he grabs her by the shoulders again, circles and tilts her against her will. Seeing the indifference of the girl, the performer Petruchio tries to involve her in the game, putting one palm on top of the other in turn. He succeeds: Katarina also begins to put her palms, trying to get ahead of the hero. Petruchio goes on and rearranges his legs also crosswise, and the heroine tries to overtake him again. Finally, desperate to win, the ballerina puts her fists forward for the umpteenth time, but the performer of the main character stops her angry impulse, gallantly offering her hands to dance.

     And indeed: at the final minute of the dance fragment, the culminating choreographic development of the duet technique takes place. The first combination, repeated twice, where after the tour lent (the dancer "wraps" the ballerina in his hands) in the partner's position en avant, a buttress soutenu follows, develops into a bundle of supports (during the first, the dancer lies on the partner's back, during the second, leaning on the partner's shoulder, spinning in jet?). The next combination begins with a wide approach of the heroes, turning into a tour de force of the ballerina during a push, after which she finds herself on the shoulder of a partner. From this position, the transition to the final climactic pose follows: the dancer, held only by her legs, stretches her knees and seems to "hover" above the ground, bending strongly and opening her arms to the sides. The dancer carries the partner in this position through the entire stage, then gently lowers her to the floor in the lower left corner of the stage. Sitting down next to him, Petruchio playfully touches Katarina's nose, and she smiles happily in response, confirming that all the quarrels and quarrels have finally exhausted themselves.

     The duet is immediately followed by a mise en scene, during which the servants bring in a set table, and Petruchio allows Katarina to enjoy the dishes, which she does with great pleasure.

     The second duet of the main characters of J. Kranko builds differently than the first one, making it up of two parts. In the first of them, Petruchio, according to the choreographer's plan, is always trying to put Katarina in an awkward position, make fun of her and thereby make her feel her own helplessness. Choreographically, this is expressed in pantomime and plastic imitations of funny and awkward situations in which the hero puts his wife (the dancer points to an imaginary object, grabs his partner by the leg or "in an armful", imitates illness, etc.). However, there is no obvious "choreographic duel" (as in the first duet) here: the choreographer uses rather comic techniques. In the second part of the fragment there is a choreographic development, expressed in the technical and spectacular elements of the duet dance and designed to reflect the reconciliation of the characters.

     So, the analyzed duo does not interpret a specific dialogue from the original text, but shows what happens to the main characters between the two scenes. After all, in the next scene of the comedy (taking place on the roadway) Katarina is already playing along with her husband with alacrity. Kranko in the ballet depicts the change taking place in the relationships of the main characters.

     The third duet Katarina and Petruchio Kranko puts in the tenth, final scene of the second act, taking place at Bianca's wedding. The main characters appear in luxurious historical brocade costumes. Katarina is wearing a long, lush, gold–embroidered dress and a massive headdress, Petruchio is wearing a loose golden caftan to the ankles and a hat with a feather. By their appearance, the heroes certainly amaze all the characters present on the stage. Even more surprising is the mise en scene, in which husbands call their wives (there are four, not three pairs of newlyweds in the ballet), and three of them come, but they act out the greatest degree of displeasure and, brazenly turning around, leave. Only Katarina, decorously speaking in her outfit, respectfully bows to her husband. And the performer Petruchio whispers something in her ear, probably implying words from the comedy:

Get them over here. And they won 't –

Kick them away without ceremony!

Go, I say, and bring them ^{[18, p. 533]}.

Then the performer of Katarina instantly transforms back into the heroine of the first act of the ballet: sitting down and shortening her feet, she alternately roughly grabs the hands of her sister, the wives of Hortensio and Gremio and forces them to bow to their husbands. In the text of the comedy, after the arrival of the "obstinate" wives, Petruchio tells Katarina the following words, after which she utters her final monologue :

Ket, explain this to the obstinate wives,

How husbands should be obeyed ^{[18, p. 534]}.

In the ballet, Kranko interprets this moment not with the help of Katarina's solo, but by staging the third duet of the main characters. The performers of Katarina and Petruchio take off their outfits in one movement and remain in the costumes of the second duo – a ballerina in a gray shabby dress, and a dancer in a simple shirt and tights. The stage empties and they are left alone. Probably, this is how the choreographer shows that the rich robes were just a cover, under which the main thing in the relationship of the characters is hidden, something that should not be seen by outsiders.

     The duet begins with a pose in which the characters stand in the center of the stage, holding hands; the ballerina's head rests on the dancer's shoulder. The first movement is performed in a duet, unlike the previous fragments. This is a tour lent for one hand (the dancer is in port de bras in arabesque), which turns into a synchronous deflection of the characters, during which they stand with their backs to each other, without opening their hands. Then the dancers slowly turn to face each other and squat deeply, still not uncoupling their hands. Both described positions are repeated again at an accelerated pace, after which the characters stop, hugging (the partner is standing behind). The performer Petruchio carries the ballerina forward in the terbushon position, then back into the arabesque, carefully puts the pointe and turns it to the attitude crois? position. A series of low rises (to the level of the partner's chest) continues with a more active change of the partner's positions: terbushon is replaced several times by pas de chat, and the partner does not actually let go of the ballerina, all pas are performed by her exclusively with his help. Before the next part, Katarina's performer moves away from her partner for a second to immediately give him her hand again. From the double tour piqu? with the support of the dancer's arm, they switch to the tour lent in the en avant position, ending with fouett? to arabesque. From here, the ballerina moves from one step to high support, where the partner holds her at arm's length behind her back (the dancer in the IV crois? leg position). This turns out to be only the first position of the cascade of supports – then the performer Petruchio puts his partner on his shoulders, from this position he lifts her to his outstretched arms in arabesque. The combination ends with a hug of heroes.

     In the next part, the choreographic development continues: after the double tour of the ballerina, the partner picks her up by the waist, she leans forward, turns under his hands and goes into several turns of the tour lent with a strong axis shift, ending with the grand rond de jambe. After two repetitions of the combination, a culminating cascade of high supports follows: during the ascent to the outstretched arms of the performer Petruchio, the dancer puts her knee on his shoulder and changes position from "horizontal" to "vertical", leaning with one foot on the partner's back and supported by him by the waist. Then, holding onto the dancer's hands and changing the position of her legs, Katarina's performer with a wide amplitude begins the descent, which turns into an additional choreographic element. All these pas require maximum control from the partners, which distinguishes the disassembled duo from the other two.

     In a further combination, the choreographer adds active promotion on the stage: in one direction, the partner throws the ballerina into the pas de chat and picks up in a tilt with a strong port de bras; in the other, the dancers perform support starting with the tour de force of the ballerina and continuing with turns in jet? (here the dancer leans on the partner's shoulders with one hand). The heroes are separated (for the first time in this duet) and the performer Petruchio performs a solo combination of rotations (double grand pirouette in position ? la seconde, then pirouettes en dehors, ending in pli?). But already at the beginning of the next bundle, Katarina's performer returns to her partner's hands: she jumps tour en l'air from a running start (the working leg is bent) and goes into jet?, in which the dancer grabs her by the shoulders. Then, after double tours d?gag?s, the ballerina descends into the splits, supported by the performer Petruchio – a choreographic quote from the first duet, only now the combination ends not with "fists", but with a trusting support on her husband's shoulders.

     The next part, performed diagonally, dilutes the technical tension of the duet: the performer Petruchio steps back, alternately taking the heroine's hands in his, and she follows him on pointe shoes (performing pas couru).

This is followed by combined tours lent with a change of attitude positions (the partner holds the ballerina by the waist on one hand) and en avant (the ballerina leans on the partner's shoulders with her hand), ending with a tilt with a strong port de bras of the partner. From here, the performer Petruchio intercepts the dancer in support at the level of his chest, twists and tilts in this position. The choreographic part ends with the hugs of the heroes again. After them, the dancers scatter, but the next pas is performed together: the ballerina's tour d?gag? in the partner's hands, then the tilt in the arabesque position and the continuation of the rotation in the tour lent. Having dispersed again, the heroes converge to perform support, the approach to which begins with a "somersault" of the partner, thus falling on the shoulders of the dancer holding her hands. Next, the ballerina changes her position, crossing her legs and ending up on the partner's arm. During this cascade, the performer Petruchio moves widely across the stage, carrying the ballerina with amplitude. On the descent, the dancer changes her position two more times, first embracing the hero and touching him, and then bending over and opening one hand freely.

     The heroes embrace each other and it seems that this is the final pose of the duo. But suddenly they freeze, looking into each other's eyes, and repeat the movements of the "struggle" from the first duet: Petruchio tries to intercept Katarina's clenched fists. But then they simultaneously lower their hands and look at each other, implying that it was a joke. In the final position, the performer of Katarina bends down to her husband's hands.

     The third duet of Katarina and Petruchio stands out as the most technically intense in terms of choreographic development. This is the only dance fragment of the ballet built entirely on duet dance: the choreographer uses classical vocabulary, modernizing it and experimenting in the field of high supports. Also, after the third duet, the main characters come to the forefront for bows (despite the fact that this is not the final of the ballet, the duet is followed by a coda with the participation of all the characters). However, during the performance, the choreographer departs from the disparity of the numbers, obviously, causing this through drama. Probably, such an exception can be interpreted as a certain directorial emphasis on the completeness of the development of the main characters' relationships.

     John Kranko claimed that the quintessence of the plot of The Taming of the Shrew "is contained in three great duets of the main characters. In the first, Katarina prevails, in the second, Petruchio has the upper hand, and finally, in the third, they come to harmony" ^{[24, pp. 196-197]}. The detailed semantic analysis of the choreography and composition of duets, which has become the main research tool, allowed us to confirm this concept of the choreographer.

     The new results include the identification and comparison of staging tools developed and used by the choreographer. In the first duet it is an alternation of syncopated pas, acrobatic elements, movements on the floor; in the second – plastic imitations of funny and awkward situations; in the third – technically rich choreographic development of duet dance (which corresponds to the three phases of the development of the relationship of the heroes: duel, ridicule, harmony). So, the modification of the images and relationships of the main characters of J. Kranko concludes The Taming of the Shrew in three duets, making them meaningful fragments that form the concept of ballet, as well as the author's view of the plot of the comedy by W. Shakespeare.