About the work
Qara Qarayev composed this three-act ballet to a libretto by Yuri Slonimsky, based on the novel 'The Path of Thunder' by South African writer Peter Abrahams. The choreography was by Konstantin Sergeyev, with set design by Valery Dorrer. It premiered on 4 January 1958 at the Kirov Theatre (today the Mariinsky Theatre) in Leningrad, with Natalia Dudinskaya and Sergeyev in the lead roles.
Plot
The ballet tells of a forbidden love between a Black man and a white woman in apartheid-era South Africa, which ends tragically when their relationship meets the resistance of the white community. In the score, Qarayev drew on African and African-American musical elements to lend the subject authenticity.
Cultural significance
With this ballet, Qarayev translated a contemporary political subject about racism into classical dance form, incorporating African-inflected musical language into a Soviet repertoire ballet. Its premiere at the Kirov Theatre, one of the Soviet Union's foremost stages, underscored the work's standing within Soviet cultural life.