Light from the End of the World

Ballet by Jevgeni Grib and Alisson Kruusmaa

A contemporary ballet by Jevgeni Grib and Alisson Kruusmaa
World premiere in the Estonian National Opera on November 29, 2024

Recommended age 12+
Duration: 1 h 50 min, one intermission
The performance includes stage smoke.

Choreographer and Stage Director: Jevgeni Grib (Theatre Vanemuine)
Composer: Alisson Kruusmaa
Music Director and Conductor: Kaspar Mänd
Conductor: Andres Kaljuste
Librettist: Eero Epner
Set Designer: Kristjan Suits
Costumes Designer: Tanel Veenre
Lighting Designer: Priidu Adlas (Estonian Drama Theatre)
Repetiteurs: Daniel Kirspuu, Nanae Maruyama, Katrin Kivimägi
Stage Manager: Anton Osul
Vocal Soloists: Karis Trass and Kadri Kõrvek

If the world began again, what would we take with us?

“Light from the End of the World” takes audiences from the birth of the world through human passion and destruction towards the possibility of a new beginning. At the heart of this sweeping story is one woman’s journey – her growth, her choices and her courage to follow her own path.

Jevgeni Grib’s choreography brings together the grace of classical ballet, contemporary movement and the energy of street dance. Alisson Kruusmaa’s spacious, expressive score holds both fragility and strength. Through the dancers of the Estonian National Ballet, music and movement tell a story of humanity’s bond with nature and the delicate balance between them.

Sets by Kristjan Suits, costumes by Tanel Veenre and lighting by Priidu Adlas create the ballet’s visual world. Eero Epner’s libretto connects the personal with the universal, revealing the human need for love and closeness against the backdrop of the world’s fate.

The production’s creative team received Estonia’s State Cultural Award in 2025.

Discover an original Estonian ballet whose music, movement and imagery speak when words fall short.

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“Light from the End of the World” tells a story about the creation of the world, the birth of mankind, the loss of harmony, the greed, the destruction of the old world – and the possibility of a new world. When facing apocalypse, humans expose their darkest impulses as well as hidden tenderness. Superficiality is cast aside, and the crisp reality of human existence is the last thing that the old world witnesses. But, amidst destruction there dawns the possibility of the birth of a new world. The various phases of birth and destruction are being connected by the development of the heroine, who follows the rise and fall of the world, but whose path leads her away from the mainstream humankind.

“As a choreographer, Jevgeni creates impressive stagings of emotional-atmospheric landscapes, where musicality, movement, sets and ideas are seamlessly merged. Emotionally nuanced, shrewd choreography and deep sense of life’s philosophy make his works rank among the masterpieces of art”.

Marina Kesler (Tantsuliidu Kuukiri, nr 119)

“Through and through an artist on whose canvas colours become music and the graphic sketches of a body acquire a deeper sense in movement. A creator, who can turn one word into a wordless story”.

Mare Tommingas (Tantsuliidu Kuukiri, nr 119)

Alisson Kruusmaa has emerged as one of the most exciting and commissioned young Estonian composers of today. The work of Alisson Kruusmaa ranges from chamber music to large scale orchestral pieces and stage music that is often inspired by images of nature. The sound-world created by Kruusmaa has breadth, light and tenderness – the lyrical sense of emotion is balanced by a crisp, clean form and a nuanced mode of expression. During the season 2023/2024, she is in residency at the Dutch National Opera and Ballet in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

https://www.universaledition.com/en/Contacts/Alisson-Kruusmaa/

Cast:

Looduspaar naine: Marta Navasardyan, Laura Maya, Ketlin Oja
Looduspaar mees: Joel Calstar-Fisher, Marcus Nilson
Kaasaegne paar naine: Marjana Fazullina, Karina Laura Leškin, Caroline Hamilton 
Kaasaegne paar mees: William Newton, Ali Urata, Nikos Gkentsef
Lind: Polina Sosimova, Gabriella Vidano 
Laps: Tallinna Muusika- ja Balletikool
Loodus / Jõud: Ketlin Oja, Marjana Fazullina, Ksenia Seletskaja, Karina Laura Leškin, Caroline Hamilton, Anne-Sophie Marjeram, Marcus Nilson, Antonio Gallo, Connor Williams, Nikos Gkentsef, Liam Strickland, Rasmus Ahlgren, Yuki Nonaka