Упр.4 Юнит 1.5 ГДЗ Starlight Баранова 11 класс

Reading 4

Match texts A–G with headings 1–8. Each number can only be used once. There is one extra heading.

1 Setting the standard
2 Still going strong
3 The shock of the new
4 A replay of past glories
5 Blending a range of feelings
6 Great works and good will
7 Once more for glory
8 Uniting many styles

More than words: mime, music and dance

A In the world of mime, Slava Polunin is a living legend. He is one of the most famous mime artists on the world stage and his stage persona, Asisyai, with his yellow boiler suit and fluffy red slippers, is instantly recognisable. Slava’s Snowshow, which is still performed worldwide, is a modern masterpiece, captivating audiences with its mixture of hilarious comedy and powerful emotion. This hugely imaginative performance ends as an indoor blizzard sweeps across the auditorium, sprinkling an amazed audience with snowflakes.

B The ballet The Rite of Spring by composer Igor Stravinsky and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, which was first performed in 1913, radically changed both ballet and orchestral music. This modern approach to ballet broke with artistic tradition and almost brought the house down on the first night – literally. The boos of the audience soon developed into a riot that only calmed down after the police arrived during the intermission. Classical music doesn’t often cause such controversy, but The Rite of Spring is now universally acknowledged as a true work of art.

C After coming second in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest with his song Never Let You Go, Dima Bilan was guaranteed a successful career. What few people expected, though, was that he would try again in 2008 and, this time, take first place with Believe. Now with an international career that has him touring worldwide and recording with some of pop music’s most famous names, Dima is the face of Russian pop that brought the Eurovision Song Contest to Moscow in 2009.

D Maya Plisetskaya was acclaimed as one of the superstars of twentieth-century ballet. Having trained from an early age, she first performed with the Bolshoi Ballet at the age of 18 and stayed with them until 1990. Famed for her red hair, graceful movements and electric performances, she impressed the world when she took to the stage in such ballets as Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. She received many honours both at home and abroad. Maya Plisetskaya was the ultimate role model for all the dancers who have followed in her footsteps.

E Oleg Popov, the Sunshine Clown, trained at the circus school in Moscow and soon became one of the most popular clowns in Russia. Over the course of his career he received many awards. In 1969, he was honoured as the People’s Artist and in 1981 he received the prestigious Golden Clown of Monte Carlo award. He said that his goal was to: “create joy, not laughter for its own sake.”

F Chelyabinsk Contemporary Dance Theatre has built a reputation on innovative performances that combine dance with elements of theatre. Olga Pona, the group’s choreographer, only became interested in modern dance when she was at university. Her late start hasn’t stopped her from becoming a major name in this genre, though. She believes that there are many types of contemporary dance and that allows her to make her own rules for the work she performs. She combines folk dance, modern movement, sound and silence to forge unforgettable performances.

G Mstislav “Slava” Rostropovich was a cellist and composer who inspired entire generations of musicians. Coming from a family of musicians, he soon demonstrated his natural talent with the cello. His remarkable skill was only matched by his genuine compassion for others. The Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation was set up to improve the health of children and to this day it has helped over nine million through vaccination programmes. Rostropovich died in 2007, but his legacy lives on.