Gorky Park is opening its 90th summer season on May 1. Over 20 events will take place on various sites around the park and in Muzeon for visitors of every age and virtually any interest. The weather might not be ideal, but the festivities should help visitors keep warm.
Get Up and Go
Visitors will see something new as soon as they enter the gates, where the massive “90” installation and mottoes based on the word “go” grace the main entrance. This verb is meant to urge people to move, rent rollerblades, learn to dance the hustle, try yoga and do anything to get moving.
Alyona Belova, the park's public relations director, told The Moscow Times that “The park team has installed a 40-meter long skate construction that will take skateboarders straight into the park. It will be there until May 9, Victory Day.”
This is a modern homage to the avant-garde essence of the park dating back to the 1920s when its first director, 26-year-old Betty Glan, held some ambitious projects like a mass carnival, giant skating rink and the one-of-a-kind 35-meter parachute tower that brave visitors jumped from.
The main event of the day will be LaLaGo Parade which will start at 4:45 p.m. at Golitsyn pond and finish at the central fountain at 5:45 p.m. This performance in the style of the musical “LaLaLand” will unite all the park's communities, from chess-players to runners and cyclists.
About 500 people are expected to take part. One of the columns will be led by the Promobot robot created by the Skolkovo Foundation. Magicool band will play at the fountain at the end. The parade will be directed by Kirill Mosunov, choreographer of the opening and closing ceremonies at Sochi Olympics.
More musical performances will take place in the summerhouse close to the embankment where pianist and composer Peter Aydu will play at 6 p.m. The season of concerts on the roof of the main entrance will open with two gigs: Boom Brass Band will play funk and jazz at 4 p.m.m and Art-Collage will serve a cocktail of classical music in modern arrangements at 7 p.m.
Theater-lovers can attend a theatrical workshop run by actors and directors of the Gogol Center at Muzeon. They will teach acting, scenic movement and speech in the afternoon until 7 p.m. People who submitted a professional question for theatrical producer Fyodor Yelyutin will enjoy a 15-minute paddle-boat tour of Golitsyn pond with him as he answers their question.
Green School will arrange electronic music classes for kids where they'll record their own albums. A pre-premiere screening of the animated feature “Papa-Mama Goose” will start at 9 p.m. at the Pioner summer cinema.
The dance floor will prepare workout classes with stretching at 3 p.m. Hustle dance lessons will take place at the Andreyevskaya embankment by the bridge from 2 until 7 p.m.
A Season of Festivities
On the morning of May 9, the Victory Day parade will be broadcast from Red Square. There will be an exhibition of military vehicles on the embankment, and a ball with live music from the 1940s played by a symphonic orchestra will be held on the main dance floor. TV-presenter Nikolai Drozdov and artists from Golos (the voice) show will perform at 5 p.m. at the stage near the main fountain.
Later in the season Gorky Park will host a number of major events, including Polytech Festival, Park Live, Ahmad Tea Festival in Muzeon, Flowers Festival and Faces&Laces. In August the park's team will for the first time present an event of their own which will go on for nine days, each day representing a particular theme like music and theater. “Plays will be staged at Golitsyn Pond at the island which used to serve as a dance island when Betty Glan was director,” said Alyona Belova.
See the full program in Russian on the park's site.
9 Krymsky Val. Metro Park Kultury, Oktyabrskaya. park-gorkogo.com
