LEAH is based on Simon Ansky’s (Jewish writer and folklorist Simon Rappoport's pseudonym) piece Between Two Worlds, which describes the Hebrew legend of the Dibuk (or Dybbuk): a soul that travels between two worlds, of dead and alive. The story takes place in a Jewish settlement. After separation, a heartbroken fiancé uses forbidden magic power – Kabbalah – to win back his loved one. As a result, both of them tragically die. The theme was used back in 1974, when Jerome Robbins staged the ballet Dybbuk at New York City Ballet (music by Leonard Bernstein). Alexei Ratmansky’s LEAH is set to the same music and is based on Simon Ansky’s piece. Ratmansky created the ballet in 2001 for Nina Ananiashvili.

Synopsis

Two friends vow to wed their children, Leah and Hanan. One of them dies and the other breaks his word by finding a rich fiancé for his daughter Leah. Hanan, the impoverished student, falls in love with Leah not knowing about her father's promise. Despite warnings, he turns to the forbidden books of Kabbalah, trying to win over his beloved. Demons oppose him, Hanan is incapable of challenging them and dies. His spirit transforms into a Dybbuk and inhabits Leah’s body on her wedding day. She fights with her husband and tries to suffocate him. Leah is taken to Rabbi Azriel who exorcises the Dybbuk. The ritual forces Hanan out of Leah's body, but she also passes away incapable of coping with life without her destined husband-to-be. Leah's and Hanan's spirits merge in another world.