What Does It Mean to Be a Woman in Power? A Ballet Looks to Two Queens.
Sophie Laplane, the choreographer of Scottish Ballet's new full-length 'Mary, Queen of Scots,' laughed. 'It doesn't sound very historical, does it?' she said. In fact, this was a scene showing the sinister court of spies lurking around the court of Elizabeth I.
Laplane was rehearsing the ballet at Scottish Ballet's Glasgow studios in mid-July, a few weeks before its premiere on Friday at the Edinburgh International Festival. Although there was still some choreography to create and much fine-tuning to come, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
'You're really hot and you know it,' Laplane told Evan Loudon, playing Mary's future husband, Lord Darnley, to general laughter. She circled her hips suggestively. 'Make sure she notices you!'
New full-length story ballets are expensive, high-stakes ventures. But since Christopher Hampson became Scottish Ballet's artistic director in 2012, the ballet has had a successful run of new narrative works, all choreographed by women.
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