Latest news with #ballet
CBS News
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Boston Ballet's "Roméo et Juliette" features unique form of dancing in the tragic love story
Boston Ballet's new production of "Roméo et Juliette" is unlike any you've seen before, with Juliette taking on a different form of dancing. The tragic love story in this contemporary piece is still intact but the presentation of the ballet is unique, with Juliette dancing some of the piece barefoot. "The barefoot dance is actually harder for classical ballet dancers," said principal dancer Seo Hye Han. "We are switching from pointe shoes to bare feet. That means we are using different muscles of the legs, so I do some exercises to turn on the different muscles." In rehearsals, the dancers wrap their ankles for extra support and in some cases, tape their toes to protect their feet from blisters. "[It] was a little challenging but now I understand why it must be barefoot because it changes the mood, it changes the movement, it gets more wild and more natural," said Han. "I think when you see a dancer, barefoot, hair down, just fully herself or himself, it makes it such a personal journey. It makes it so vulnerable," said second soloist Courtney Nitting. "Playing the nurse, I am very close with the Juliette and the Roméo even throughout the entire ballet and seeing those characters go through the starts in pointe shoes and then going to barefoot, you just really much of her soul that she can give to the audience. I think that's what dancing barefoot does. You're grounded in the floor, you're not really wearing anything, your hair is down, you're just completely you and you're in the story with the music." Combining dancing and acting For both dancers, acting is a key part of the performance. "I already danced a different version of Juliet many years ago and that Juliet was more girly, fragile, lyrical. So I needed to recreate my own Juliet again when I learned this ballet," said Han. "The funny thing is this Juliet is more close to my personality so I had so much fun doing not really shy in this version. She knows what she wants. She's very wild. She's bold, sometimes very rebellious." "I get to be super fun and silly and flirty as the nurse," said Nitting. "And then I also get to find those deeper, more intimate particular version of 'Roméo et Juliette' is just very human and I think that's something that's really special about it and it makes it personal for us as dancers and hopefully for the audience as well." "It drains lots of emotions from me and that's the actually hardest part, dancing in this Roméo et Juliette," said Han. "I have to put everything in it." Boston Ballet's production of "Roméo et Juliette" is at the Citizens Opera House through Sunday, June 8.
The Herald
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald
‘Coppélia' ballet thrills Durban audience
The ballet Coppélia thrilled the audience at the Durban Playhouse on Saturday. The show tells a sweet story about love, fun and magic that everyone can enjoy. Presented by The Playhouse Company, the performance features the talented Cape Town City Ballet, with music by the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra. Kirstél Paterson stars as the lively Swanhilda, Jordan Roelfze plays the charming Franz and Leusson Muniz is Dr Coppélius, the quirky inventor. Conductor Brandon Phillips led the orchestra, adding beautiful music and feeling to every scene. Hannah Ward appeared as Prayer. In some shows, Maryana Pobuta played Swanhilda, Axton Green was Franz, and Caitlin Smith took on Prayer.
South China Morning Post
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Giselle review: Hong Kong Ballet combines outstanding dancing with lavish sets
Hong Kong Ballet's new production of Giselle boasts lavish new sets and costumes by internationally acclaimed designer Jérôme Kaplan. The first night featured outstanding performances in the leading roles from guest artists Marianela Nuñez and Matthew Ball. Advertisement The dancing from the company as a whole was excellent, with the female corps de ballet superb as the Wilis (ghosts) in Act 2. Kaplan has switched the ballet from its usual medieval setting to Victorian times. His Act 1 set is truly stunning – a charming village in the foreground with a vista leading up to a fairy-tale castle in the distance and full of light, a nice contrast to the mournful, moonlit forest of Act 2. The costumes for the Duke and his aristocratic hunting party are gorgeous, those for the villagers pretty and colourful, if a trifle kitsch, and the long tutus for the Wilis flow nicely to enhance their movement. The final scene of Act 1 in Hong Kong Ballet's new production of Giselle. Photo: Tony Luk However, giving Giselle a richly embroidered, off-the-shoulder bodice is misjudged – she's an innocent peasant girl, not a sex kitten – and having Albrecht dance for his life in Act 2 wearing a plaid waistcoat looks bizarre.
South China Morning Post
17 hours ago
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Ukraine's ‘ballet in a basement' sends a message from the war's front lines
In the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, it is hard to escape the war with Russia. Advertisement On some days, when the wind blows in the right direction, residents of the historic city can hear the boom of artillery fire from the front line, some 30km (19 miles) away. Most nights, Russian kamikaze drones packed with explosives buzz over apartment buildings as parents put their children to bed. Frequently – but unpredictably – a Russian ballistic missile will slam into the city. Three years on from Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many people in Kharkiv suffer a mental toll from the war with its unrelenting, inescapable proximity. But there is a space in the city where – for a few fleeting hours – the war stops existing. Ballet dancers practise for the revival of Chopiniana in the underground area of Kharkiv's National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. Photo: Reuters A pianist plays as ballerinas practise for the revival of Chopiniana. Photo: Reuters
The Guardian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Ballet Preljocaj's Swan Lake review – dystopian twist sucks the breath out of you
Swan Lake isn't one of those stories that connects hard with current events or the world around it. You can say much the same for ballet itself. As a form, it usually doesn't have much to say. Ballet Preljocaj's production, which debuted in France in 2020, is something of an exception to the rule. Making its Australian premiere within days of Woodside receiving the federal government's (election-delayed) green light to extend the life and colossal climate impact of its North West Shelf gas project until 2070, and the Woodside boss Meg O'Neill's clumsy attempt to shift responsibility to supposedly Temu-addicted gen Z consumers, this staging from has a bit of a kick to it. A Swan Lake for the ecocide era, if you like. It's not the first reworking of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov's 1895 classic, of course. Choreographers including Alexei Ratmansky, Matthew Bourne (his famous all-male Swan Lake) and Mats Ek have all ruffled the feathers of this tutu favourite. Here though, Angelin Preljocaj manages to entirely rework the choreography while honouring the narrative spine of the original and some of its structure. He doesn't throw the cygnets out with the lake water. For music, he draws principally on the Tchaikovsky score (played here in this QPAC exclusive season by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under the sensitive baton of Johannes Fritzsch) cut with extracts from Tchaikovsky's Second and Fourth Symphonies and dark-toned slabs of electronica and EDM by the French studio 79D. Fans of the original will not find the story hard to follow. Here, the royal court is dystopian-corporate but the broad sweep of the story still has a young Prince Siegfried (Antoine Dubois on this occasion, alternating the role with Leonardo Cremaschi) chafing against expectation and falling for Odette (Théa Martin/Mirea Delogu), a woman who has been transformed into a swan by the sorcerer Rothbart (Redi Shtylla/Elliot Bussinet). In this version, Rothbart is a rapacious property developer whose city-building scheme is eagerly supported by Siegfried's wealthy parents, who play a much larger part in the drama than more traditional versions. Siegfried has an exceptionally tender and close relationship with his mother, for example, and his father appears to be in bed (sometimes literally) with Rothbart. Early on, plans for the transformation of the kingdom are waved around in paper form. A trolley is wheeled on bearing an idealised model of the proposed venture. Neither makes a visceral impact, it must be said. Later, however, huge monochromatic digital projections by Boris Labbé start to loom large, filling the space with images of rising city skylines, stock market trends, excavators and, eventually, an industrial plant with a throbbing life of its own – one that spells a grim death for Odette and her swan kind. Preljocaj's athletic choreography is full of swagger, strength and sass, and does not incorporate any of Petipa's dreamy original sequences. But, for lovers of Swan Lake, there are plenty of beautiful lines and bird-like movements, particularly in the white swan sections. The women/swans sometimes embody the whole bird stretching their own necks into beautiful arched shapes, and at other times use their arms as swan necks with hands for heads. The high-impact ensemble routines echo some of the set pieces of the Petipa original, including its court scenes. The Dance of the Little Swans gets a winking update with pelvic wiggles and a sharp weaving of the dancers' arms. Siegfried and Odette deliver an audience-pleasing romantic pas de deux with inventive lifts. There's no interval between the 'white' and 'black' acts of the story. Swan Lake plays straight-through for two hours and its 26-strong cast don't get much downtime. Preljocaj's choreography looks demanding with its rapid switching between planes, knifing arms and legs and intricate unison work. The women perform barefoot in short, loose dresses; the men wear suits and pumps (with leather trousers for the bad guys). The highly gendered prettiness and prissiness we associate with Swan Lake is rinsed out. Everyone looks strong, athletic and grounded. From the fourth act, a febrile energy starts to take hold, especially when the swans react en masse to Siegfried's betrayal. The final image is a striking one, as Siegfried searches for the dying Odette among the twitching, writhing bodies of her kind, all poisoned by the obscenely pumping industrial plant that now surrounds them. Rather than leaving you breathless, this bleak ending sucks the air out of you. Swan Lake is performed in the Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre until 7 June. Watch the production for free on Digital Stage from 6pm, Friday 13 June to 6pm, Sunday 15 June
