24 March
Don Quixote in HK
Last night was one of the best nights I have had for a long long time. I saw a production of Don Quixote by the Marinksy Ballet, choreographed by Alexander Gorsky after the original adaptation by that Maîitre de Ballet Marius Petipa, who first had the ballet performed by the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg and then by the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow in late 19th Centrury. The music by written by Ludwg Minkus and the Marinsky Ochestra was conducted by Alexei Repnikov.
The Ballet was something of a misnomer. Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza figured in the ballet more as observers and chorus than as the focal points of interest from the dancing point of view. The real hero and heroine were Kitri and Basilio. The libretto was quite simple. The story started with Don Quixote reading about Medieval romances and tales of chivalry, then deciding to storm into the world as a knight on horse back in search of adventure, justice and true love. But the main action in the ballet concerned how Kitri defied his innkeeper father Lorenzo by falling in love with a Barcelona barber Basilio and rejected Gamache, a rich but slightly ridiculous nobleman whom her father wished her to marry. She escaped, found herself in the company of some gypsies, joined them in their dances and theatre. But her father pursued her his preferred suitor Gamache. A fight ensued, Basilio was stabbed, fell and Don Quixote implored Lorenzo, whom he thought was a nobleman to whom he had pledged his allegiance, treating his inn as his castle and her daughter a princess, to grant the dying Basilio's wishes to be joined with her daughter. Lorenzo relented. Basilio miraculously "revived". Actually he just pretended to be dying, being taught to do this trick by the doting but cunning Kitri who would stop at nothing to win over her true love. The ballet ended by the festive celebration dances of Kitri's marriage to Basilio. In the middle of the ballet, we did experience two scenes featuring Don Quixote: one in which he thought the proverbial a windmill a monster, charged and was hurt and another in which he fell asleep and dreamt that he was amidst the forest fairies called Dryads in which we are regaled to some group dances led by the Queen of the Dryads
As in all other ballets, the story is just a flimsy excuse for showcasing the talents, the consummate skill of the dancers, their grace and their ability to evoke emotions with the mime-like motions of their disciplined faces, eyes, lips, fingers, arms, legs and their torsos. The dancers of the Marinsky Ballet are uniformly good, whether they do solos, duets (pas de deux), triplets, quartets, quintets, pirouettes, mid-air spins, or group dances. The leading roles were taken by Anastasia Matvienko, who danced the role of Kitri; Denis Matvienko who danced the role of Basilio, Karen Ioanisisan, who danced the role of the torreador Espada, Alexandra Iosifidi, who danced the role of the street dancer and also the Mercedes, the daughter of the Gypsy chief and Tatyana Vasnetsova, who danced the role of the Queen of the Dryads and Ryu Ji Yeon who danced the Fandango with Karen Ioanissian. I love the ballet. It seems that instead of being fitted with flesh and bones like ours, the ballet dancers' bodies appear to be built with just air and springs. They do not walk. They glide and scamper. They do not run, they saunter.They do not jump. They fly, spins and swirls. They do not stretch their arms, they describe arcs. They do not hold their hands above their heads, they form rings. All their movements seem to trace lines, circles, curves and mid-air spins and flutters.Their bodies seem like soft, mobile, flexible, sensitve and at times rigid and taut rhythm machines which move with the rise and fall of melodies, always flowing with the rhythm of the music. It is a delight to be able to watch such subtle and forceful motions, done always with grace. When one sees them perform, one cannot help feeling proud and glad to belong to the human race. The dancers did for us what we can only dream of doing. They are our dreams! I am so grateful to them!
Not only are the dances performed superbly and magnficently. The stage setting is also artfully and thoughtfully done. There were not really that many stage props. They were simple, yet not too bare, and economical and exqusitely effective: an arch door here, a wagon there, a small red electric bonfire in front, a few painted windmills against 4 wooden blades of a windwill at centre stage, a real horse with saddle, stirrups and padding, a beautifully drawn moon obscured by an irregularly shaped shadow of a twig, a few tables with people sitting behind them against the facade of a town square, a few tumblers which the dancers would throw away and the atmosphere is there, skilfully helped by stage lighting which was done to emphasize the predominant hues of light blue, pink, orange and candle yellow, white, vermillion and black. And the dresses were simply beautiful. The men wore tight fitting pants, loose shirts tied together with a colourful waistband, short torreador jackets, triangular hats. The ladies wear Gypsy style flowing floral dresses and in the scene of the Dryads, the nymphs wear what looked like short inverted lotus seed pod dresses with painted feathers on radiating fluffy materials which undulated with the up and down motions of the dances in red, pink, blue and orange whose colours gradually grew deeper as they reach the dancer's waists. Simply beautiful. And of course the music. I wouldn't say the music was of a class to match Mahler, Tschaikovsky etc but they are perfect. They are perfectly suited to making it easy for the dancers to follow the rhythm when they do their fairy dance, their fandango, their torreador dance etc They are written with the choreography in mind. Above all, they know their place. They stay humbly in the background and leave the centre of attention entirely to the dancers on the front stage. They blend perfectly with the movements on stage. Everything ties in in a seamless web of sight and sound, the sound emphasizing the sight and providing a subtle foundation for the motions on stage which on occasions does not lack a bit of humor. I like Gamache, dressed in yellow and always moving in an almost mechanical fashion being puffed up, I suppose, with his pride which would never allow him to relax even for a second. A most comical characterization. A nice touch, although a bit exaggerated. But then who would object?!
A spectacular performance and a thoroughly enjoyable evening! Sitting next to me is a young lady who like me bought the ticket at the last minute. She is studying cultural management at the HKCU. I bought the ticket one day before her. Mine was one of the last two returned tickets. And next to her were a New Zealand couple who clapped just a little less than I did. All of of us enjoyed the evening thoroughly. One does run into all sorts of people who love the ballet, irrespective of age, sex and nationality. Must go more often .
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