It is not easy to find the right kind of balance between the smoothness of the traditional classical ballet with the almost mechanical object like abrupt motions of contemporary dance. Yet we got that last night at the cultural centre from Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo which gave us a twentieth century version of Shakespeare's "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream" in 23 scenes.
The minimalist scenography , with just a few columns, some undulating cloth suspended above the stage, the top of a movable sphere, a simple oval-top bridge with a fully mounted side mirror, a door and two tree trunks by Ernest Pignon-Ernest with just sufficient to suggest the general ambiance of the various scenes, with magical lighting in red, green, blue, beige or white to create the feel of dreamlike atmosphere of Shakespeare's play of love and defiance of parental authority, is where the action of the dance drama unfolded on stage.I like the way Philippe Guillotel dressed the dancers as elves, fairies, artisans, peasants, magicians, clowns and noblemen and animals: medieval without being old fashioned, simple without being dull creating gentle tension with the bare body hugging tunics of the contemporary ballet dancers.
The dancers were excellent. They conveyed amazingly well their their surprise, their anger, their fear, anguish, their longings, their repulsion, their joy and their frolicking humor in solos, duets, trios and in groups in movements which synchronized perfectly with music by Mendelssohn, Bertrand Maillot and Daniel Teruggi, which alternates between classical sounds and some 20th century sound effects which added tremendously to some of the comical dance movements choreographed for us by Jean-Christophe Maillot, who has been with the dance company since 1987. I like in particular Titania, the Queen of the Fairies whose body movements were so smooth that it looked as if she were completely boneless!. I also like the way Maillot spaced out the dancers each doing their own thing on the stage so that there are always parallels and contrast and variations between what is in the foreground and the background and never a dull moment. I feel so lucky to be able to watch and to experience this amazing blend of images, sound and movements.
They're truly amazing! Thank you very much for your sharing!
回覆刪除[版主回覆03/01/2012 17:08:12]They're good. More than good. Superb!
Wow, excellent dance together with excellent music by Mendelssohn,
回覆刪除Thanks for sharing.
[版主回覆03/01/2012 17:08:51]Absolutely! It's a joy to share!
(。。)～ 嘩 .. 天鵝湖 ?
回覆刪除[版主回覆03/01/2012 23:26:13]It's Shakespeare's "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream"!
It's interesting that some of the dancers are labeled, apparently the name of each individual character in the play. Thanks for sharing
回覆刪除[版主回覆03/02/2012 10:20:54]This is a postmodernist streak: previously all columns, girders in buildings are hidden, now they are fully "exposed". Likewise, previously all "labels" of clothes and fashion are "concealed" underneath the surface, now they are brought into prominence and conspicuously "revealed" or even "displayed" and "highlighted". This practice has now been extended to the design of dance costumes so that even the"names" ( a kind of symbol for something else. a kind of visual "representation" of what is intended to be "represented", something hidden, an absence) of the "dancers" ( a "role" , a "mask", an "identity", a "persona") is "literally/visually" brought into relief! Alas, everything in the postmodernist world is "image". (note the emphasis of our "politicians" who all got "image consultants"). Should we sigh or celebrate or merely observe without passing judgment?.
To be frank, I'm not into ballet, but your introduction is superb!
回覆刪除[版主回覆03/05/2012 09:13:39]Thank you. It's a joy all its own to be able to share the charm, the titillation and the sheer visual delight in watching the estheic forms the human body is able to create on the stage through its rhythmic movement.