Ballet Appreciation Series (2015#Sep)

Ballet Appreciation Series (2015#Aug)

AUGUST 6

Non-narrative mixed bill 

* Balanchine - Tchaikovsky (Swan Lake - Act 3) pas de deux 

* Spuck - Le grand pas de deux

* Wheeldon - After the Rain pas de deux  

* Robbins - The Concert The Concert

AUGUST 13

Le Corsaire (The Pirate)

* based on The Corsair by Lord Byron

* original choreography by Petipa 

* music from various composers 

* structure: prologue, 3 acts, epilogue

The lecturer demonstrated a comparative study of performances by various corps de ballet. 

* Here's a full version  

* Pas de trois in Act 2

* Le jardin animé in Act 3

AUGUST 20

Non-narrative triple bill

* Fredrick Ashton - Rhapsody

The Rhapsody ballet is set to Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

- male solo

The premiere was given at the Royal Opera House in honor of the Queen Mother (mother of British Queen Elizabeth II) on her 80th birthday.

- pas de deux

Recall this theme from that heart-breaking movie?

* Twyla Tharp - Sinatra Suite

The Sinatra Suite is a mixture of ballet, ballroom dance and modern dance, to 5 or 9 popular songs by Frank Sinatra.

You may be too young to know this singer?

* Mats Ek - Apartment

- March of the vacuum cleaners

- The Television

AUGUST 27

Notre-Dame de Paris

* a modern ballet

* libretto: after Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831)

* choreography: Roland Petit (premiered at the Paris Opera Ballet in 1965)

* setting: the Notre-Dame Cathedral of Paris, during the reign of Louis XI, 1461-1483.

 

* performed at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, by La Scala Ballet (2013) 

- The Europeans used to believe that the roaming tribe came from Egypt and nicknamed them Gypsies. Later finding was that they were Indians from northern India.

Esmeralda is the beautiful young Gypsy street dancer who captures the hearts of every man including

* Guasimodo, the tower bell-boy hunchback whose physique deformation was now known to be caused by tuberculosis;

* Frollo, the arch-beacon who is torn between obsessive lust and church rules;

* Phoebus, the hypocritical captain

My mom took me to watch this movie (鐘樓駝俠) when I was little:

- starring Gina Lollobrigida. 

In those poor old days, one ticket could admit one adult plus 1 or even 2 children.

Ballet Appreciation Series (2015#Jul)

July 16

Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet 

- It was a brief comparative study of performances by various corps de ballet

- It has a prologue (The Christening) and 3 acts (The Spell, The Vision, The Wedding)

Fairies Variations - divertissements (irrelevant to theme)

Beautiful princess Aurora was cursed to sleep for a hundred years. Fortunately the Lilac Fairy guided Prince Désiré (!) to kiss her awake.

Grand pas de deux - at the Wedding:

A grand pas de deux is a structured pas de deux that typically has five parts, consisting of an entrée (introduction), an adagio, two variations (a solo for each dancer), and a coda (conclusion). 

一段典型的'大雙人舞'會分做五大部份: 起曲、大慢板、兩段變奏舞（兩位舞蹈員一人一段），然後以終曲作結。

Full performances, 2 hours each.

JULY 23

Giselle 

The ballet is practically a mime, using clear sign and body languages, making it easy to understand.

- Part 1 - A plain-clothed duke and peasant-girl Giselle fell in love. After the duke's identity and his engagement to a princess were revealed, Giselle died of a broken and already-weak heart. 

- Part 2 - In underworld, Giselle continued to protect the duke's life.