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.