I want to read...
Romeo and Juliette
"Ballet" in Hagen

Theater Hagen, C: Ricardo Fernando. 19.03.04

Wow, wow Wow!

And, Oh my Word! I never thought that I'd know anything more tragic than R & J, but here it was.

I was just there to see Ricarodo's choreographic style, after doing their training with them in the morning. It was a modern production, with a few of the movements looking purely acrobatic to me. (That's not a desirable thing, usually.) It was very little like that though, and mostly, it was smooth, natural, well developed and self-consistent movement. I was a little nonplussed by the "remix" of Prokofiev's score, which I love, and treasure deeply (and know inside out.) It was a different order for all the musical sections (It started with music from the second act, I think.)

It was also less story-telling, and more... Dance. In the sort of abstracted form. I suppose it would have been more about showing the characters, than the action -if I had been watching for that. My favourite part of the first (of two) acts, was the little dance (to mandolin music) by J. and her two (girl) friends. It was very lively, beautifully to watch, interesting musicalities... and it looked like fun to dance. That's all stuff about the first act, and it also applies to the first half of the second act. but THEN...

Oh god oh god oh god. You should have seen me; I was struggling to keep alert (with only 4 hours of sleep on the previous night.) And then there was a scene change, and a brief section without music. (Oh god, that it had simply been in silence.) Anyhow, I sat up, tense, and had no problems with my focus from then on. For the remaining 15 or 20 minutes, I was riveted into my seat, growing increasingly rigid... (with horror, compassion, and more feelings than I could even name.) For about the last 10 minutes, I was ... quivering. literally, as the tears slid down my face.

It was INTENSE. I can't tell you all about it, because I really want anyone who goes to see it (and Every One should go to see it... as long as you are stable in your mind, and can handle such... emotional tragedy.) -I want people to be as unprepared for what happens as I was. What I Can tell is... (and what I feel I need to tell, because it was so strong, and it can't be healthy to bottle all that emotion I experienced, and not to express it.)

The scream. (When I wished in was only silence.) This was disturbing (the whole scene) in how well it was portrayed. This wasn't just a woman screaming. This was the unparalleled agony of a mother finding her baby dead. This was inarticulate, primal despair, which has the most powerful undertones of death. There was the total, Total hopelessness when Romeo comes, and ... gets no response at all. "NOTHING MATTERS; There is NO HOPE in Any Case" -is what I felt from that.

The large piece of white tulle, as it was thrashed about in the death throws. The ... disturbing (So disturbing) way Romeo echoes movements from the first-act Pas de Deux -But with the J. -Not as she was. It's Romeo's blind NEED to still have... what is totally lost.

The pair of black leather gloves -Which the dancer didn't have, but I could so clearly SEE, as she (pantomimed) fit them snugly on her hands. (And how she took them off, later.)

It was all SO severe. Intense, is the word I used just now.

It was More Tragic than I've ever known it. Outstanding. I want to see it again -and see the Whole, with the foreknowledge of the finale. I think it could give me a better appreciation.

And I'm just blood glad that I'm healthy now, and pray I remain that way; If I had a fever, Any bit of fever, I know what I'd find in my fitful sleep. And The Scream would sound on and on and on. (Shudder.) Just Outstanding.

Theater Hagen, C: Ricardo Fernando. 07.11.04

This was the second Ballet I've seen by Ricardo, and I honestly was not so impressed by it. Of course, I was biased, because I was all the time hoping to be blown away, as I was by his Romeo and Juliette. Some of his ideas were still excellent though, and I enjoyed most of the piece, (I only complain, because my enjoyment was not to the degree that I had expected.)

If it will not sound too negative of me, I'd like to start with all the things I didn't like: The Party scene... which is about half of the first act, was done in Tap Shoes. This in it's self was not such a terrible idea, (all though I personally don't like that form of dance.) The steps they did though, seemed too simple and repetitive. Perhaps the Tapping could have been more mixed with actual dance too: for, although it was not taken right out of a tap routine, I still felt that it lacked arms, extensions, and -expression, I guess. (That's what I generally disrespect about tap anyhow, I guess.) So, that's one thing.

There was then a little bit where Clara confused me, because until then, she had acted the perfect part of a 16 year old girl, blooming into a woman. And then the Mice came on, and she was chased around the stage like a little girl. Then she crawled into the arm chair, and hid her head in her arms. She played this part of the 7 year old perfectly, and it was utterly believable... But it didn't belong, because her role was 10 years more mature than that just a moment before.

Ah, yes, and I found the rollerblading snowmen in the snow-scene quite superfluous; if he wanted to change the pace, and have a moment without "serious dance," then I think he could have had the corps de Ballet on, doing some simple step, which is less about dance, and more about some pleasing pattern work. That's a really little detail though, and is only a matter of my personal taste. The only other thing I have to say, is also of my own opinion: that the leap-froging in the Russian could have been rather better as something else.

Now, on to the parts I particularly liked: The party scene, that had the tap-dancing in it, did Not have little children as the party guests. This was a welcome change: not to have to watch them all doing a gallop, while the real dancers stand around in stuffy clothes they can't dance in. No, the adults did all the dancing, and I enjoyed that. Then there were presents given to all the guests, from Drosselmeyer. And I liked the way that was done: they were all parts of the roles they'd play later on: a lotus from the Chinese dance, a flowered skirt from waltz of the flowers, a soldier's hat, and so on. I think that's a very nice way of tying the whole of it together.

The Battle was well done, and it was a competent usage of a throng of little children. I have certainly seen worse, (more boring,) things given to little kids to do. And... I'll admit: the little cavalry boys were cute. -all right: Adorable. Anyhow, The battle was fine, and -the ending was surprising: The Nutcracker and Rat King just stopped, and took off the masks, to show it was all a play. -orchestrated by Drosselmeyer. And this was another place where the Roll of Drosselmeyer was unclear to me. It seems that the whole thing is done, from the beginning of the party, to the end of candy-land, just for Clara. But I cannot see why. Why stage a battle between her Nutcracker and a pack of rats? How mean and frightening a trick is that? I would have to see all of this again, before I could hope to understand what the idea behind it was.

At the end of the first act then, was the snow scene. And I thought the corps work here was well done. Pleasing effects, from the arms waving out of the wings, to the yo-yo balls, (Don't ask me to explain!) to the last diagonal, which I thought was genius, and magical, with the corps going in a single-file on the diagonal, doing fouettes to Arabesque, in a never-ending flow... and letting the curtain close on that. And though I wasn't riveted by what the three soloists were dancing, there was nothing wrong with it either.

The variations of the second act were good, with the Russian having the most charisma, (doesn't it always? and here it was Three guys, with bare chests, and high energy. It was great.) And I also really liked the "Marzipan" that they did. I am used to it being shepherdesses, or silly sheep, or something. Anyhow, it was always Fluff incarnate, with some dull point variation, which is too cutesey to be interesting. In this production though, Ricardo took those shepherd's pipes, and gave them a new life: They were the instrument of Pan! So, it became a man's solo, with nice jumps and pirouettes in it. And the music really suited the character of Pan too. This might have been the most pleasing surprise that I had that evening.

An other thing I liked in the second act, was the idea behind the Grand Pas; It was the classical choreography, just as I'm sure it's still done in the Kirov (Maryinsky,) but mixed here and there with modern or neoclassic elements. Most of it worked quite well too. (Alas, not all of it, and I thought that the big lifts in the adagio could have been chosen differently, but, well, nothing's ever perfect.) As a whole, the Pas de Deux worked fine, and I think that it's strongest section was the coda.

So... hopefully this has not insulted anyone, and everyone that reads this must understand that I'm a perfectionist, and highly critical of everything. So, this is just the thoughts that I had. More can be read about that day in Hagen in my My Bio entry for that weekend.