|
|
|
|
|
A fairy tale brim full of fun
Jade Heusen in the beautifully danced Dance of the Hours, of of the many well known melodies in Delibes score, Pictures Roy Smiljanic Coppélia Birmingham Royal Ballet Birmingham Hippodrome ***** LÉO Delibes tuneful score is worth the
price of a ticket alone but add the likes of Nao Sakuma and Chi Cao and
this comic ballet is a real delight. And when Nao dances like this it is a real
pleasure to watch. She has a fine comic touch, not easy to portray in
ballet, allied to the coquettishness of Swanilda, but in her solos and
pas de deux she just oozes class. The story is simple. Franz and Swanhilda are an
item except Franz, who is not the brightest of peasants, falls for a
girl on a balcony not knowing she is a doll created by the mysterious Dr
Coppélius. So that night Swanhilda and the village maidens
sneak into the bad doctor's workshop to find the mysterious girl while
Franz clambers over the balcony on the same mission but with a different
aim. The Doc chases the girls out and then drugs Franz
and tries to use his spirit to give life to his doll– which is no longer
his doll but Swanhilda playing a joke. The Doc finally catches on and chases them both
out. Her dance as the mechanical doll is not only long
but not the easiest if it is to look robotic rather than merely
arthritic and she managed that with style, jerky admittedly, but style
none the less. Chi has seemed out of sorts of late but seems to
have found his form again with a superb performance as Franz, full of
grace and athleticism - we even had a few smiles so he seemed to be
enjoying himself. When Chi and Nao are on song like this you just sit
back and enjoy. And there were other quality performances with
Victoria Marr, in one of her last appearances before here retirement
after Giselle later this month, looking particularly sexy and sultry as
a gypsy. She arrives with travelling band of dancing
gypsies who pop up in the village square – as they do. You can't move
for bands of dancing gypsies in Sutton Coldfield town centre some days .
. .
Even in ensemble dances she seemed to have that
extra bit of snap and vitality. Act one gave us some traditional folk dances with
the Czárdás from Hungary and the better known Mazurka from
Poland. In act three Jenna Roberts impressed in a
beautifully danced solo as Prayer as did the petit Angela
Paul as Dawn. Michael O'Hare had the nutty professor role as Dr
Coppélius and did it well and you even felt a little sorry for him as he
strives to give his doll a heart and emotion and is tricked by Swanhilda
into believing that he has given her life. Still he gets compensation from the Duke so it's
not all bad and everyone get to live happily ever after. The Duke is celebrating a new bell for the
village church and gives a bag of gold to anyone getting married that
day – step forward Franz and Swanhilda – or who has had their doll done
over – step forward the Doc. We than have a series of dances to portray the
village life the bell will look over with Dawn and Prayer,
a corps dance for Work, Arancha Baselga and Jonathan Caguioa
dancing Betrothal, Mathias Dingman leading the men in Call to
Arms and Nao and Chi rounding it off with Peace. The scenery and costumes by Pater Farmer, as
usual at BRB, are big, solid and sumptuous al beautifully lit by Peter
Teigen. Choreography is originally by Marius Petipa and
Enrico Ceccetti and by Peter Wright. That's one half of the performance. The other is
the music and the excellent Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Paul Murphy with
a special mention for whoever it was down in the depths who played the
wonderful violin solos, presumably leader Richard Friedman. Ballet lovers will enjoy every minute and for
newcomers, the best of the comic ballets, light and easy to follow, is
not a bad place to start. To 08-06-13. Roger Clarke
A tragic heroine worthy of Puccini Coppélia might be a fun ballet, with no
hint of the darker side of fairy tales, but its history has its own
tragedy which would not look out of place in grand opera. The role of Swanhilda was originally created by
the Italian ballerina Giuseppina Bozzacchi who was just 16 when she
appeared in the première at The Paris Opera on 25 May, 1870. Its original choreographer, the celebrated Arthur
Saint-Léon had been ill for some years and died of a heart attack two
days after its first run came to a premature end that September because
of the Franco-Prussian War. The orginal Dr Coppélius, Francois-Édouard Dauty
was also dead but perhaps most tragic of all was Swanhilda. The Franco-Prussian war, which sowed the seeds of the First World War, was sparked by a the chance of a Prussian Prince on the throne of Spain, which would have extended Prussian influence with France in the middle. The squabbles between the neighbours erupted into war in summer 1870 and France was invaded. The war ended in defeat for France the following May. Bozzacchi, who had been discovered by Saint-Léon
and the director of Opera, , after a long search for a Swanhilda,
danced the role for the 18th and final time on 31 August. The nation was
at war and the Paris Opera closed for the duration. The Opera not only shut its doors but also its
purse. It stopped paying salaries and with no work for ballet dancers n
a war ravaged France and no money the young Bozzacchi was soon starving. She became weak, fell ill and finally contracted smallpox. She died on the morning of 23 November, 1870, almost six months to the day since she had become one of the most famous ballerinas in Paris. It was her 17th birthday.
|
|
|
|
