Romeo and Juliet the ballet was first presented on Russia, with music written by Tchaikovsky. The Ballet Municipal de Lima hired a Russian dancer and choreographer to create a new version for the Ballet Municipal. He was hired almost a decade ago, and since then, his choreography has been modified slightly depending on the theater used and the dancers on stage. The play was performed throughout all October for the first time in three years. After watching it, I can say that it is definitely not one of my favorites.
I want to start of by saying that the stage looked amazing. I loved the balcony, and I think the lack of so many structures on stage, like you would see in a major company like the NYC ballet, made it simple, yet beautiful. There were two balconies on stage, facing each other, where each family lived. Inside Juliet’s house, the only thing on stage was a bed, and in her grave, the only thing on stage was the stone where she would lie. Though some could argue that more structures make it look more realistic, I find it very distracting. I think each scene had exactly what it needed to make it work.
Another think I liked were the costumes. I think they were very appropriate. For example, Juliet’s pink dress was attractive but not over the top. I think all the costumes were carefully designed to make it look like 1800’s to mid 1900’s designs. I loved how each family was represented by a color; Capulet red, whereas Montague blue. Though Lady Capulet’s dress looked very ladylike and Juliet’s dress looked more infantile, they both were different shades of red and both were very elegant. Same with the Montague: all costumes were different shades of blue, but each had their subtle differences. For Romeo’s costume was a lot more elegant than Mercutio’s lighthearted light blue costume.
Though the staging and the costumes were great, this wasn’t enough to make the play flow properly.
First of all, the lights were horrible. The lights should help the dancers send out the message, give a certain atmosphere. In this play, part of the reason why I didn’t feel anything was because the lights were completely off. For example, the scene where Romeo finds Juliet “dead” and has to kill Paris to get to her. That is supposed to be a very dramatic scene, but if the lights are bright yellow, as if it were midday, it just doesn’t work. Romeo is in a cave, in a grave, about to find his loved one dead. The lights should not have been yellow in first place even if it was supposed to be a sunny day outside. Then, once he gets rid of Paris and runs to Juliet, the lights cannot stay the same bright color because as he realizes that she’s actually gone, it’s a dark moment. Not only for Romeo but for everyone watching, because that’s the feeling they want to transmit. The audience should be stimulated to grieve with Romeo, to feel his pain. It’s like waking up and having a sunny day. One will automatically feel happy even if it’s just for a second. They can’t put a bright light when it’s a sad moment. Same with the scene in which Tybalt dies or the one where Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time.
Second, the music was pretty boring. It was slow throughout the entire play, and too monotonous. It’s not even as if it had a theme tune, but it was just so slow it seemed repetitive. It just wasn’t inspiring. For example, the Nutcracker music is very repetitive, but it’s full of accents, and at times it goes loud, and then soft, and then it’s fast and slow, and crispy. This was just slow throughout. It lacked that something that makes it interesting. It didn’t help me feel the suspense coming up, or the love between the characters. And maybe that is why the choreography was so boring too.
Though the lighting was awful, and the music was pretty bad what truly made this show so bad, was the choreography. The dancers didn’t have a chance to shine. Especially the guys. For a man in ballet to look good, the choreography has to be very active. They have to include jumps, and spins, and use of space. An adagio, which is a slow (still active) dance, is usually for the Pas de Deux, or the part in which the guy dances with the girl. Because in this part it’s usually where the characters fall in love, the dance is slow, but it has to include a variety of lifts and spins which will help the girl’s beauty and grace shine, whereas the guy has to show off his strength. The choreography didn’t help the dancers show any grace or strength. Though as a dancer I do know that usually choreographies look simpler than they really are, this one looked just too boring. The guys barely jumped, the girls barely lifted their legs. And really, that is the beauty of ballet. That’s what makes it an art and not a sport: the actors on stage are feeling like they’re about to die, with no breath, sweating the last drop of water in their body, but the audience has no idea of this because they are being mesmerized with the dance. This dance didn’t mesmerize me. There were no jumps that made me think they are about to kill themselves, no spins that made me wish I could spin like that, no dance that made me wonder how they could move their feet and arms like that. Really the best part was the second scene, the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt and then Romeo and Tybalt, and the reason why scene was fun to watch was because they were fighting with swords. There was barely any dancing involved. They moved around the entire stage, going up and down the buildings, moving between the people while fighting with the sword, and though it looked graceful, it wasn’t dancing. Frankly the whole choreography was so boring to me that I was grateful to see something that wasn’t ballet at that moment.
This ballet was probably one of the worst ones I’ve seen performed here up ‘till now, and not because of the dancers, who each of them have a great technique. It’s just they didn’t have a chance to look good on stage. I think if the music had been different, if the choreography had been better they would have looked great. Better lighting is a technical mistake that when it’s done correctly it makes a show look spectacular. The lighting wasn’t good this time, which made everything look even worse than it was. I’ve had a chance to see the Ballet Municipal on better occasions so I know that this show wasn’t the dancer’s mistake. I know they are great quality, so I am really excited to get a chance for the next play.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Nutcracker Performance
The nutcracker performances have been very stressful, but as always they are an experience.
Before each performance there is a one hour long class that is used for warm up, and then one hour for hair, make-up and costumes and then the actual performance. What makes it stressful is juggling school and ballet at the same time. Still, the performance is actually relaxing.
Truth is, right before coming on stage there is one full hour in which I have to pain the slippers so they don’t look dirty, I have to put make up on, make my hair, and get the costume I should wear for that day (each day it’s a different role). Though there is a lot of running around involved, getting to be on stage is always rewarding. When we get the first call, fifteen minutes before the show, there’s a change in atmosphere. Everything becomes more urgent. Sometimes it has to do with a piece of costume that is missing or has ripped; sometimes an actor isn’t ready to go on stage just yet. Still all this little mistakes have a way of resolving themselves right on the third call.
One of the best parts about it is that while you’re on stage, nobody can say a word about anything, no matter if you mess up, everything is silent and you get to dance without criticism. Also, the days I get to play lead role, and I have to express various different emotions each time, I it is also a way of letting everything out. It’s my own interpretation of the events, so when I act as mad, I put my own personality into it, same when I act as scared, or sad. The mixture of the acting and the dancing is always something relaxing even though I know that there are people out there judging every step I take, whether they are teachers, or friends. Part of submerging into a role and becoming who you want to interpret, is realizing that while you’re playing the part of someone, you’re living their life. In Clara for example, I tend to forget about the audience, and while the walls are disappearing, and I’m left with nothing, I forget about the fact that there’s people watching me at the moment.
Also, part of the fun of performing, is that nobody knows what is really going to happened once you step on stage. We can practice all we want but in the end there is always that component of luck. As a dancer, if I mess up on stage I do blame myself for it, yet we all know that it can happen anytime to anyone. For example, little things like the elastic holding up my hair the day I was playing Clara broke in middle of the performance, and since it’s a very simple hair style for this particular role, everything came down. I had to dance with all the hair in my face. Learning how to improvise when things like this happened is actually very fun, and it has a lot to do with the attitude of the performer. There are times when somebody falls on stage and though some performers laugh and go on, others get upset and they are not afraid of showing it to the public. What makes ballet an art instead of a sport, is that the public doesn’t know what’s really going on. They don’t know which actor was crying seconds before the music started, or which actor is completely improvising as they go. It’s fun for everyone on stage to almost laugh at the public because though they have no idea what’s really going on, everybody performing knows what wasn’t supposed to happen. Though I love watching plays, it’s ten times better to be part of the play.
I still have twelve performances left and I’m already feeling the physical pain. Still I love the feeling of simply being at the theater and knowing the show is about to begin.
Before each performance there is a one hour long class that is used for warm up, and then one hour for hair, make-up and costumes and then the actual performance. What makes it stressful is juggling school and ballet at the same time. Still, the performance is actually relaxing.
Truth is, right before coming on stage there is one full hour in which I have to pain the slippers so they don’t look dirty, I have to put make up on, make my hair, and get the costume I should wear for that day (each day it’s a different role). Though there is a lot of running around involved, getting to be on stage is always rewarding. When we get the first call, fifteen minutes before the show, there’s a change in atmosphere. Everything becomes more urgent. Sometimes it has to do with a piece of costume that is missing or has ripped; sometimes an actor isn’t ready to go on stage just yet. Still all this little mistakes have a way of resolving themselves right on the third call.
One of the best parts about it is that while you’re on stage, nobody can say a word about anything, no matter if you mess up, everything is silent and you get to dance without criticism. Also, the days I get to play lead role, and I have to express various different emotions each time, I it is also a way of letting everything out. It’s my own interpretation of the events, so when I act as mad, I put my own personality into it, same when I act as scared, or sad. The mixture of the acting and the dancing is always something relaxing even though I know that there are people out there judging every step I take, whether they are teachers, or friends. Part of submerging into a role and becoming who you want to interpret, is realizing that while you’re playing the part of someone, you’re living their life. In Clara for example, I tend to forget about the audience, and while the walls are disappearing, and I’m left with nothing, I forget about the fact that there’s people watching me at the moment.
Also, part of the fun of performing, is that nobody knows what is really going to happened once you step on stage. We can practice all we want but in the end there is always that component of luck. As a dancer, if I mess up on stage I do blame myself for it, yet we all know that it can happen anytime to anyone. For example, little things like the elastic holding up my hair the day I was playing Clara broke in middle of the performance, and since it’s a very simple hair style for this particular role, everything came down. I had to dance with all the hair in my face. Learning how to improvise when things like this happened is actually very fun, and it has a lot to do with the attitude of the performer. There are times when somebody falls on stage and though some performers laugh and go on, others get upset and they are not afraid of showing it to the public. What makes ballet an art instead of a sport, is that the public doesn’t know what’s really going on. They don’t know which actor was crying seconds before the music started, or which actor is completely improvising as they go. It’s fun for everyone on stage to almost laugh at the public because though they have no idea what’s really going on, everybody performing knows what wasn’t supposed to happen. Though I love watching plays, it’s ten times better to be part of the play.
I still have twelve performances left and I’m already feeling the physical pain. Still I love the feeling of simply being at the theater and knowing the show is about to begin.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)