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.
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