Размещаю впечатления участницы нашего форума JB, побывавшей на премьере "Спящей красавицы" Ратманского.
Thoughts on the World Premier of ABT Sleeping Beauty by Alexi Ratmansky
On Tuesday March 3 I went to the Segerstrom Center at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The performance by American Ballet Theater was the Sleeping Beauty choreographed by world renowned choreographer Alexi Ratmansky. On Tuesday I saw Diana Vishneva as Aurora, Marcelo Gomes as Prince Desir, Verionica Part as the Lilac Fairy, Daniil Simkin as the Bluebird.
I had grave doubts before going to this performance. Alexi Ratmansky recreated this Sleeping Beauty from original but, according to Ratmansky, unexplored notation by Vladimir Stepanov from the original choreography by Marius Petipa, costumes after Leon Bakst by way of Richard Hudson.
This was the cause of some questioning on my part: Dancers are taller, leaner, more muscular. Costumes are stripped down to allow a clear view of the dancers body and thus the technique. Shoes are drastically changed and allow greater flexibility of the foot, and feet are stronger and more gracile. Floors and lighting have improved. In short, things have changed. It is unclear to me whether Marius Petipa would have created the same ballet on present day dancers with all these changes as he did with the cutting edge technology of the late 1800's. This, I believe, was the cause of my confusion with the choreography. I was not sure while watching whether I was watching poor dancing or outmoded choreography poorly constructed using or rather abusing the technology of the 20th Century.
The costumes, also, were hugely problematical. Large, gaudy, overly ornamented they glittered, glistened and sparkled. The men wore layers of fabric in pink pantaloons, dresses covering pseudo Russian uniforms, and character shoes throughout. The Lilac Fairy danced her variation in Act 1 in a long tutu and toe shoes, by the 3rd Act she was in a purple slit to the waist burlesque costume complete with a long show girl type feather head dress. Not only were the costumes suitable for a 30's style burlesque show, the dancers swaned around like silent movie stars.
Which brings us to the mime which was predominant while actual dance was minimal. When the Prince and Aurora appeared in high heeled character shoes in Act 3 I knew that the only chance for the accomplished Marcelo Gomes to dance would be diminished. In point of fact this may have been the highlight of the evening. While no soaring leaps were present, his intricate batterie was fast and flawlessly delivered with great control. His footwork was worthy of the POB at it's best. Kind of ironic given the criticism Rudolf Nureyev takes for needlessly complicated choreography. In other reviews I have read Gomes Act 3 variation is praised as a highlight of this choreography.
Finally, the humor of this SB, which should be a highlight of this usually over wrought ballet escaped me entirely. Humor can be subtle but perhaps not so subtle it escapes a majority of the audience. I just wondered why?
All in all, in my view, not a huge success for a financially strapped ABT. What was Kevin McKenzie thinking?
I am including here the review from Haglunds Heel. Haglund writes a blog on dance and I greatly admire his opinion. He saw the same ballet I saw which happens infrequently.
