I just submitted my second dance review, two weeks after the performance and overdue in the midst of juggling facts and writing a paper about doing business in China. If only I could tell stories in the latter ... I would be able to sleep better.
The ballet, choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky - former artistic director of Bolshoi Ballet, is an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina novel. Performed by the Finnish National Ballet during its Asian Premier on 29 and 30 May 2009 at the Esplanade in Singapore, the ballet focuses on Anna’s life - her passions, family and societal obligations – and how passions unrestrained, albeit sweet and fulfilling for various moments in time, can lead to a contrived life of guilt, insecurity, dissatisfaction and ultimately death.
The ballet begins with a morbid scene with a nice play of silhouettes of Anna’s (performed by Petia Ilieva) lifeless body and those who mourned her death - her lover Count Vronsky (Nicholas Zieglar), husband Alexei Karenin (Henrik Burman). At her death, close friends and family within the aristocratic society in St Petersburg show their last respects.
The story unfolds with Anna’s lover Count Vronsky reminiscing the days when Anna was still alive. She was young, beautiful, aristocratic … and married. He was an officer - a Count and a good catch for young debutantes.
By chance, they met for the first time at a train station in Moscow. Their eyes lock and a certain attraction drew one to the other. A train accident claiming a victim disrupts their gaze and Anna is quickly diverted back to the obligations of life and society where she attends to her husband and son. She accepts her responsibilities as a wife, mother, and member of the aristocratic society.
They meet again later at a party, where Vronsky was “pursued” by a young debutante, whom he rejects as his affections for Anna grow at this second meeting. Vronsky begins to pursue Anna. She is embarrassed by the outward affection and struggles to remain composed. She succeeds in avoiding Vronsky’s advances and returns home.
Up to this point (after the prologue and in Act One), the ballet and its characters came across as rather constipated. The scenes dragged from one to the other as the choreographer builds the storyline. Unfortunately, the movements appeared constrained, as the lines of the dancers’ bodies, while depicting strength and sound classical ballet training, did not extend their energies beyond the confines of the stage.
As Anna’s affection for her lover Vronsky builds, so did the dance … thankfully! I was beginning to wonder if I should have stayed at home and watched a ballet video instead. Albeit technically excellent as principal dancers of international ballets should be, the ability to transform the beautiful stage sets, costumes, props and choreography and bring the whole ballet to life calls for rare artistry and technical brilliance coupled with freedom – this was missing from the ballet that evening.
The story continues with Anna feeling deprived the love and affection at her home. Her husband Karenin, a dispassionate civil servant, buries his head in work. He ignores Anna’s attempts to “tempt” him with her beauty and sexuality. She, in turn, expresses her love to her son by being the doting mother. However, Anna’s basic, yet desperate, need to love and be loved finds its way beyond her home and into the arms of Vronsky.
Anna falls into the arms of the dashing Vronsky at another social meeting; her husband disapproves of this conspicuous courtship and demands that Anna returns to her home and resumes her societal obligations as a wife and mother. Anna defies as she had fallen in love with Vronsky.
She reluctantly leaves her son behind as she realizes that she cannot live a life without passionate love … and without Vronsky, who loves her deeply. Her passion and irrationality direct her to go away with Vronsky to Italy to begin a new life.
Here I witnessed the saving grace of the Finnish National Ballet’s performance that evening. Perhaps the most spell-binding pas de deux between the lovers and much like the lovers’ duet between Romeo and Juliet, both Anna and Vronsky danced with great passion that transcended the invisible confines of the stage. The lovers’ love and lust for one another were apparent. Their attempts at unabashed displays of their passions were constricted by the limitations of their thinly clad physical bodies. Their bodies intertwined between huge extensions and brilliant lifts and twirls across the stage. The lovers ultimately consummate their relationship drawing the breathlessly beautiful dance to a standstill.
Ah, the taste of “forbidden fruit” was sweet and explosive to the sense, but Anna’s face revealed a deeper emotion – a shadow of remorse as her body sat motionless for a split second next to her lover’s. The realization that she had finally committed the once unthinkable act of adultery and journeyed down a path where there was no return sinks in. She had torn the veils of aristocracy and proper conduct in exchange for a moment of untamed passions and pleasure. That would be the beginning of a life tormented by faded memories of her life in St Peterburg and her duty as a wife and mother return to haunt her.
Torn between her love for her son and her newfound life with Vronsky, Anna makes an attempt to visit her son. She returns to her busband’s home in St Petersburg. Though she was overjoyed to see her son, she was greeted with contempt by her husband.
She then unsuccessfully persuades Vronsky to go to the opera with her and ends up attending on her own. At the opera, she was again shunned by the aristocratic society. Rejected, she returns to Vronsky to seek comfort but senses his feelings for her have changed.
The realization of having lost everything - the love of her family, of Vronsky and the approval of society – Anna was destined to live a life as an outcast. Distraught, Anna calmly stands before an oncoming train and commits suicide. The ballet ends with parallels to the stranger killed by a moving train at the beginning of the ballet.
A moving plot with moments of brilliance, Anna Karenina is a ballet that has the potential of taking you and your heart on a roller-coaster ride with moments of breathtaking beauty, great passion, explosive energy, and yet disappointments of a judgmental and unforgiving society that does not allow second chances for those who have made mistakes in life. The ballet reminds all that there is indeed a heavy price to pay for going against societal norms.
http://www.asiadancechannel.com/AnnaKarenina.cfm
The ballet begins with a morbid scene with a nice play of silhouettes of Anna’s (performed by Petia Ilieva) lifeless body and those who mourned her death - her lover Count Vronsky (Nicholas Zieglar), husband Alexei Karenin (Henrik Burman). At her death, close friends and family within the aristocratic society in St Petersburg show their last respects.
The story unfolds with Anna’s lover Count Vronsky reminiscing the days when Anna was still alive. She was young, beautiful, aristocratic … and married. He was an officer - a Count and a good catch for young debutantes.
By chance, they met for the first time at a train station in Moscow. Their eyes lock and a certain attraction drew one to the other. A train accident claiming a victim disrupts their gaze and Anna is quickly diverted back to the obligations of life and society where she attends to her husband and son. She accepts her responsibilities as a wife, mother, and member of the aristocratic society.
They meet again later at a party, where Vronsky was “pursued” by a young debutante, whom he rejects as his affections for Anna grow at this second meeting. Vronsky begins to pursue Anna. She is embarrassed by the outward affection and struggles to remain composed. She succeeds in avoiding Vronsky’s advances and returns home.
Up to this point (after the prologue and in Act One), the ballet and its characters came across as rather constipated. The scenes dragged from one to the other as the choreographer builds the storyline. Unfortunately, the movements appeared constrained, as the lines of the dancers’ bodies, while depicting strength and sound classical ballet training, did not extend their energies beyond the confines of the stage.
As Anna’s affection for her lover Vronsky builds, so did the dance … thankfully! I was beginning to wonder if I should have stayed at home and watched a ballet video instead. Albeit technically excellent as principal dancers of international ballets should be, the ability to transform the beautiful stage sets, costumes, props and choreography and bring the whole ballet to life calls for rare artistry and technical brilliance coupled with freedom – this was missing from the ballet that evening.
The story continues with Anna feeling deprived the love and affection at her home. Her husband Karenin, a dispassionate civil servant, buries his head in work. He ignores Anna’s attempts to “tempt” him with her beauty and sexuality. She, in turn, expresses her love to her son by being the doting mother. However, Anna’s basic, yet desperate, need to love and be loved finds its way beyond her home and into the arms of Vronsky.
Anna falls into the arms of the dashing Vronsky at another social meeting; her husband disapproves of this conspicuous courtship and demands that Anna returns to her home and resumes her societal obligations as a wife and mother. Anna defies as she had fallen in love with Vronsky.
She reluctantly leaves her son behind as she realizes that she cannot live a life without passionate love … and without Vronsky, who loves her deeply. Her passion and irrationality direct her to go away with Vronsky to Italy to begin a new life.
Here I witnessed the saving grace of the Finnish National Ballet’s performance that evening. Perhaps the most spell-binding pas de deux between the lovers and much like the lovers’ duet between Romeo and Juliet, both Anna and Vronsky danced with great passion that transcended the invisible confines of the stage. The lovers’ love and lust for one another were apparent. Their attempts at unabashed displays of their passions were constricted by the limitations of their thinly clad physical bodies. Their bodies intertwined between huge extensions and brilliant lifts and twirls across the stage. The lovers ultimately consummate their relationship drawing the breathlessly beautiful dance to a standstill.
Ah, the taste of “forbidden fruit” was sweet and explosive to the sense, but Anna’s face revealed a deeper emotion – a shadow of remorse as her body sat motionless for a split second next to her lover’s. The realization that she had finally committed the once unthinkable act of adultery and journeyed down a path where there was no return sinks in. She had torn the veils of aristocracy and proper conduct in exchange for a moment of untamed passions and pleasure. That would be the beginning of a life tormented by faded memories of her life in St Peterburg and her duty as a wife and mother return to haunt her.
Torn between her love for her son and her newfound life with Vronsky, Anna makes an attempt to visit her son. She returns to her busband’s home in St Petersburg. Though she was overjoyed to see her son, she was greeted with contempt by her husband.
She then unsuccessfully persuades Vronsky to go to the opera with her and ends up attending on her own. At the opera, she was again shunned by the aristocratic society. Rejected, she returns to Vronsky to seek comfort but senses his feelings for her have changed.
The realization of having lost everything - the love of her family, of Vronsky and the approval of society – Anna was destined to live a life as an outcast. Distraught, Anna calmly stands before an oncoming train and commits suicide. The ballet ends with parallels to the stranger killed by a moving train at the beginning of the ballet.
A moving plot with moments of brilliance, Anna Karenina is a ballet that has the potential of taking you and your heart on a roller-coaster ride with moments of breathtaking beauty, great passion, explosive energy, and yet disappointments of a judgmental and unforgiving society that does not allow second chances for those who have made mistakes in life. The ballet reminds all that there is indeed a heavy price to pay for going against societal norms.
http://www.asiadancechannel.com/AnnaKarenina.cfm
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