romeo and juliet

Spoiler Alert: The Original Endings Of Ballet’s Great Love Stories

February 14, 2016 by Rachel Hellwig

So, you think you know how all of your favorite romantic ballets end? Think again! The original finales might surprise you…

Giselle

Spoiler alert: Albrecht gets back together with Bathilde—with the (post-mortem) blessing of Giselle! Though most modern versions conclude with Albrecht alone in the forest, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 2011 staging by Peter Boal includes the original ending. As The New York Times described it, “Albrecht [is] tenderly consoled and reclaimed at dawn by Bathilde, whom Giselle, now a spirit returning to her grave, has urged him to marry with her last gestures.”

Created with "waiting backstage" by Deb. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic. [Changes to image: cropped; filters, background, and text added] Lyrics quoted on image from "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", artist Taylor Swift. — Created with “waiting backstage” by Deb. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic. [Changes to image: cropped; filters, background, and text added] Lyrics quoted on image from “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together“, artist Taylor Swift.

Swan Lake

Spoiler alert: Siegfried and Odette still die. However, they don’t drown themselves in the lake. And their original personalities were more flawed than those of the gallant Prince and Swan Queen of today. The Ballet Bag explains:

“[It] was very different from the Swan Lake we now know: Odette, daughter of a good fairy, is being pursued by her “wicked witch stepmother”. Her grandfather keeps her and companions safe at a lake by night, allowing them to fly about as swans by day. Odette wears a magical crown which protects her from the witch. Siegfried falls for her but betrays her at a ball. Odette refuses to forgive him, so he snatches her crown in desperation. The lovers are now at the mercy of the witch and the waters of the lake engulf them.”

Created with "CincinnatiBallet-SwanLake2009-Dancers-KristiCapps-AnthonyKrutzkamp-Photog-PeterMueller" by KCBalletMedia. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic. [Changes to image: cropped; filters, background, and text added] — Created with “CincinnatiBallet-SwanLake2009-Dancers-KristiCapps-AnthonyKrutzkamp-Photog-PeterMueller” by KCBalletMedia. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic. [Changes to image: cropped; filters, background, and text added]

Romeo and Juliet

And they lived happily ever after…

Spoiler alert: This was indeed the ending that composer Sergei Prokofiev intended! “Living people can dance, the dead cannot”, he argued. But officials in 1930s Soviet Russia weren’t keen on the idea of changing Shakespeare’s story (a.k.a. Prokofiev had to follow orders). It wasn’t until 2008 that choreographer Mark Morris staged a version with the original happy ending. It’s safe to say, of course, that Prokofiev’s revision has yet to upstage The Bard’s conclusion to this famous tale of woe.

Created with "swKCB0514_ 1685" by KCBalletMedia. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic. [Changes to image: cropped; filters, background, and text added] Lyrics quoted on image from "Love Story", artist Taylor Swift. — Created with “swKCB0514_ 1685” by KCBalletMedia. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic. [Changes to image: cropped; filters, background, and text added] Lyrics quoted on image from “Love Story“, artist Taylor Swift.

The Bolshoi’s Anna Nikulina – On Dancing Juliet

March 5, 2015 by 4dancers

The Bolshoi's Romeo & Juliet, Photo by Damir Yusupov. — The Bolshoi’s Romeo & Juliet, Photo by Damir Yusupov.

Today we have something special for you – the Bolshoi Ballet’s Anna Nikulina talks about what it’s like to dance the role of Juliet…

What are the challenges in preparing for the role of Juliet?

For me most likely the biggest challenge in preparing for Juliet was that the actual ballet goes by too quickly. The performance is only two hours and it is hard to live through this role for such a short period of time, beginning with Juliet as a young girl, only 14 years old and to go through such a difficult journey in love, suffering, and death. And because there are so many different sides and emotions and to have to release all this in one performance was probably the most difficult thing.

What do you enjoy most about dancing this role, and how is it different than other lead roles?

I would say that Juliet is a true role, because in performances there are “parts” and there are “roles.” And I think I enjoy the difficulty in it both physically and emotionally. Juliet is a young girl and then falls in love with Romeo and there are difficult aspects of this role physically, but in reality it is not the most difficult in terms of technique; there are certainly harder roles. But to live through it is hard – you can keep rehearsing this again and again, and with each rehearsal, you discover new things and new sides of Juliet that you can reveal. This is what I enjoy most.

There needs to be a special bond with your partner (Romeo) for this ballet. Is it difficult to create this? Do you do anything specific to make it happen?

Regardless, I try to live through the performance with Romeo and soon you get this feeling, slowly, not right away that occurs between two people, and I remember that once Yuri Nikolaevich Grigorovich said to me during rehearsal that he saw a certain chemistry between us. And I truly started to fall in love during this time, in love with Sascha Volchkov as Romeo. And I felt really as though I loved him. But this was of course during rehearsals (laughs). And I think Sascha had a similar experience. We had a special and unique connection and I actually would not have preferred to dance this ballet with anyone else at the time.

Can you explain the role of the music in this ballet? Do you have any favorite sections?

The role of the music is truly enormous and it is genius. And you can live through all your emotions through this music. My favorite part is probably the balcony scene and the end of Act II, because it is so tragic and when you listen to the music without dancing it is amazing itself but when you are able to move and emote to it, it is truly amazing.

This is an extremely emotional ballet. What specific things do you use to communicate your emotions to the audience clearly?

Your coach is very helpful in this process because when you are rehearsing, you are expressing emotions and it is important for these emotions to be visible, so your coach can really help to determine whether you are delivering those emotions enough to reach the audience. There are times when you think you are expressing everything you can, even through movement, but you realize that what you are trying to express isn’t always clear. To express emotions, the coach’s eye is very important. Also, Zeffirelli’s film really helped me and inspired me in my interpretation of Juliet.

Viewers across the US have the opportunity to see Anna Nikulina perform Juliet at the cinema – the Bolshoi Ballet will be on the big screen for one performance only on March 8th! Search here for a theater near you.

BIO: Anna Nikulina was born in Moscow. In 2002, she completed her training at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography (teacher Elena Vatulya) with distinction and joined the Bolshoi Ballet Company. She rehearsed under the late Yekaterina Maximova. In 2004, at the age of 19, she danced Odette-Odile for the first time. Today her teacher-repetiteur is Nina Semizorova.

She took part in the Bolshoi Theatre Studio of New Choreography project, dancing Aurora in Riccardo Drigo’s Rosary pas de quatre from the ballet The Awakening of Flora (choreography Marius Petipa, reconstruction Yuri Burlaka) and the Carpets pas de quatre from Cesar Pugni’s ballet The Humpbacked Horse (choreography Alexander Gorsky, reconstruction Yuri Burlaka; 2004), and likewise — with Denis Savin — she appeared in the number Acquisition to music by Sergei Rachmaninov, produced by Yuri Klevtsov (2006)

In 2007, she appeared in the ballet Old Ladies Falling Out to music by Leonid Desyatnikov (choreography by Alexei Ratmansky), which was shown first at the Territory Festival, and then under the auspices of the Studio of New Choreography project (workshop).

Disclosure: 4dancers accepts compensation for promoting this series

Becoming Juliette

January 28, 2015 by 4dancers

Some insight on being fully immersed in a role, creating a character, not comparing yourself to the past 400 years of Juliets, and kissing your co-workers…

Alessa Rogers as Juliette — Christian Clark and Alessa Rogers in Romeo et Juliette. Photo by Charlie McCullers.

by Alessa Rogers

“Let love drive you.” These are not the words of Shakespeare but of stager Giovanna Lorenzoni as she attempts to mold me into a Juliette Capulet worthy of Jean-Christophe Maillot’s stunning ballet. They are the words that have been driving me since I was first cast as Juliette in October 2013, through the intense rehearsal process that led to the first time Atlanta Ballet performed the ballet last year and now, as I prepare for an encore round of shows February 6-14. As I prepare for my second shot at what has become my favorite ballet, I reflect on the process, on remembering that opening night is just one night, and how the genius is in the details.

DIFFERENCES

For me, being cast as Juliette was a dream come true. But as is the case with most dreams, reality was a little different than I imagined. First of all, this version, which was choreographed in 1996 for Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, is a departure from the classical versions I grew up with. This is a stripped down, more contemporary version. Third Act I am barefoot. There are no lavish sets, cumbersome period piece costumes, and nary a sword or a vial of potion to behold. Instead, the story is told through the movement and the musicality only. As such, every step is vitally important. Nothing is thrown away or meaningless. There is text in every gesture, tension is every moment of stillness.

Juliette herself is different too. She is older than she is normally portrayed, closer to woman than girl. She is fierce and fearless and knows a thing or two about the world. She knows herself and what she wants. She takes the lead in the budding romance with Romeo, demarcating their boundaries or lack thereof. The streak of mischief in this Juliette is part of the reason why I got this role in the first place. Early in the process one of the stagers from Monte-Carlo came upon me in the hallway, shoving a piece of cake into the mouth of one of the other dancers. That, she said, is exactly what Juliette would do. [Read more…]

Savoring The Score Of Joffrey’s Romeo & Juliet

April 25, 2014 by 4dancers

Romeo & Juliet Rehearsal - Christine Rocas and Rory Hohenstein - Photo by Herbert Migdoll — Romeo & Juliet Rehearsal – Christine Rocas and Rory Hohenstein – Photo by Herbert Migdoll

The Joffrey is taking on Romeo & Juliet this season, which has an amazing score by Sergei Prokofiev. We asked conductor Scott Speck some questions about the music, and he shares some wonderful insights with us here.

Can you share some background information about the composer and the development of this score?

One of the great thrills of working in the field of ballet is the opportunity to perform the score to Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev. I am grateful to the Joffrey’s Artistic Director, Ashley Wheater, for programming it. All the musicians of the Chicago Philharmonic feel the same way.

Prokofiev was a Russian composer — or more accurately, for much of his life, a Soviet composer. But his work bears very little resemblance to that of his revered countrymen, Tchaikovsky or Stravinsky. Prokofiev had a musical style that was entirely his own. Generally speaking, he could be considered part of the Neoclassical movement — paying tribute to the great Baroque and classical masters with a familiar tonal language and forms such as the “Gavotte”, but with a modern take that could never be mistaken for anything but twentieth-century. But Igor Stravinsky was also a neoclassicist for part of his career, and there is no confusing the two composers. Prokofiev’s style is very melodic — there is hardly a moment that can’t be sung. He got his start in ballet early, moving to Paris and composing for a very young Balanchine and the Ballets Russes. (In fact, Prodigal Son, which the Joffrey Ballet performs in September, was one of his first in the genre.) If he did imitate the great Russian ballet composers in any way, it was in his pacing. The music drives the action in the play admirably, with gorgeous melodies for each major character and theme in the story.

What are some of the particular challenges when it comes to conducting the music of Prokofiev for this ballet?

The biggest challenge is the sheer virtuosity of the writing — the difficulty of the score itself. Being a great pianist, Prokofiev infused his scores with devilish technical challenges that would be much easier to play on the piano than on the various instruments of the orchestra. It takes a truly great orchestra to do justice to the intricacies of his music. Luckily we have the Chicago Philharmonic!

Are there any specific instruments that feature prominently here, and what does that add to the overall feel and mood of the score? [Read more…]

DVD Review: An Evening With The Royal Ballet

February 1, 2013 by 4dancers

by Emily Kate Long

Royal Opera House and Opus Arte’s An Evening with the Royal Ballet presents excerpts from nineteenth- and twentieth-century classics. Beloved works by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, Kenneth MacMillan, and Frederick Ashton will delight ballet lovers. The disc runs about 90 minutes, slightly shorter than a typical two-act evening of dance. Among the principal dancers featured are Leanne Benjamin, Darcey Bussell, Alina Cojocaru, Marianela Nunez, Tamara Rojo, Carlos Acosta, Johan Kobborg, and Steven McRae.

Part One opens with the imposing ballroom scene from MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, followed by Ashton’s Voices of Spring pas de deux—a true gem on this DVD. Benjamin and Acosta exude simple joy in the daring but never garish virtuoso duet. Also a treat are Nunez and Acosta’s sweetness and technical fireworks in Ashton’s La Fille Mal Gardee. The closing selection of Part One alone, Cojocaru and Kobborg in a moving and sensitive pas de deux from Act II of Giselle, makes this disc one well worth having. That this particular pas de deux is excerpted as part of the full staging complete with willis, rather than a gala-type presentation, is of tremendous value.

Part Two includes an exemplary Rojo and Acosta in MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet balcony pas de deux, followed by selections from Sylvia, Swan Lake, Coppelia, and The Nutcracker. Here, in addition to polished, generous dancing by principals and corps alike, the lush sets and costumes of the Royal Ballet full-lengths are shown off to great advantage. Sylvia looks like a rococo oil painting, and the mighty pas de trios and glittering apotheosis of Swan Lake are an impressive close to this program.

An Evening with the Royal Ballet would make a rich addition to any dance lover’s video library.

Giselle

Swan Lake

Romeo and Juliet

Some insight on being fully immersed in a role, creating a character, not comparing yourself to the past 400 years of Juliets, and kissing your co-workers…

DIFFERENCES

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