Ballet review - Operation Phoenix post
Sep. 24th, 2010 06:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elen_nare On the 27th of August, I went to see a ballet (two short ballets, actually) performed by the "Ballet Oficial de la Provincia", with music played by the Symphonic Orchestra.
Part 1: "Imágenes, a choreographic vision of the symphonic suite Images pour orcheste by Claude Debussy. Choreography by De Benedetti".
The music was great. The Orchestra is really very, very good, and I liked what they were playing. If I knew more about music, I'd go into more detail, but as it is I'll just have to leave it as is. I may not have appreciated this part fully because I was very, very tired, but I still enjoyed it.
The ballet itself: the lead dancers were excellent, all six of them (two men and four women). I wasn't entirely following the story, but the way I saw it, it seemed to be a story of love, jealousy, betrayal and so on, ending in one of the men being hung. (Reading the program after, it seems that a very open storyline was the idea, to create an outline that everyone was free to interpret in their own way. I dare say I'm too structured, but I prefer more defined stories or no story at all. But I digress).
As I said, the leads were very good. The corps (I believe that's the term, otherwise please correct me -![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
liebedance especially!) were not so good - that is, they were all doing the right thing individually, but they lacked coordination. It's a recurring problem with them; they seemed to have improved the last few years, but this one wasn't so good. It's really a shame, because it detracts from the whole show.
This part was fairly short, then an interval and on to part 2.
Part 2: "El Amor Brujo, de Manuel de Falla. Choreography by Oscar Araiz."
Once again, beautiful music! Quite different from the first part; this sounded more Spanish, and included three songs. The singer had a wonderful voice, very clear... and it sounded right for the songs, if that makes sense.
There wasn't a strict division between the corps and the soloists here. There were five couples, and they all acted sometimes as leads and sometimes as background. They were all really good.
As with the music, the style of dance and costumes were definitely Spanish. Not completely Spanish - no castanets, for instance - but a very Sapnish influenced ballet.
This part didn't seem to have a storyline (or I completely missed it!), but was focused simply on showcasing the dancers' skills.
I enjoyed this part more than the first, though I'm not entirely sure why. I guess I don't need to have a reason, I just did.
In short, I really enjoyed the ballet, and hope I can go again soon - it would be especially awesome if the Orchestra was playing, too.
Part 1: "Imágenes, a choreographic vision of the symphonic suite Images pour orcheste by Claude Debussy. Choreography by De Benedetti".
The music was great. The Orchestra is really very, very good, and I liked what they were playing. If I knew more about music, I'd go into more detail, but as it is I'll just have to leave it as is. I may not have appreciated this part fully because I was very, very tired, but I still enjoyed it.
The ballet itself: the lead dancers were excellent, all six of them (two men and four women). I wasn't entirely following the story, but the way I saw it, it seemed to be a story of love, jealousy, betrayal and so on, ending in one of the men being hung. (Reading the program after, it seems that a very open storyline was the idea, to create an outline that everyone was free to interpret in their own way. I dare say I'm too structured, but I prefer more defined stories or no story at all. But I digress).
As I said, the leads were very good. The corps (I believe that's the term, otherwise please correct me -
liebedance especially!) were not so good - that is, they were all doing the right thing individually, but they lacked coordination. It's a recurring problem with them; they seemed to have improved the last few years, but this one wasn't so good. It's really a shame, because it detracts from the whole show.This part was fairly short, then an interval and on to part 2.
Part 2: "El Amor Brujo, de Manuel de Falla. Choreography by Oscar Araiz."
Once again, beautiful music! Quite different from the first part; this sounded more Spanish, and included three songs. The singer had a wonderful voice, very clear... and it sounded right for the songs, if that makes sense.
There wasn't a strict division between the corps and the soloists here. There were five couples, and they all acted sometimes as leads and sometimes as background. They were all really good.
As with the music, the style of dance and costumes were definitely Spanish. Not completely Spanish - no castanets, for instance - but a very Sapnish influenced ballet.
This part didn't seem to have a storyline (or I completely missed it!), but was focused simply on showcasing the dancers' skills.
I enjoyed this part more than the first, though I'm not entirely sure why. I guess I don't need to have a reason, I just did.
In short, I really enjoyed the ballet, and hope I can go again soon - it would be especially awesome if the Orchestra was playing, too.
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-27 12:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-30 02:24 am (UTC)I doubt they'll tour Japan, but you can visit me and we can go the theater :)
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Date: 2010-09-29 08:10 am (UTC)As for the ballet, yes, "corps de balet" (which comes from French anyway) is the term used in English. (And in Russian for that matter, although it's mispronounced there.) And I agree that it's better when the entire performance tells a story, but apparently our tastes aren't modern enough. :P Although it sounds like it was an enjoyable performance anyway.
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Date: 2010-09-30 02:31 am (UTC)Oh good! A downside of a fair bit of my English coming from books which may be quite old is that I'm not always sure if the terms I use are right or in use nowadays. Another downside is along the line of being convinced for a fair part of my childhood that the ch in character was the same as the ch in chair. Silly non phonetic English :P /tangent
Seems our tastes aren't modern enough. Ah well, we can be grumpy old fashioned curmudgeons together :P