Royal New Zealand Ballet's Cinderella at the on-going Beijing
International Dance Festival, with its expressive story-telling and
stunning sets, is a production the whole family will enjoy.
Choreographed by Christopher Hampson, Cinderella is bound to win
over kids with its cast of benevolent fairy godmother, fantastic
insects and slapstick comedy; while adults will be wowed by Sergei
Prokofiev's powerfully discordant music, which plunges Cinderella
into a darker struggle.
"It has become our company's most successful production to date
- watched by nearly 44,000 people," says Gary Harris, artistic
director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB), who commissioned
Hampson.
It is the second collaboration between the British choreographer
and RNZB. Their first, Romeo and Juliet in 2003, left audiences and
critics cheering for more.
"There are relatively few choreographers in the world who work
in a strictly classical vocabulary. Whether this is a reaction to
the strict confines of classical ballet training and technique, or
because there are not that many around, I do not know. What I do
know is that Hampson is one of the few who are making works purely
in the classical genre," Harris says.
But why return to the Cinderella story, a well-known folk tale
in Europe that some say originates from a Chinese book written
around AD 850-860?
"This ballet has been the one I have wanted to create for as
long as I can remember. The score drives this most magic of stories
and has always driven me to look for more meaning to the journey
Cinderella goes through," the choreographer writes in the ballet's
program notes.
Prokofiev's overture is one of the heaviest scores in ballet
music. It leads Hampson to begin the piece in the darkest place he
could think of: Putting Cinderella at her mother's funeral.
"Aside from Cinderella's own story, I wanted to see a parallel
journey happening, something visual. I decided on a rose growing
from the grave and this, for me and certainly for Cinderella, was
the way out of this dark beginning," the choreographer says.
The story is classic, with its cruel stepmother, comedic
stepsisters and a handsome prince. But in Hampson's eyes,
Prokofiev's score broadens the canvas, to show growth, honesty,
humility and love.
"Cinderella is more than a girl's story from 'rags-to-riches'.
It is a tale that shows us a journey from dark to light," Hampson
adds.
Hampson's light and sophisticated treatment is a counterpoint to
Prokofiev's heavy score. His choreography uses traditional ballet
devices to allow the story to flow: There are elegant turns and
arabesques for Cinderella; bumbling routines for the stepsisters
and their retinues; and vigorous passages for the prince.
Cinderella will run at Poly Theater on Friday and Saturday.
Royal New Zealand Ballet's
Cinderella is a highlight of the on-going Beijing International
Dance Festival. (file photo from China Daily)
(China Daily November 19, 2007)
