| | Thursday night. I hurried down Sussex drive to make my way to the NAC for the 8'o'clock show. It is the opening night of "Romeo & Juliet"' - an classic ballet offered by the National Ballet of Canada.
I've never been to a ballet myself, although I did dream about being AT a ballet as a little girl, as most little girls probably did at one time or another. The curious thing is I still remember my dreams quite vividly - the image is one of looking down on the stage from a higher vantage point, as the lone prima donna twirled and flied across the stage. Mst probably, this image is based on something I saw on TV, as most of childhood memories are.
Anyways, so the real live experience is, coincidentally enough, quite similar to that residual image I hold in my head. My seat was in the balconies and as I look down, it was indeed a bird's eye view of the stage. The ballet itself is quite a busy one - with at least 50+ dancers on stage at the first scene, quite different from the lone dansers pas deux that I imagined the script to feature.
The Juliet for the night was Heather Ogden. She appeared in act II, a perfect ballerina. The juliet in the story is suppose to be 14 years of age, a child just on the brink of girlhood. Heather delivered that part splendidly. She was light, playful and really quite the child opposit the round and stoutedness of her nurse. Her lightness and fragility was astounding. In the ballroom scene, she danced with the count whom she was betrothed to, but still let her glances drift to the Montague man in the mask on the side. As she was dragged across the stage, she held her pose like a carboard cutout, so weightless yet shapely. Her third scene was the pas deux with Romeo. Everything looked exactly like how a ballet should be - effortless grace. The only down side was her scenes are too short.
While the music and choreography wasn't exactly the best or hardest, it was excently delivered. So as you can tell, the bright spots for me was the leading ballerina, who was superb in her role. Although she didn't have the extraordinary extension like Svetlana or amazing leg strength of Jingzhong, she was a perfect Juliet. The rest of the caste didn't leave much of an empression on me, other than they are not technically superb. If I had to pick, I guess the most memorable scene for me would be the ballroom scene. Although the dancers and choreography wasn't exactly clean, the richness of the costume and the stunning staging made up for what was lacking in the ballet itself.
Overally, I'd have to say its worth the visit! There was swordfights, acrobatics, and jesters giving comic relief - the show tried to cater to all. And for me, it is confirmed that I am a ballet lover at heart. The lone ballerina flying through the stage will warrant another visit.
|
| | Posted 4/17/2009 11:48 AM - 10 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
