From the very outset, I should make it clear that although I have enjoyed ballet from my childhood ranging from the few lessons I had and the old black and white movies at the British council, to periodically attending performances, I could only profess to be a lover of the art form and in no way an expert on the subject.
 |
| If a picture painted a thousand words then a performance paints a million! |
This was a new production by David McAllister. Everything apart from the music and Choreography was started from a blank canvass.
As someone who made a modest donation to the production, the Australian Ballet pleasantly provided continuous updates over the 2 or so years of it’s production. The creation of the costumes from some of the initial draft drawings were mesmerising and indicative of the strength of the creative team. Beauty was splashed all over the production.
However, bringing this to reality on stage, is a far greater challenge and in the few spare moments when I might have thought of it, it did create a sense of anticipation.
 |
| The Australia Ballet's new production of Sleeping Beauty. |
From the moment one sat in the auditorium, it was hard but to be engulfed in the grandeur and creativity starting from the curtains, enticing you back into the time and place of the fairy tale.
There were many surprises along the way – the costumes were spectacular the sets including the chandeliers were brilliant, the rose bed fit for a princess and the dancing was, although never the strength of the Australian Ballets productions, was good too.
But the most delightful surprise was princess Aurora herself – played by Benedicte Bemet.
I do not remember when I first noticed her presence on stage, but it must have been pretty close to when she join the company (which I believe was 3 years ago). When I first noticed her, she didn’t appear to have the best technique nor was she in any role of significance, but her enthusiasm and involvement in the moment made her shine. One could almost follow the whole story by simply watching the expressions on her face. It had become a practice to find her amongst the Corps de Ballet. For one who as a child, had eyes for only the male dancers – the likes of Nureyev and Baryshnikov - this was quite a change.
I have always thought she was a touch (dare I say it!!) bottom heavy to really become a technician of the art form. But then a few months ago, at a performance of 20:21, I remember thinking to myself that she had “toned” her legs and I thought of it no further!
As usual, even this evening, I tried spotting her with the Coryphées and and Corps de Ballet (sometime over the last 3 years, she must have been promoted to the Coryphées) but did not spot her. And then she made her appearance as princess Aurora! It took me a couple of seconds to recognise that it was in fact her and my reaction was WOW!! (As usual the opera house had run out of the production information sheets just at our door of entry, so we had no idea who was in the cast).
To add to this, Amber Scott – my favourite principal, was dancing the role of the Lilac fairy. The other dancer I love watching is Chengwu Guo. He had not made an appearance in the first Act. Could it be that he was the Prince?!!! Now that would be absolutely puuuuurfect!! My favourite three Australian Ballet dancers playing the three key roles!
 |
| Amber Scott and Chengwu Guo |
Alas, it was not to be - Chengwu played the blue bird and displayed his technical skills brilliantly.
But let’s get back to the star of the evening - Benedicte. Being as young as she is, fitted the role in every way. When the first famous balancing sequence approached, I could feel myself tense up for her. She managed to get through it unscathed! But when the second sequence arrived, she absolutely “nailed it”(pardon the technical term) and as she swapped her partner for the final time, she even held the balancing pose for longer than required, almost as a display of her prowess, which had the younger members of the audience simply burst out uncontrollably with applause. She was able to draw this applause again during the pas de deux during the ball for the wedding.
The Australian Ballet used Benedicte as Clara in the poster for the Nutcracker in the 2014 season. But it turned out that she performed the role in Melbourne (I’m a little confused about this as one of the Sydney reviews seem to suggest she played Clara). In Sydney (at least in the performance I was at), it was played by the new Principal Ako Kondo. A bit of a disappointment for me, not a reflection of Kondo – who is arguably a better dancer, but more due to the anticipation I had built up prior to that performance.
But maybe in the end, the reaction of “WOW” was due to all of this happening – missing out her performance as Clara, the opera house not having the information sheets (it might not have been the same if I knew she was playing the role). The delightful surprise was all worth it!
What’s best is that I can look forward to seeing Benedicte, Amber and Chengwu continue to perform key roles in the Australia Ballet productions until one of them decides to stuff it all up by either retiring or moving to another company!
Put together, the feeling of deja vu when the music for Carabosse and her rats sent shivers down my spine as it had done when I was a little 8 year old kid engendering nightmarish images in my mind (music that I had probably not heard for a couple of decades), the sheer beauty of the sets and costumes and the happiness of witnessing a young ballerina blossom – the ingredients for a simply delightful evening!
No comments:
Post a Comment