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| Natalia Ashikhmina in Lady of the Camellias. Photo by David Toczko. |
Lady of the Camellias
Choreography
by Val Caniparoli
Music
by Frederic Chopin
By
Kathi E.B. Ellis
Entire
contents are copyright © 2012 Kathi E.B. Ellis. All rights reserve
The
Louisville Ballet launched its 61st season with an effervescent and
poignant Louisville premiere of Val Caniparoli’s Lady of the Camellias this past Friday. Louisville audiences are
becoming familiar with Mr. Caniparoli’s choreography as Artistic Director Bruce
Simpson continues to introduce his work into the repertoire of the ballet
company. Created for Ballet Florida in 1994, Camellias was Mr. Caniparoli’s first full-length ballet. The well-documented story of this
ballet’s creation has its share of tragedy to complement the fated love story
of Marguerite and Armand.
Based
on the Alexandre Dumas novel of the same name, this tragic story has been
adapted into many genres since its inception, including at least three ballet
versions. Sir Frederick Ashton
created Marguerite et Armand for
Fonteyn and Nureyev in 1963, choosing to use music by Liszt who was linked with
Marie Duplessis, the inspiration for the heroine of the novel. John Neumeier’s
1970s La Dame aux Camélias for the
Stuttgart Ballet introduced the author himself into the storyline and also
used Chopin’s music, as does this version conceived by the late Norbert Vesak
and Robert Glay de la Rose. (In an interesting coincidence, a revival of the
troubled Marguerite musical by Boubil
and Legrand opened this weekend in London.)
On
opening night, the roles of Marguerite and Armand were danced by Natalia
Ashikhmina and Ben Needham-Wood. The other pairing (Saturday matinee) is Erica
de la O and Kristopher Wojtera, alternate casting that suggests that each
couple brought very different interpretations and style to the roles. Ms.
Ashikhmina has a beautiful, lissom quality that highlights the delight she
finds in Armand, as well as expressing both the desperation of parting from him
and her death. Mr. Needham-Wood embodies a youth and naiveté that makes
Armand’s immediate passion and reckless pursuit of Marguerite believable and
heartbreaking.
Mark
Krieger, the Baron de Varville, Marguerite’s current lover, is new to the
Louisville Ballet this season, and he brings a commanding stage presence to
this role. Harald Uwe Kern’s role of Armand’s father was powerful. The act two
pas de deux with Marguerite, when he comes to separate his son from her, ranges
from a middle class morality stiff approach towards a courtesan to a reluctant
respect for the dignity the father unexpectedly discovers in her. This is
embodied in partnering that is both physically close and emotionally distant.
Other denizens of this bohemian Paris are St. Gaudin (Rob Morrow), Olympe
(Erica De La O), Prudence (Helen Daigle), the lovers Gustave and Nichette
(Kristopher Wojtera and Amanda Diehl), and a playboy Gaston (Phillip
Velinov). Prudence, a former
milliner, is definitely the comic relief, and Ms. Daigle revels in the
opportunities afforded her. Mr. Velinov’s playboy was clearly the life of the
party, manipulating champagne glasses with aplomb. Ms. De la O brought a
sophistication and world knowledge that Marguerite doesn’t yet have to her role
as mistress to Mr. Morrow’s also-worldly St. Gaudin. Ms. Diehl always brings a
multi-kilowatt energy to her roles. and she and Mr. Wojtera were delightful as
the lovers.
The
opening scene captures the devil-may-care energy of this party set. The costumes suggest both the mid-19th century period and echo the style of the great Romantic ballets of that period.
And this is the most "traditional" structure I’ve seen of Mr. Caniparoli’s
choreography, again echoing that period of ballet history. Tradition is coupled
with innovative partnering and lifts, and comedic sequences with precariously
balanced champagne glasses. The women have a delightful aerial kick at the
beginning of their solos that underlines that these parties are playtime. The brief pas de deux between de Varville
and Marguerite are both sensual and sexual, underscoring her profession, with
lifts that allow their bodies to linger together – a sequence repeated with
Armand later that night in her bedroom, again reminding us of her profession.
Act
two, a garden in Auteuil, is an exquisite example of how less can be more in
design. With the suggestion of
picture windows stage left, a handful of chairs, and two swings set against a
delicately lit backdrop (Michael T. Ford, lighting designer), Robert Glay de la
Rose’s design instantly transports the audience to a setting that foreshadows
French Impressionism. De la Rose’s costumes are a charming combination of cream
and black-on-white geometric patterns. On the other hand, the introduction of
bird song and ominous thunder were unnecessarily heavy handed in suggesting
both the idyllic escape and impending tragedy. Mr. Caniparoli and his designers
would be better served by trusting that the audience will intuit this through
the choreography and performances. A charming motif in this act is the sequence
in which the men (and, at one point, two of the women) toss balls back and
forth, an homage to boules perhaps; the dancers appeared to have fun with
this, though one wonders if the rehearsals for this may have been more intense
than those for the dance! There is also a nod and a wink to Seurat in the slow
stroll of Prudence, complete with umbrella, upstage of the main action. The
final ensemble for the men in this act was an exuberant unison sequence that was greeted with enthusiasm by the audience.
For
me act three was the least satisfying part of the storyline of this version.
The synopsis for the dream sequence in the program states that weakened by
illness “Marguerite imagines the worst and envisions the realities and the
possibilities….” Introducing a dream Marguerite and Armand is unnecessarily
complicated, when the "real" Armand also appears in Marguerite’s hallucinations
when she is close to death. Nonetheless, the final pas de deux between Marguerite and Armand is heartbreaking
as they rekindle the moves that they discovered at the beginning of their
affaire, and Ms. Ashkhimina’s final solo moments on stage are desolate. The
first scene, another party of course, in Olympe’s ballroom brings the full
ensemble onto the stage again for an exuberant evening, overshadowed only by
Marguerite’s worsening health. The moment when Armand humiliates Marguerite
was, unfortunately, underwhelming. Maybe it is the need to dig out paper money
from a wallet, but the moment was not sufficiently climactic to impel us into
Marguerite’s hallucinations in the next scene. De Varville’s challenge to
Armand had the impact missing in the previous confrontation to bring this scene
to a forceful conclusion.
Caniparoli’s
choreography offers some compelling male pas de deux. At the end of act two
after Armand believes that Marguerite has chosen Varville over him, his father
attempts to console him. Their pas de deux featured some of the most innovative
partnering of the evening, and demonstrated that Armand’s father, in his own
mind, had severed Armand’s and Marguerite’s affaire with the best intentions.
The tableau at the end of the act was stark and gut-wrenching, eliciting
audible breaths from audience members and a silence before the applause. Father
and son are also linked choreographically with similar low lunges, danced in
different scenes, but still suggesting a connection between them. Armand and de Varville also have a
brief pas de deux before their duel (as imagined by Marguerite in act three)
and this forceful, angular sequence clearly demonstrated the antipathy between
the two men.
The
curtain call began with solo bows for Marguerite and for Armand in the European
style of pulling aside the grand curtain at the center. I was still musing on
this atypical happening when the curtain rose onto a bare stage – the final
scene having been in Marguerite’s bedroom. By allowing Ms. Ashikhmina and Mr. Ben Needham-Wood to enjoy
their well-deserved accolades, an efficient scene change was being executed –
and I am sure that the ensemble also appreciated the built-in standing ovation
they received as the audience was already on their feet as the curtain rose
upon them.
On
a side note, I was delighted to see that the Louisville Ballet is now
identifying in the program when each dancer is dancing a role, when there are
multiple dancers assigned to a role.
In the past it has been possible to infer this information, but now
audiences can be sure.
At
the beginning of the evening Mr. Simpson spoke of his commitment to open each
season with a ballet new to Louisville audiences. If he continues this tradition of adding a full-length
ballet to the repertoire each year, the Louisville Ballet will hold a
significant repository of the ballet canon.
Lady of the
Camellias
October 5, 6 @ 8 p.m.
October 6 @ 2 p.m.
October 6 @ 2 p.m.
The
Louisville Ballet
Whitney
Hall, Kentucky Center
501
West Main Street
Louisville,
KY 40202
502-584-7777
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