Ballet premieres – autumn 2011

The majority of ballet companies in the Czech Republic staged one premiere during autumn. The ones in the biggest companies are worth our attention. The National Theatre in Prague staged a program with tree choreographies by Christopher Bruce at the New Stage.

Dramaturgs chose works inspired by popular music groups: Dance at the Crossroads with music by The Waterboys, Moonshine inspired by Bob Dylan’s songs and Rooster with dynamic music by Rolling Stones. It was dramaturgy of the program that was a bit problematic because it showed only one dimension of Bruce’s work. Christopher Bruce’s works have a good structure and choreographic quality as it should be with the leading representative of European dance of the late 20^th century, yet it is not a surprise in the contemporary dance context anymore. The National Theatre company accepted Bruce’s dance style very good which was reflected in violent performances in a revue-like work Rooster. Moonshine was the worse one although the program chose its name. The work originated for Nederlands Dans Theater 3, i.e. for experienced dancers over forty. In Prague, the dancers are in their thirties and this can be seen in the energy of acting interpretation of the roles.

The National Theatre in Brno returned to classic pieces after some time and it staged a romantic ballet Giselle. It invited Robert Strajner who lives in Germany and presented himself with an original performance of the Swan Lake in Brno twelve years ago. His interpretation of Giselle was not a lucky one. Whereas his interventions do not influence clarity of the story in the first act (a duet of a spouses-to-be is transformed in a group performance, for instance), the second act is more problematic with apparent changes (a radical reduction of Hilarion’s performance, for instance). The director of the theatre in Brno, Daniel Dvořák, enriched the performance with a more modern style, however, the solution of the second act was harmful for understanding of a story (the essential prop – Giselle’s grave – is missing). Neither the Brno ensemble, nor soloists showed off much despite several successful performances in previous seasons.

There have been no surprising new performances in other theatres. The Lady of the Camellias in Ostrava with choreography by Allen Yu from Taiwan offered a sequence of conventional ballet figures and a number of director’s illogical ideas. Progressive ballet in the South Bohemian Theatre led by Attila Egerházi for the first time staged The Nutcracker in the original version by the artistic director and in cooperation with Landestheater Niederbayern Passau and the Dance Centre in Prague. Ballet in Pilsen staged Raymonda according to Yelena Pankova, ballet in Liberec introduced a new work by Jiří Pokorný Dangerous Liaisons with music collage from works by Bruckner, Bach, Hayden, Händel and Vivaldi. The ballet company in Ústí nad Labem staged an older “horror” performance by Alena Pešková Jessie and Morgiana and the ballet in Olomouc adopted a popular staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Libor Vaculík from the State Opera in Prague.

Roman Vašek