The Prague Post
November 22nd, 2008
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Hotel Prague Centre

Home » Archives » Night & Day

Ballet history takes the stage

At the National Theater, the successor to Ballets Russes
Stage Review | Search restaurants | Archives

By Brooke Edge
For The Prague Post
November 14th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Romeo and Juliet get a fresh look in Maillot's choreography.
Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo

When: Nov. 17 at 7, Nov. 18 at 2 and 7
Where: National Theater
Tickets: 30–800 Kč, available at
the venue

Ballet was forever changed with the introduction of Russian style, technique and choreography to Western Europe via the 1909 founding of Ballets Russes. Works created and performed by this company of artists from the east elevated the courtly, restrained style of French dance to previously unknown artistic heights, and introduced the Western world to some of the most infamous ballet divas, the startling strings of Stravinksy and the lanky, angular forms of Balanchine.
This weekend, the National Theater welcomes to its stage the company that lays claim to, and has reinvigorated, the groundbreaking tradition of Ballets Russes: Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, the national ballet company of the Principality of Monaco.
The Ballets Russes (French for Russian ballet) put Monte Carlo on the dance map. It was made up of dancers and choreographers trained at the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, gathered into a single company by ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev. His admired ability for spotting talent (and infamous knack for promotion) made performances of the Ballets Russes must-see events throughout Europe, until Diaghilev’s death and the company’s dissolution in 1929.
Among the dancers and choreographers on the original company’s roster were George Balanchine, Michel Fokine, Alicia Markova, Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova — enduring names still in programs today for the works they created and ballet materials they inspired. Once the company disbanded, these artists and others spread throughout the world as teachers and living legends admired by ensuing decades of dancers.
Ballets Russes brought a livelier style to Western Europe, especially with the choreography of Fokine, Nijinsky and Balanchine. The company’s repertoire now reads like a greatest-hits list of innovative 20th-century works that planted the seeds of modern dance. At the time, however, innovation and modernity didn’t always sit well with critics and the public. Fokine’s Afternoon of a Faun elicited cries of objection and claims of lewdness, and Nijinsky’s The Rite of Spring caused a riot at its 1913 Paris premiere.
Diaghilev’s radical approach extended beyond choreography. He enlisted designers such as Picasso, Chanel and Dali to create sets and costumes, and commissioned music by Debussy, Strauss and Stravinsky.
This tradition of partnership and collaboration is what connects the original Ballets Russes with today’s Monte Carlo troupe, according to company director and choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot. “The uniqueness of the Ballets Russes was the richness of the artistic collaborations,” he says. “Those collaborations are still alive today in our company.”
Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo was founded in 1985 by the princess of Hanover as a successor to the Ballets Russes. Maillot assumed the helm in 1992. In the spirit of the original company, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo doesn’t rely on traditional, classical ballets, but instead creates and commissions new works. Specific collaborations mentioned by Maillot include work with the Czech choreographer Jiří Kylián, and fashion designers Karl Lagerfeld and Hedi Slimane.
For the company’s inaugural appearance in Prague, Maillot chose his first creation for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, his take on Romeo and Juliet.
“My version of Romeo and Juliet is one of the most representative works of our repertoire,” he says. “Traditionally, I like to propose this production when we perform for the first time in a capital, as a symbol of our company.”
Indeed, Romeo et Juliette captures Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo’s spirit of rebellion against typical ballet form. And, by presenting a new take on a well-known and loved ballet, Maillot and his dancers provide plenty of opportunities for comparison and contrast.
The ballet was choreographed by Maillot in 1996, and has been lauded by critics worldwide for its sharp contemporary dance influences, the skill of the company’s dancers and its distinctly different adolescent title characters — notably an aggressive Juliet and fate-tossed Romeo. New York Times dance critic Anna Kisselgoff declared the work to be “daring and futuristic.”
For a long time, Czech ballet has been rooted in the traditional Russian style, frozen in the masterful — but unrelentingly strict — methods of the Kirov and Bolshoi glory days. As the National Theater showcases the successor to the Ballets Russes and its new take on the classics, local arts supporters may be encouraged by one more sign that the times continue to change for Czech dance.
Brooke Edge can be reached at
features@praguepost.com

Brooke Edge can be reached at features@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (14/11/2007):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Provokator
Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.