Customer Reviews

I'm Speechless - By: Mr. V. V. Rikowski, 09 Feb 2008
This ballet is quite simply extraordinary. I am no expertin ballet (I'm only 21 & it's a big world out there) but never before have I been so moved by what I thought was a `somewhat limited' art form. Having seen productions of Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet (and little else before hand) I though `that was the best things could get' - & how wrong I was!
By God this ballet could almost be mistaken (it is ballet after all) as something thunderously masculine, the force of the brilliant & almost genius choreography of John Neumeier is something not to be reckoned with; it is dramatic, exotic & addictively interesting down to the most minute detail. The extremely small & quirky steps are just as thought-provokingly large as the physically large steps. With every movement a new question is proposed & you sit therein cheer fascination & bewilderment; you can't get enough of it.
The choreography combines a large number of dance styles from contemporary dance right through to the classical and/or the `French School' of dance. This production is modern, but unlike many modern productions (my expertise liesin opera) we do not have here a pointless lust for iconoclasm & experiment. The dance appears to me to be very honest &in some philosophical sense very `truthful' - I was instantly capable of making some emotional connection to technically complex yet very simple emotional ideas; the stage settings & costumes are very simple (almost minimal) which puts the focus on the dance.
What's more is that there are NO accursed tutus! - I hate the silly things! - They make dance look decorative & not at all sexy when, surely, it should be a `real' art form, as any art should be, & therefore not a decorative one. - Please correct me if I'm wrong on this & if I've missed something.
Nonetheless, the performers are fantastic, Aurelie Dupont makes a great Sylvia & she uses her beautifully seductive, Goddess-like body like a bag of dynamite, & the rest of the dancers pull off a similar magnitude. The conducting by Paul Connelly is a very clear-headed one as he makes the complex/strange melodies of Delibes into something pure & simple & therefore quite special; he creates a certain harmony with the style of the dance. The filming & sound too are excellent. The camera men can sometimes be a little too excited as it were, (which some people may not like,) butin my opinion all the actions & decisions were well justified.
This is a unique production set to fantastic music. It'll open your eyes & revolutionize the way you not only think about dance but probably artin general... what more could you possibly want? `I like ballet' - finally (not that I was waiting for it as such) I can say this & not feel like a little sissy-girl (Hahaha!). In fact I can say this & almost feel quite the opposite.