CriticalDance Forum

A new production of Alicia Alonso's 'Don Quixote' premieres on January 20th, and then will go on tour in Denmark


Don Quixote
07.01.2008|Pressemeddelelse

En cubansk legende kommer til Danmark
Cigarer og Castro er, hvad de fleste mennesker forbinder med Cuba, men for mange cubanere er den 85-årige balletlegende, Alicia Alonso, indbegrebet af den cubanske sjæl. Alonso var med til at finansiere Fidel Castros socialistiske revolution, og hvis Castro er Cubas patriark, er Alonso Cubas matriark. Alene ved det faktum, at hun i dag stadig er kulturelt og politisk aktiv er med til at styrke hende position som Cubas førstedame - senest i efteråret, hvor hun til internationale medier fordømte den amerikanske embargo af Cuba, som hun kaldte ”umenneskelig og uberettet”.
Der er altså tale om en cubansk legende, der om lidt over en uge lander i Københavns Lufthavn for at følge hendes version af balletklassikeren Don Quixote til dørs i prøvesalene på Det Kongelige Teater. Selv om Alicia Alonso er næsten blind som følge af en øjensygdom, hun pådrog sig som 19-årig, forhindrer det hende ikke i at udføre sit hverv, nemlig at være kunstnerisk leder af Den Cubanske Nationalballet, der under hendes sikre ledelse igennem en menneskealder er vokset til en af ver-dens mest anerkendte kompagnier.

Og hvad venter der så publikum, når Alicia Alonsos balletværk for første gang opføres på en dansk scene? Balletmester Frank Andersen:
”Alicia Alonso har lagt vægt på at give Don Quixote den værdighed, der tilkommer figuren som en af de centrale skikkelser i katalansk kultur og i videre forstand i det spansktalende kulturområde. Ledsaget af Ludwig Minkus’ forførende musik og Jens-Jacob Worsaaes sublime farveæstetik er det en forestilling fyldt med spansk temperament, herlige gavtyvestreger og gnistrende dans.”

De mange tusinde, der var til Ballet i Kastellet i sommer fik en smagsprøve fra to cubanske gæstedansere. Og netop denne særlige kombination af sydlandsk charme, ekvilibristisk bravourballet og lynende temperament tog de fremmødte med storm. Den særlige cubanske dansestil vil helt sikkert klæde de danske dansere, der er berømmet for at være særligt gode til at fortælle historier gennem dans.

No casting as yet posted, but the press images suggest at some of the leads:

Don Q - Mogens Boesen

Basilio - Mads Blangstrup, Thomas Lund, Andrew Bowman and guest Alessio Carbone

Kitri - Diana Cuni, Yao Wei, Tina Højlund


Wei and Bowman and Cuni and Carbone are pictured in pas de deux. I wonder exactly when Carbone will perform - after the premiere, the ballet is being toured through Denmark, and I can't see a guest going on a such a tour.

Kate

Opening night:

Kitri: Diana Cuni
Basil: Alessio Carbone
Espada: Mads Blangstrup
Mercedes: Tina Hojlund
Don Q: Mogens Boesen
Sancho Panza: Poul-Erik Hesselkilde

Reviews (in Danish):

Jyllands-Posten: http://jp.dk/kultur/teater/teater/article1238306.ece
Berlingske: http://www.berlingske.dk/article/200801 ... 701210029/

Both give the production 5 out of six stars

Dancers mentioned include Tim Matiakis, Anastasia Paschali, Kizzy Howard and Rebecca Labbe as well as Mads Blangstrup

Translations of a bit of the above reviews (see links in previous post)

Don Quixote
(review by Henrik Lyding 21 January 2008)
Jyllands-Posten

Lots of delightful dance, but not much story in "Don Quixote"

Forget all about the story in this ballet...

And the people...

And the intrigue...

Because there is very little connection all together in it.

Cuban Alicia Alonso's version of the classic ballet 'Don Quixote' is possibiliy still more confused and disorganized than the two early versions of the ballet by the Rusian Marius Petipa in 1869, which we have until now seen on Kongens Nytorv. Yuri Grigorovitch's in 1983 and Rudolf Nureyev's in 1998. Not only is the story overly superficial sketch, the comedy and the humourous elements are conspicuous in their absence.

The dance is good

Back to the dance. And it is, on the other hand, good. The corps can really do the things that are necessary, but this has not all always have been the case because without energy, elegance, dance-joy and security in the virtuoso steps, there is nothing...


Glem alt om historien i denne ballet.

Og personerne.

Og intrigen.

For der er meget lidt sammenhæng i det alt sammen.

Cubaneren Alicia Alonsos version af balletklassikeren ”Don Quixote” er om muligt endnu mere forvirrende og rodet end de to tidligere versioner af russeren Marius Petipas ballet fra 1869, vi indtil nu har set på Kgs. Nytorv. Jurij Grigorovitj’ i 1983 og Rudolf Nureyevs i 1998. Ikke blot er historien kun en overfladisk skitse, komedien og de humoristiske indslag glimrer næsten helt ved deres fravær.
Dansen er god

Tilbage er dansen. Og den er til gengæld god. Korpset kan virkelig deres ting, hvilket også er nødvendigt, men ikke altid har været tilfældet, for uden overskud, elegance, danseglæde og sikkerhed i de virtuose trin, er der ingenting.


From Berlingske Tidende (by Vibeke Wern)

Don Quixote: There is lots of spanish flow, temperamental steps and sparkling dance in Cuban Alicia Alonso's 'Don Quixote' with the Royal Ballet.

Not least in the first act one feels that the Cuban instructors really have been able to breath Spanish flow and the correct position of pride in the head of the Danish dancers. For Sunday's opening performance, in the demanding lead role of the young Kitri, who is the beloved of the barber Basil and the ?? of both the wealthy Gamache and Don Quixote, it was an exquisite pleasure to see Diani Cuni unfold herself out coquettishly, sharply and securely in the temperamental 'toe dance'. Finely acted was her partnership with the elegant and easy jumping guest dancer Alessio Carbone from the Paris Opera Ballet in the role of Basil...

Ballet: Don Quixote Der er masser af spansk glød, temperamentsfulde trin og sprudlende danseglæde i cubanske Alicia Alonsos »Don Quixote« med den Kgl. Ballet.

Af Vibeke Wern
Mandag den 21. januar 2008, 22:30

Ikke mindst i første akt fornemmer man, at de cubanske instruktører virkelig har formået at puste spansk glød og den rette knejsende stolthed i kroppen på de danske dansere. I det krævende hovedparti som den unge Kitri, der er forelsket i barberen Basil og efterstræbes af både den rige Gamache og Don Quioxte, var det på premiereholdet søndag i denne akt også en udsøgt fornøjelse at se Diana Cuni folde sig koket, skarpt og sikkert ud i temperamentsfuld tåspidsdans. Fint fungerede hendes partnerskab med den elegante og let springende gæstedanser Alessio Carbone fra Pariser Operaens Ballet i rollen som Basil...

Having got a taste of Madame Alonso's productions at Sadlers Wells when the Cubans came over a year or two ago, I have to admit to being taken aback to discover the RDB had picked her out of all the possible producers available to stage a version of Don Q. for them. I would say confused and disorganized is probably right.

Puzzled by the mention of a Yuri Grigorovich version though, as I always thought it was one of the very few ballets he never 'had a go at' certainly he never staged a version of his own at the Bolshoi.

I should mention that these were my translations, so they may not be 100% accurate - my Danish is getting a bit rusty and things don't always translate perfectly.

And journalists don't always get their facts straight - my understanding from the article was that the RDB has done two previous versions - the Nureyev and one credited to Grigorovitch - which may just be a Bolshoi/Russian version not necessarily something largely staged by Grigorovitch.

Alonso herself was not directly involved with this - she was supposed to have come over to Denmark for the final preparations but, according to another article I read, had health issues that precluded traveling. Given that she's essentially blind, I'm not sure what she could have contributed other than memories. The actual staging was done by two other women from the National Ballet of Cuba. This is hardly the first connection between the companies - another National Ballet of Cuba teacher (whose name escapes me now) has come over for 3-5 week chunks in recent years to be a guest teacher for company class.

Kate

No surprises in the casting, though I think it a bit odd to take a guest on a within-country tour. If you're trying to get people interested in ballet, and perhaps coming to see the company in Copenhagen or on another tour, shouldn't you be showing off your own talent? But, it's probably a matter of spreading out the dancing - Kitri and Basilio are very taxing roles.

Premieren søndag den 20. januar kl. 15

Don Quxote: Mogens Boesen
Sancho Panza: Poul-Erik Hesselkilde
Kitri: Diana Cuni
Basil: Alessio Carbone


Musikteatret Holstebrohallen onsdag den 23. januar

Don Quxote: Erling Eliasson
Sancho Panza: kenn Hauge
Kitri: Yao Wei
Basil: Andrew Bowman


Musikhuset Aarhus fredag den 25. januar

Don Quxote: Mogens Boesen
Sancho Panza: Poul-Erik Hesselkilde
Kitri: Diana Cuni
Basil: Alessio Carbone


Musikhuset Esbjerg søndag den 27. januar

Don Quxote: Mogens Boesen
Sancho Panza: Kenn Hauge
Kitri: Tina Højlund
Basil: Thomas Lund


Herning Kongrescenter tirsdag den 29. januar

Don Quxote: Erling Eliasson
Sancho Panza: Kenn Hauge
Kitri: Yao Wei
Basil: Andrew Bowman


Aalborg Kongres & Kultur Center torsdag den 31. januar

Don Quxote: Mogens Boesen
Sancho Panza: Kenn Hauge
Kitri: Diana Cuni
Basil: Alessio Carbone


Musikteatret Vejle lørdag den 2. februar

Don Quxote: Mogens Boesen
Sancho Panza: Poul-Erik Hesselkilde
Kitri: Tina Højlund
Basil: Thomas Lund

More on the exchange between the RDB and the Ballet Nacional de Cuba which allowed the company to do 'Don Q' (in English):

http://www.cphpost.dk/get/105325.html

Kate

From the Politiken:

Det Kongeliges 'Don Quixote' er berusende øjenføde
I Alicia Alonsos koreografi bliver klassikeren ’Don Quixote’ spillevende. Der danses, som var det en festende vennekreds.

Af Janus Kodal

Der er dem, der siger, at delirium medfører de vidunderligste drømme. I Don Quixotes tilfælde er det en mild påstand. Hans drømmesyn midt i anden akt er så paradisisk, at vi må knibe os selv i armen hernede på publikumsrækkerne.

På en delikat baggrund af tindrende stjerner og med en tågemaskine generøst distribuerende fed hvid røg hen over scenen kommer selve kærligheden til ham...

_______


The Royal Ballet's 'Don Quixote' is a heady (or intoxicating) eyeful. In Alica Alonso's choreography, the classic 'Don Quixote' becomes full of life. Those who dancer are a celebratory circle of friends.

By Janus Kodal

There are those who say that delirium causes the marvelous dream. In Don Quixote's case it is a mild allegation. His dream-vision in the middle of the second act is so heavenly that we must pinch ourselves on the arms down here in the public ranks.

On a delicate background of sparkling starts and with a fog-machine generously distributing rich white smoke out over the stage, we become in love with him...

http://ibyen.dk/scene/anmeldelser/article461262.ece

Fuller translation of the Jylland's Posten coverage of the première,

"The premiere was danced with heartbreaking charm by the French (sic!) solo dancer, guest artist Alessio Carbone.

"But the evening's heroine, both in the story, and on stage, was Diana Cuni. An enchanting dancer, whose destiny, since her début, has been, perhaps, somewhat anonymous. Here, she suddenly sprang forth as a ballerina, utterly secure in pointe work, sensitive in expression, and with the most beautiful phrasing. One expected this première to draw to a close with her appointment to solo dancer (equivalent to the rank of étoile - editor's note), but that will surely come."

The final performances of Don Q will include guest dancers from Cuba: Joel Carreno and Annette Delgado:

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID ... 5B7B67B%7D)&language=EN