09.10.2012
Neumeier without Borders
As partner of the Diaghilev. P.S. Festival, the Mikhailovsky Theatre will be hosting guest performances by the Hamburg Ballet, the world-famous company that John Neumeier has directed for 40 years. The outstanding choreographer, an American by birth, has created an original ballet theatre fr om his German company, boasting a unique repertoire, in which La Dame aux Camélias, based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils, to music by Frédéric Chopin, is one of the most popular productions.
Neumeier choreographed La Dame aux Camélias in 1978 for the Stuttgart Ballet, wh ere he himself had once danced; he considered it his duty to support this company, which had been left shocked by the untimely death of John Cranko. The role of Marguerite was intended for Marcia Haydée, a great tragic ballerina and a legend of the 20th century. Three years after the premiere in Stuttgart, Neumeier created a new version for the Hamburg Ballet. The ballet has subsequently been included in the repertoires of major European theatres, including La Scala, the Paris Opera, the Bavarian State Ballet, and the Royal Danish Ballet; it is also performed at the American Ballet Theatre.
The production revolves around a series of love duets, interspersed with group scenes — a theatrical presentation, a masked ball in the leading character’s mansion, a picnic in the country, and a stroll along the Champs Élysées — all of which subtly convey the atmosphere of Paris in the mid-19th century. In Dumas’s novel, Marguerite and Armand read Antoine François Prévost’s novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut. Neumeier includes this famous couple in the ballet, making them virtual doubles of the principal characters. The flighty Manon Lescaut becomes the frightening double of the modest and faithful Marguerite, who, with a presentiment of the tragic denouement, sacrifices herself in order to save her loved one from the vicissitudes of fate.
On 6 November, the part of Marguerite will be performed by Diana Vishneva. In the words of the critics, the ballerina punctuates the choreographic text with „close-ups“, which she fills with „such a variety of successive emotions“ that they „instantly capture the audience’s concentrated attention“. Hamburg Ballet soloist Hélène Bouchet, who is known for her exquisite vibrato, will present her version of the tragic heroine on 7 November. She made her debut as Marguerite in 2010, the same year as she was awarded the prestigious Benois de la Danse prize for the role of Eurydice in Orpheus, another Neumeier ballet. On 9 November, the gala concert Neumeier without Borders will bring together stars of the Hamburg Ballet and other major European companies on the Mikhailovsky Theatre’s stage. Excerpts from John Neumeier’s famous ballets will be performed by Julie Kent, Alina Cojocaru, Laetitia Pujol, Roberto Bolle, Carsten Jung, and Thiago Bordin.
Neumeier choreographed La Dame aux Camélias in 1978 for the Stuttgart Ballet, wh ere he himself had once danced; he considered it his duty to support this company, which had been left shocked by the untimely death of John Cranko. The role of Marguerite was intended for Marcia Haydée, a great tragic ballerina and a legend of the 20th century. Three years after the premiere in Stuttgart, Neumeier created a new version for the Hamburg Ballet. The ballet has subsequently been included in the repertoires of major European theatres, including La Scala, the Paris Opera, the Bavarian State Ballet, and the Royal Danish Ballet; it is also performed at the American Ballet Theatre.
The production revolves around a series of love duets, interspersed with group scenes — a theatrical presentation, a masked ball in the leading character’s mansion, a picnic in the country, and a stroll along the Champs Élysées — all of which subtly convey the atmosphere of Paris in the mid-19th century. In Dumas’s novel, Marguerite and Armand read Antoine François Prévost’s novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut. Neumeier includes this famous couple in the ballet, making them virtual doubles of the principal characters. The flighty Manon Lescaut becomes the frightening double of the modest and faithful Marguerite, who, with a presentiment of the tragic denouement, sacrifices herself in order to save her loved one from the vicissitudes of fate.
On 6 November, the part of Marguerite will be performed by Diana Vishneva. In the words of the critics, the ballerina punctuates the choreographic text with „close-ups“, which she fills with „such a variety of successive emotions“ that they „instantly capture the audience’s concentrated attention“. Hamburg Ballet soloist Hélène Bouchet, who is known for her exquisite vibrato, will present her version of the tragic heroine on 7 November. She made her debut as Marguerite in 2010, the same year as she was awarded the prestigious Benois de la Danse prize for the role of Eurydice in Orpheus, another Neumeier ballet. On 9 November, the gala concert Neumeier without Borders will bring together stars of the Hamburg Ballet and other major European companies on the Mikhailovsky Theatre’s stage. Excerpts from John Neumeier’s famous ballets will be performed by Julie Kent, Alina Cojocaru, Laetitia Pujol, Roberto Bolle, Carsten Jung, and Thiago Bordin.
