Michel Fokine’s “Petrovchka”
“Petrovchka” was an interesting ballet to watch, it did not fit the style of the other classical ballets. In fact, Fokine eliminated the usual structure of the grand ballet completely. There were no soloists, all the roles were character roles, even the main ones; which made it confusing watching the video because I was expecting the main characters to come out and stand out with solos, especially the ballerina, but that never happened. On the contrary Fokine mocked the classical style of ballets as was seen when the three puppets came out at the beginning, before they were charmed to life with the magician’s flute. They all danced maniacally and in harmony, as a satire to the old ballet; with the conventional, pre-made steps, and predictable movements. Fokine also downgraded the importance of the old ballet stars. There were no majestic pas de deux’s or variations usually present to celebrate and showcase the talent of the principal dancers. Numerous characters had their moments to shine; every group took center stage at one point of the performance. Even the two ballerinas that performed at the fair at the beginning, who were not one of the principal characters, stood out. Fokine did something interesting with these ballerina’s choreography, he did a pas en unison; dividing the stage with the crowd and the dancers did different choreography at the same time. I had never seen that before and it was one of the most interesting parts of the ballet. Fokine even incorporated Russian dance in his choreography, showing the range of styles present in the piece. Another interesting aspect of the choreography was the evolution of the puppets as they came to life. At first they executed more doll-like movements, with flexed feet and rigid robot-like arms, however, these softened and started going away as the show went on. The ballerina however, was the only one who maintained some of this rigidity though the entire segments. The Moor and Petrovchka on the other hand, did a lot of miming with some classical dancing in it, not typical of regular ballets. Nevertheless, it was interesting that the Moor and Petrovchka’s personalities were reflected through their individual choreographies. The Moor being more extroverted and self-assured had more en dehors or “turned out” steps. With his body positioned front and center, forward to the audience, with more exaggerated movements. While Petrovchka on the other hand, was more frightened, introverted, pitiable and it was reflected in his more en dedans choreography. Even his arms were never fully extended and his shoulders were pulled up. Fokine showed further parody of the classical style in the duet between the Ballerina and the Moore. The entire scene looked awkward; she looked really stiff, and he was not controlling her properly, when he turned her he actually let her go and she fell over. Reflecting the stiffness of the classical dance through the choreography and supporting it by having it danced by dolls. Stravinsky’s orchestration was fitting to this ballet. The fair scenes were held on rapid changing rhythms and the slower moments took place on softer piano tunes and flute.
Frederick Ashton’s “Monotones”
In the introduction to the performance, Sir Frederick Ashton disclosed that his intention behind the creation of this dance was to express how people might be on the moon. And he did that brilliantly through the overall mood, choreography, music, and costumes. All were very lunaire and other worldly. The three performers came out in white body suits with white caps on their heads, and danced on Debussy’s lighthearted airs. There were two males and one female who held hands practically the entire time, as if to prevent each other from flying away in zero gravity. Their moves looked like something you would see in a water ballet. They were very light, airy, effortless, and elongated movements. Elizabeth Parkinson (the female performer) was always synchronized with one of her partners and all three were following each others movements. They stayed connected to each other through practically the entire performance but in the instances when the dancers did pull away from each other, they always pulled back together, as if attracted by a magnetic pull. Ashton insinuated that he preferred and was more faithful to the classical style of dance, something that was reflected in the choreography. The abstract style Joffrey ballet is known for is reflected yet, this dance was more classical in style. Monotones II was beautiful to watch, the movements were very pure and simple, something that can also be attributed to the dancers’ talents. The symmetry of the choreography throughout the piece was intriguing as were the lines and angles created by the three performers. All three seemed in complete command and control of their movements and of the situation which added to the overall theme of serenity and unearthliness of the piece.
“Sinfonietta” by Jiri Kylian
The two previous pieces described about have demonstrated the innovation of the choreographers and the result of blending styles. One strayed away from the classical scene, the other stuck to it and in this piece Kylian who also comes from a classical background, presents yet another unique blend of styles. Like Ashton, the performers also gave a sense of light and airiness. The choreography was romantic, fluid, and took up the entire stage. The performers leaped on stage at the beginning of the piece, the men doing grand jetes around the stage, something repeated at the end of the performance. It was interesting to see the use of different speeds. The dancers ran, then suddenly stopped, or started just standing there and then started moving. They were even going trough lifts really fast, yet at the same time exhibiting control. It is also reflected in the choreography of the steps in general which formed smooth and elegant lines reminiscent of a classical ballet. However, at the same time the movements were sharp and hard hitting to the music, which in combination with the change in speed added to the duality of the performance. The dancers also had an aspect of symmetry, there were always at least two couples mirroring the exact same steps on stage. They also did a lot of coming together as a group and them breaking apart into independent performers while still sticking to the same steps. Kylian seems like he enjoyed the concept of optical illusions as seen when several dancers came together to appear like they formed one line then folded to the floor into a perfectly geometric shape that also looked like there were only two people lying there. There was always a parallel characteristic to the choreography, in relation to where the dancers were standing, in the reflection of the same movements, in the direction the dancers were moving on stage. At one point two male dancers and one female dancer were performing and it was sort of reminiscent of “Monotones”. Another noticeable feature of the piece was that each time a new portion began either the men or the women started by staying immobile and the other gender began dancing, and the rest followed later, working together and each pair using each others bodies to accomplish the desired movements. There were a lot of jumps and turns through the entire performance adding to the airy feel of the performance. The loosely fitted tops on the men and the flowing dresses on the women did too. One last aspect of the performance that stood out was the lighting of the background it seemed to get darker as the piece went along, as if representing the day passing; that started at sunrise and gets darker as the sun set. Overall it was a very energetic and fast pace piece with constant activity filling the stage.
