The Sleeping Beauty (Ballet)
Moira de Swardt
another season.
Of all the classical ballets, this is one of my favourites, simply
because it is spectacular, colourful, pretty and easy to follow.
This production certainly provides a magnificent spectacle of sets,
costumes and dance. Anthony Farmer is one of South Africa's
foremost set designers and nothing disappoints in this production.
The curtaining used for scenes in the palace is particularly grand
and works very well with the lighting designed by Simon King. But
it is the costumes which will capture the imagination of the little
girls dressed in their fairy costumes and party dresses at the
matinees. Lindy-Ann Grindlay has done a more than merely competent
job in creating really pretty clothes for the ballerinas, and the
work that went into these will not be lost on the older and more
sophisticated evening audiences.
Five to ten years ago, at the time that ballet suffering from
governmental financial abandonment and not reacting as well to the
shock of having to be commericially viable (at least with some
corporate sponsorship) most ballet dancers in this country were
thin. Perhaps "thin" is not the best word to describe them.
"Emaciated" in the same way as one imagines starving Ethiopians to
be just before the flies start buzzing around them might be a better
image, although far less kind. At the time I used to say to my
nieces that they were wise not to become ballet dancers because
these people could obviously not afford to eat. When the Birmingham
Ballet company came to South Africa I was surprized at how "fat"
they were in comparison to our dancers. Looking at the ballet
company now, I see a group of people who are in superb physical
condition. Most of the women carry 10-20% more body weight than the
average female dancer was carrying a while back, and yet they are
probably all still hovering at the lower end of their "normal" body
weight ranges. The girls have delicate muscles rather than skin and
bone in their arms and that part of their upper chest and throat
which is revealed to the audience is soft and feminine rather than
bony. They really are looking physically good, and this evidence of
better nutrition is paying off in terms of the overall effect on
their movement and it probably makes the fit of costumes to their
bodies an easier task.
The provision of the music by the Johannesburg Philharmonic
Orchestra indicates that the South African Ballet Theatre is
definitely paying attention to the wants of the ballet attending
public. It is a pity that the JPO under the baton of Michael
Hankinson is not always providing the same quality of performance
that the SABT is giving. On the opening night (Friday), there were
quite a few sour notes, and while these had disappeared by Sunday
afternoon, the tutti was still tatty. I suspect that's going to be
the general standard throughout the season.
At all the matinee performances, the principal dancers will be
available after the show to sign autographs in the programme
seller's booth. This is a treat for the young ladies in the
audience, and hopefully it will encourage the purchase of
programmes. Ballet programmes are still amongst those which are the
best value for the money one spends on them. The individual cast
list is still difficult to get hold of at The Civic, though they are
always available at The State Theatre in Pretoria. There really are
a number of ballet lovers who will see the production more than once
and will want only a cast list the second and third times. These
should be available, at least after opening night.
I was pleased to see Dirk Badenhorst, the CEO of the company, on
stage at the matinee, in the role of King Florestan. There is
something about being out in the lights that keeps performers in
touch with what is really happening in the company. Yet at the
opening performance he was in the audience, in touch with what the
audience were experiencing, feeling and saying. This is a good
combination of roles and it should serve the South African Ballet
Theatre well.
Each time I see a new production from this company (and there are
four or five of these a year in the Pretoria/Johannesburg
combination) I am amazed anew at how well they are progressing.
They are striving to build a new and loyal audience from the tatters
of the old one, and they are definitely going about it the right
way.
--
Moira, the Faerie Godmother
I hope my standard of living doesn't go up. I can't afford the one
I have now.
Peter H.M. Brooks
> The Sleeping Beauty ballet has returned to The Civic Theatre for
> another season.
>
> average female dancer was carrying a while back, and yet they are
> probably all still hovering at the lower end of their "normal" body
> weight ranges. The girls have delicate muscles rather than skin and
> bone in their arms and that part of their upper chest and throat
> which is revealed to the audience is soft and feminine rather than
> bony. They really are looking physically good, and this evidence of
> better nutrition is paying off in terms of the overall effect on
> their movement and it probably makes the fit of costumes to their
> bodies an easier task.
>
cocaine, cigarettes and other appetite suppressants aren't quite so
popular with ballet dancers as they used to be.
One think that I certainly liked about the Fashion Show this last
weekend was that the models were normal.
--
"It is the mark of a civilised man, and a hallmark of his culture,
that he applies no more precision to a problem than its nature permits,
or its solution demands." - Aristotle
* TagZilla 0.057 * http://tagzilla.mozdev.org
Moira de Swardt
"Peter H.M. Brooks" <pe...@new.co.za> wrote in message
> This is an encouraging development. It might be that amphetamines,
> cocaine, cigarettes and other appetite suppressants aren't quite
so
> popular with ballet dancers as they used to be.
I've not known many ballet dancers, only half a dozen or so. None
of the ones I know smoke, but Mark reckons they smoke more than
their fair share of cigarettes on average. When he was in the
theatre world he knew dozens and his mother was a ballet dancer and
now teaches ballet, so I suppose his sample size must be quite
large.