Yerevan and Vienna: Viewings
"Don Quixote" by the Armenian Ballet Theater
Yerevan, Armenia
"Walking Oscar" by ZOO
"Romeo und Julia" by Les Ballets de Monte Carlo
Vienna, Austria
March 2007
by George Jackson
Volume 5, No. 13
April 2, 2007
copyright C2007 by George Jackson
Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, is no exception: there as elsewhere the
Soviets saw to it that their cities had subway trains and a theater for
opera and ballet. Fortress-like, the "Operahouse" is one of Yerevan’s
dominant structures. Built in 1935, its central oblong rises above the
surrounding trees of a park and boulevard setting. On both long sides
are galleried semicircular projections. The one facing north is the
entrance, lobby hall and auditorium of the Aram Khachaturian Concert
Hall. The one facing south, towards the city’s center, is similarly part
of the lyric theater – the Alexander Spendiarian National Academic
Theater of Opera and Ballet. There’s also in this massive building a
nightclub tucked into the eastern shortside of the central oblong which
houses, back-to-back, the stages, behind-stage areas and offices
belonging to the two big auditoria. Outside, the Operahouse is of a
solid gray stone, unlike much of the rest of Yerevan which prefers to
build in a red, porous volcanic rock that is deployed rough, matt cut or
cut-and-polished to a marble sheen.
Unusual within the lyric theater (with its 1060 maroon seats, maroon
curtains, pink walls, beige ceiling plus white and gold trim) is the
stage set-up. The audience faces not one but three proscenia. It is like
viewing a triptych, the large proscenium being straight ahead with the
somewhat smaller ones angled forward on the sides. Three crystal
chandeliers are suspended from the ceiling, one for each of the
proscenia. At most performances, only the central stage is used and the
side ones remain curtained. So it was on March 10, 2007.
What a delight to find a ballet company of good caliber "off" the beaten
path! Armenia has cherished at least this heirloom from Soviet times.
The production was a three-act "Don Quixote", the "after Petipa" ballet
to Minkus music, staged by Vilen Galstian. His version wouldn’t
disappoint anyone used to "Don Quixote" by the Bolshoi or Kirov. It is
somewhat reduced in length – there is no gypsy camp scene (although a
gypsy dance is incorporated into the inn scene) and there is no ducal
entourage (at whose palace the Act 3 festivities take place is
unspecified). I particularly liked Galstian’s handling of the Gamache
character as nouveau riche rather than just a dandy. Kitri rebuffs
Gamache’s courtship for that reason, whereas she recognizes nobility in
the behavior of the old, impoverished Don. Also well and meaningfully
constructed in Galstian’s production is a courtly pas de six for the
Don, the plot’s principal lovers (Kitri and Basil), Gamache and Kitri’s
two Flower Girl friends. The style of the scenery is semi-modern.
Youth dominated this cast. 18-year old Mary Hovannisian, the evening’s
Kitri (one of four dancers currently in the role according to the
printed program), is petite yet strong. She’s fast, one or the other of
her pointes often reaches an ear, and long balances are no problem. Like
the Bolshoi’s Natalia Osipova, though, Hovannisian is at times a touch
hard. As the Basil, Ruben Muradian (one of three men currently in the
role) has not only technique but elegance. He’s tall and when he lifted
Hovanissian, her vigorous jumping became effortless gliding. At age 17,
Muradian is still growing. Kitri’s two Flower Girl friends (Ana
Gostanian and Lilit Asdvadatrian) seemed junior versions of Hovannisian,
as did some of the female corps. More senior and quite chic was Maria
Divanian as the Street Dancer, Mercedes. Espada, her Toreador, was short
wiry A. Gevorkian who looked past his peak. The dancing of the tall
Dryad Queen, Sona Arustanian, had downiness and the pert Cupid was J.
Sarkoshian. The mimes (Hracht Hovannisian as the Don, Razmig Gostanian
as Sancho Panza, Garoush Khunoyan as Gamache, et al.) were respectable.
The company numbers about 60 dancers. Directed by former singer Kamo
Hovhannisyan, the Armenian Opera and Ballet Theater schedules opera more
often than ballet.
During a stopover in Vienna, I saw no Viennese or even Austrian dance
but two imports. At the Tanzquartier’s Hall G on March 16 was a
dancicle, "Walking Oscar", by Thomas Hauert, a Swiss resident of
Belgium. To me, pop songs usually sound like noise and so did the whiney
ones of this production by Hauert’s troupe ZOO. The texts were by the
Netherlands author, Oscar van den Boogaard. I preferred Alejandro
Petrasso’s piano-only music to his tunes for the songs. As for movement,
this dancicle had a few intriguing moments of off-beat balancing but
that was it.
Les Ballets de Monte Carlo’s "Romeo und Julia" gave the impression that
Jean-Christophe Maillot, the company’s director and the work’s
choreographer, is fighting to find a distinctive language of motion. He
has based it on ballet but almost every move is forced. The dancers’
joints don’t articulate; rather, they snap open angrily. Stances are
provocatively belligerent. It seems what Maillot has achieved is a
jargon, a rather militant one. True languages are richer. As a
dramaturg, Maillot’s ideas were good and bad. His best divergence from
the traditional scenario for Prokofiev’s music was in Act 2, replacing
the street divertissements with a puppet play that foretells the fates
of Romeo and Juliet. Maillot’s worst alteration was omitting Lord
Capulet from the roster of characters. Without this fearsome father
figure our picture of a powerful Renaissance family is incomplete.
Juliet, as Bernice Coppieters presented her, was aggressive, gleefully
inquisitive and mature – in other words the antithesis of the girlish
Juliet, but for no apparent reason other than to be different. I’d like
to see the dramatic Coppieters in a suitable role. Francesco Nappa, a
brave last-minute substitute for the Romeo of injured Chris Roelandt,
would likely have made an imposing Tybalt, the part in which he was
originally cast. Samantha Allen was a young yet appropriate Nurse.
Without question, the cast worked hard but Maillot’s stilted
choreography didn’t give the dancers scope to show their broader
potentials.
This performance on March 17 was at the glassy Festspielhaus of St.
Poelten, about an hour’s drive from Vienna. Now in its 10th season, and
part of the Kulturbezirk St. Poelten (the "cultural district" also
includes a museum, archive, library, studios, a tone tower, an academy
etc.), the Festival Playhouse has become an active presenter of dance.
It has or had its own dance troupe, the ABCDancecompany, but that now
seems to be based in Switzerland. Busses for St. Poelten events depart
Vienna (from behind the Staatsoper) a couple of hours prior to starting
time and there also are busses from Krems.
Photos:
Top, the Opera House in Yerevan.
Bottom, Bernice Coppieters and Chris Roelanndt in "Romeo and Juliet."
Photo: Hans Gerritsen.
Volume 5, No. 13
April 2, 2007
copyright C2007 by George Jackson