Retail Therapy

Saturday night, I headed to my last event of this trip. Living in Ottawa has atrophied my Toronto transit-sense as I have been misjudging travel time. So the Four Seasons Centre was empty when I arrived for The National Ballet's recital. But it wasn't because tonight's program was more contemporary than classical. The crowd eventually filled up the multi-story atrium before the show started.

The first piece was Passion, acquired by the company as a retirement gift for Piotr Stanczyk. It was composed by his mentor James Kudelka. A modern dance couple (Stanczyk and Svetlana Lunkina) danced intertwine with 2 other couples and a small corps doing classical ballet. It was supposedly a contrast between the restrained decorum of the past with the freer feelings of a modern relationship. But I interpreted the leads as struggling between romantic passion (for someone) and devotion to work (a calling), in this case professional dance.

The cranky doyenne next to me didn't think much of Passion. I agree that it felt unclear and aimless as the couple kept pacing around and staring meaningfully at each other while the rest of the dancers swirled around them. But whenever Stanczyk and Lunkina joined up, especially in the long pas-de-deux halfway through, their crispness and speed were wonderful to watch.

Emma Bovary was a new work commissioned by the company based on Flaubert's Madame Bovary. It focused on the psychological journey of the titular character and not a straight adaptation of the novel. I thought it would be a traditional set-up but perhaps not as old-fashioned as Romeo and Juliet. So I was pleasantly surprised by its modern sensibility. This might be the first National Ballet piece that had both a choreographer (Helen Picket) and a director (James Bonas). There was a natural flow between the set pieces and a clear narrative. Though not as elaborate and expensive as Alice In Wonderland, the judicious use puppetry, wardrobe, projected effects, and (also likely a first) wire work made Bovary come alive.

Emma (Hannah Galway) was the most fleshed-out character from the unhappiness with her staid husband Charles (Donald Thom), the wild abandon with her lover Rodolphe (Siphesihle November), and the addiction to the wares of venal Lheureux (Spencer Hack). The men were painted in broader strokes and so was Charles' mother (Jordana Daumec). The choreography was the best kind for me: grounded in the language of classical ballet but re-imagined as expressive contemporary movement.

Opening night had a technical glitch about 5 minutes from the explosive ending (when Emma kills herself) that halted the show and brought the lights up. This gave my elderly seat-mate time to harrumphed about all that sound and fury. As for me, I much prefer this heightened character study to the static tableaux of typical narrative ballet (even if I am fond of Swan Lake). So when the lights came down and the final scene played out, I was enthusiastic in my appreciation.