Preview
TCHAIKOVSKY EVENING
Alberta Ballet
Starring Sabrina Matthews, Melanie Henderson, Talia Evtushenko, Christopher Anderson, Igor Chornovol and
Patrick Canny
Choreographed by George Balanchine, Sabrina Matthews, Edmund Stripe and Marius Petipa
March 28 and 29
Jubilee Auditorium
Alberta Ballet closes off its season with what ballet master Edmund Stripe calls "a big evening of dance."
He's talking about a celebration of the music of Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky that includes two world premieres – one classic from the 19th century, and one classic from the 20th century. The program features ballet, choral, chamber and piano music in a lineup emphasizing the variety of musical styles within the Tchaikovsky canon.
For Stripe, Tchaikovsky Evening marks his Canadian debut as a choreographer, although his ballet Unquiet Light is one of more than 30 original works he has created during his career. Trained at the Royal Ballet in London, Stripe has worked with Ballet Gulbenkian in Lisbon, Portugal, the West Australian Ballet and the Singapore Dance Theatre en route to Alberta Ballet. He says the various influences from this international odyssey have benefited his work as choreographer, dancer and teacher.
"I have a few styles that I like to play with, but I’m more drawn to modern classical ballet, mostly on point. I’m drawn to a more classical, lyrical kind of work."
The evening begins with Allegro Brillante, a neo-classical piece choreographed by George Balanchine. It is set to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3, the composer’s final work, which was left unfinished when he died in 1893.
"It’s great piece of music," explains Stripe. "Very short, very fast and furious, and the choreography matches that."
Using Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 3, dancer Sabrina Matthews has created Transience, a dance exploring the theme of impermanence. This is a piece for five dancers melding the energy of contemporary movement within the passionate framework of a Tchaikovsky quartet. Now in her eighth season with Alberta Ballet, Matthews, who danced the lead role in Alberta Ballet’s recent production of Carmen, is increasingly turning her attention to choreography for stage and video.
For his piece, Stripe wanted something that would be a complete contrast with the rest of the evening. He found it in Tchaikovsky’s religious music, the choral Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
"The ballet is actually centred around the Lord’s Prayer, which is part of the liturgy," Stripe says. "It’s all a cappella, sung in Russian. It’s very, very beautiful."
The pas de trios called Unquiet Light uses the music to explore Tchaikovsky’s inner struggle of a deeply religious man at odds with his own sexuality and his place in the world.
"He was a very troubled man," Stripe observes. "He was torn between his financial dependence on certain women, his sexual dependence on certain men – he was homosexual, allegedly – and his spiritual dependence on God. One prevented the other because in the Christian faith homosexuality was frowned upon. The other thing that I used as background is the fact that he allegedly committed suicide. Again, in the Christian faith suicide is not accepted. So I see him as this tortured character caught up in this struggle for his soul."
Capping off the evening is the spectacular third act from Tchaikovsky’s ballet Sleeping Beauty, the Wedding Scene.
"It’s the big flash finish," says Stripe. "The story of Sleeping Beauty basically finishes in Act Two. He kisses the princess and she wakes up and that’s the end of it. Act Three is the wedding of Princess Aurora and Prince Desire."
Tchaikovsky Evening is all about variety. With a piano concerto, choral work, orchestral music and a string quartet, there is something for every taste. Similarly, the mix of dance from classical ballet to contemporary will satisfy dance fans across the spectrum.
"It’s like Neapolitan ice cream," says Stripe. "You’ve got a little bit of each flavour. " |
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