Impressing the Czar

Last updated

Impressing the Czar is a four-act, award-winning, [1] postmodern [2] ballet choreographed by William Forsythe to music by Thom Willems, Leslie Stuck, Eva Crossman-Hecht, and Ludwig van Beethoven. It was premiered in its full-length version in 1988 in Frankfurt am Main by the Ballet Frankfurt. [3]

The work's title is a reference to the Czar Nicholas II's lukewarm reception of Marius Petipa's lavish production of The Sleeping Beauty . Impressing the Czar has five sections titled "Potemkin's Signature," "In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated," "La Maison de Mezzo Prezzo," "Bongo Bongo Nageela," and "Mr. Pnut Goes to the Big Top." Though the work has no continuous narrative theme, the ballet comments ironically and often humorously on the history of Western civilization and its economies of culture. [4]

The ballet opens with "Potemkin’s Signature," which is a commentary on the culture and history of ballet. The names of the characters and the plot pieces are full of cultural references. [5]

The second section is the most well known. It is a stand-alone ballet titled "In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated," which was originally created in 1987 for the Paris Opera Ballet, [6] [7] where it was danced by soloists Isabelle Guérin, Sylvie Guillem, Laurent Hilaire, and Manuel Legris. [4] The title of this section refers to two cherries which hang suspended over the stage. One of Forsythe's most famous creations, this work is in the repertory of numerous ballet companies around the world. In 1992, its performance by the Royal Ballet Flanders received the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.

The third section, "La Maison de Mezzo-Prezzo," features characters being auctioned off, clothed in gold, as a comment on the commoditization of the arts. [6]

The fourth section, "Bongo Bongo Nageela," is full of energy and bewitchment. A large group of dancer surround Mr. Pnut, whose name headlines the next act and who is portrayed as a Saint Sebastian-type character complete with an arrow in chest. Their circling motion is comparable to a type of folk dance, though not of any particular kind. [6]

"Mr. Pnut Goes to the Big Top" is the final section, bringing the ballet to a dramatic conclusion as the title character of the section blows a party favor toy and the lights go out. [6]

Related Research Articles

William Forsythe (choreographer) American dancer and choreographer

William Forsythe is an American dance and choreographer resident in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He is known for his work with the Ballet Frankfurt (1984–2004) and The Forsythe Company (2005–2015). Recognized for the integration of ballet and visual arts, which displayed both abstraction and forceful theatricality, his vision of choreography as an organizational practice has inspired him to produce numerous installations, films, and web-based knowledge creation, incorporating the spoken word and experimental music.

Sylvie Guillem French ballet dancer (b. 1965)

Sylvie Guillem is a French ballet dancer. Guillem was the top-ranking female dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet from 1984 to 1989, before becoming a principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London. She has performed contemporary dance as an Associate Artist of London's Sadler's Wells Theatre. Her most notable performances have included those in Giselle and in Rudolf Nureyev's stagings of Swan Lake and Don Quixote. In November 2014, she announced her retirement from the stage in 2015.

Stuttgart Ballet German ballet company

Stuttgart Ballet is a leading German ballet company. Dating back to 1609, then the court ballet of the dukes of Württemberg, the modern company was founded by John Cranko and is known for full-length narrative ballets. The company received the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in 1981.

Marianela Núñez Argentine ballet dancer

Marianela Núñez is an Argentinian ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, London.

Douglas Becker is a choreographer and dance teacher from the United States, who works in ballet, contemporary dance, and improvisation. A founding member and principal dancer of the Frankfurt Ballet under the direction of choreographer William Forsythe, he was involved in the development of many of Forsythe's early signature pieces and is one of only a few people with the authority to remount his repertory.

Alessandra Ferri Italian prima ballerina

Alessandra Ferri is an Italian prima ballerina. She danced with the Royal Ballet (1980–1984), American Ballet Theatre (1985–2007) and La Scala Theatre Ballet (1992–2007) and as an international guest artist, before temporally retiring on 10 August 2007, aged 44, then returning in 2013. She was eventually granted the rank of prima ballerina assoluta.

The Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier.

Adam Cooper is an English actor, choreographer, dancer and theatre director. He works as both a performer and choreographer in musical theatre, and has choreographed and/or starred in award-winning shows such as On Your Toes, Singin' in the Rain and Grand Hotel. He began his professional career as a dancer of classical ballet and contemporary ballet and is a former Principal of the Royal Ballet, a major international ballet company based in London. He became internationally recognized for creating the lead role of Swan/Stranger in Matthew Bourne's contemporary dance production of the ballet Swan Lake, a role that was briefly featured in the 2000 film Billy Elliot where Cooper played the adult version of the titular character.

Viviana Durante

Viviana Durante is an Italian ballet dancer, considered one of the great dramatic ballerinas of recent times. She was a principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Teatro alla Scala and K-Ballet. She is the artistic director of English National Ballet School and of the Viviana Durante Company, with which she occasionally performs.

Daniela Malusardi

Daniela Malusardi is an Italian choreographer, teacher and dancer.

Crystal Pite Canadian choreographer and dancer (born 1970)

Crystal Pite is a Canadian choreographer and dancer. She began her professional dance career in 1988 at Ballet BC, and in 1996 she joined Ballett Frankfurt under the tutelage of William Forsythe. After leaving Ballett Frankfurt she became the resident choreographer of Montreal company Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal from 2001 to 2004. She then returned to Vancouver where she focused on choreographing while continuing to dance in her own pieces until 2010. In 2002 she formed her own company called Kidd Pivot, which produced her original works Uncollected Work (2003), Double Story (2004), Lost Action (2006), Dark Matters (2009), The You Show (2010), The Tempest Replica (2011), Betroffenheit (2015), and Revisor (2019) to date. Throughout her career she has been commissioned by many international dance companies to create new pieces, including The Second Person (2007) for Netherlands Dans Theater and Emergence (2009) for the National Ballet of Canada, the latter of which was awarded four Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

David Dawson, is a British choreographer.

Mark Philip Baldwin OBE is a contemporary dance choreographer. He was born in Fiji and raised and educated in New Zealand. He was the Artistic Director of Rambert dance company from 2002-2018.

The Royal Ballet of Flanders is a dance company based in Antwerp, Belgium, specializing in classical, neoclassical and contemporary ballet. In its current incarnation, the company was established in 1969. It tours internationally.

Helen Pickett American ballet choreographer

Helen Pickett is an American choreographer for stage and film, and has been described as “one of the few prominent women in ballet today”.

The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude is a ballet choreographed by William Forsythe to the finale of Schubert's Symphony No. 9. The ballet was choreographed for Frankfurt Ballet's programme Six Counter Points, and was presented as a ballet "in the Manner of the late 20th Century." Danced by a cast of five, the ballet features classical and technically demanding choreography. It premiered on 20 January 1996, at Frankfurt. It had since been performed by many other ballet companies.

The 2009 Laurence Olivier Awards were held in 2009 in London celebrating excellence in West End theatre by the Society of London Theatre.

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Belgian dancer and choreographer

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is a Belgian-Moroccan dancer and choreographer and director. He has made over 50 choreographic pieces and received two Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production, three Ballet Tanz awards for best choreographer and the KAIROS Prize (2009).

Karina Jäger-von Stülpnagel is a German ballet dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher. She is a former soloist with the Royal Ballet of Flanders.

Francesca Velicu is a Romanian ballet dancer. She is a first artist at the English National Ballet. In 2018, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.

References

  1. ↑ "Black Watch claims top prizes at Olivier Awards". The Stage News.
  2. ↑ Judith Mackrell Impressing the Czar: Sadler's Wells, London, The Guardian, 7 November 2008
  3. ↑ Craine, Debra (21 August 2007). "Impressing the Czar". London: Times Online. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  4. 1 2 Sarah, Crompton (7 March 2015). "Elevated visions: how William Forsythe changed the face of dance". The Guardian. London, England. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  5. ↑ The Brooklyn Rail, William Forsythe’s Impressing the Czar
  6. 1 2 3 4 GIA KOURLAS Dizzying History, With Many Schoolgirls, New York Times, 19 July 2008
  7. ↑ Kiraly, Philippa (14 March 2015). "'Totally, Imaginatively Original': the Forsythe Showcase at PNB". The SunBreak. Seattle, United States. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.