Romeo and Juliet

On Friday I attended the National Ballet's production of Romeo and Juliet... in the standing section! What an experience!  

But I promised to talk about theatre/literature and the ballet. This season the National Ballet has two Shakespeare plays and a Chekov play. Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and the Seagull are all being adapted into ballets. This is an interesting thing for a dance company to do, especially since these three plays are considered classics in the theatre world and are often taught in high school english classes. The great part about seeing these stories in this format is that the story is distilled to it's basic plot and emotional content. No "to be or not to be" to contend with here! Language in classics like these can often be a big hurdle, especially if the story is a new one, which is why seeing the ballets can really help understanding. By getting simply the plot and an exagerated emotional portrayal the plays quickly open up to new readers and difficult language becomes a lesser issue.

Student Post - "The Studio"

Last month our student blogger, Dryden, went to see The Studio at the Young People's Theatre. This was an interesting show that used a contemporary dance style to explore the visual arts, inspired by the work of artists such as Jackson Pollock and Jean Dubuffet. The show used a variety of mediums, from traditionally structured dance pieces to pieces that intergrated puppetry and video technology to literally and figuratively paint a picture. Here is what Dryden had to say about the show:

I recommend “The Studio” with four stars for sure! It was an incredible performance! I absolutely loved it!
The show was mostly about dances that were completely based on pieces of art work! In the whole show there were only four dancers.
It was a great show, and I love how the choreographer combined dance and art to come up with this great show. It was incredible! I overly recommend it!
 
 
After seeing the show, Dryden and I discussed the use of Ballet technique that we saw in the dancers, even though it was not a strict Ballet show, the use of space they used - including the backstage space and the use of video to show different perspectives - and how nice it was to see a cast with boy dancers as opposed to all girl dancers.
 
YPT has some great shows this season, including Seusical starting next week.
 
Check back later in November for more discussion of using dance to explore and learn about other art forms. We will be talking about the National Ballet's new Romeo and Juliet.