My
love for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s music always drives me to be at every
concert that featured his works. For this year, I’ve only been to a couple of
concerts that had live performances of his music and they weren’t enough. Fortunately,
Ballet Philippines
It’s
been more than two decades since Ballet Philippines
 |
| Candice Adea |
And
right before my eyes, Candice Adea exhibited a lively, spirited and
enthusiastic portrayal of Princess Aurora. She lit up the stage as she entered
during the scene when the Princess celebrated her 16th birthday and
she was indeed the life of the party. The character and personality she
displayed gave more impact to her eventual slumber as part of the curse given to her by Carabosse played by Olga Bankova. Guest artist On the other hand, Nobuo Fujino was a towering presence in his role as Prince Desiré despite his part not being
as meaty as that of Candice. Individually, they shone in their variations and solo parts especially
Candice during the exquisite Rosa Adagio but it was a different matter when the
two did the Adagio during the Grand pas de deux. Their partner work left me
thinking how more impressive they could’ve been if they had some years’ worth
of experience dancing with each other. But given the limited time that they’ve
had, they did pretty well and I do have to admit that while some of the hype
went to Fujino being the guest artist, it was really Candice who was the star
of the ballet. The Prince's role didn't have much in terms of characterization but Fujino was up to the task in letting Candice shine.
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| Nobuo Fujino |
The
rest of the company did well although there were some errors that my untrained
eye was able to notice. But it only goes to show how technically difficult
Sleeping Beauty was not only for the leads, but also for the other soloists and
the rest of the company as well. The plot of the fairy tale is very shallow and
thin and at first glance, the material may not be suitable for a full length
ballet that lasted for more than two hours. But some of the minor characters like the fairies had short individual and group numbers throughout the ballet. And during Act III, there were guest characters
from other fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood and Puss-in-Boots for
example and they also did some dancing as well. They were there for the wedding
of Princess Aurora and Prince Desiré and I still wonder how on earth these
characters served the story. I guess this is one ballet quirk that I have yet
to understand.
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| Olga Bankova |
I
remember telling Candice right after the CCP Gala that seeing an excerpt from the ballet wasn't enough for me and that I promise to watch the whole thing. And I am
extremely pleased that I was able to keep this promise. I did
tell her about this during the meet and greet at the lobby where she, Fujino
and the rest of the company were met with cheers and warm congratulations from
the audience. I still have a lot to learn about ballet since I can’t recognize
some of the moves yet and it’s still the music that draws me into watching
them. But seeing two ballet productions during the past few weeks, I do admit that
I’m already hooked and I look forward to seeing more ballet and dance productions from now on.
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