VICTORIA—The stars aligned on Valentine’s Day weekend for the revival and Canadian debut of a 150-year-old ballet.
August Bournonville’s Konservatoriet: A Marriage By Advertisement, a two-act vaudeville ballet created around 1849, was staged by Canadian Pacific Ballet at Victoria’s Macpherson Playhouse on Feb. 13 and 14.
Aided by the expertise of Kennet Oberly, a renowned Bournonville expert, the Canadian Pacific Ballet is the only company in the world to have the the full-length work in its current repertoire. The ballet was last staged in Europe in 1995.
August Bournonville (1805-1879) served as choreographer to the Royal Danish Ballet for 47 years, during which time he created a signature style of ballet dancing known for being expressive, lilting, and difficult to execute.
This style, regularly practiced by only a fraction of ballet dancers today, is full of circular movements that describe three-dimensional space and sequences meant to highlight multiple angles at once. Imagine a double helix compared to a ladder and you’ll have some idea of the expressive beauty and difficulty Canadian Pacific Ballet must have felt in taking on Bournonville’s work.
The result was impressive, and the audience seemed to have a fantastic time from start to finish.
Konservatoriet is a romantic comedy set in Paris in the 1800’s. The choreographic jewel of the first act takes place in the ballet academy owned by the main character. To the delight of theatre-goers, choreographers, and dance historians alike, Bournoville used this “ballet scene within a ballet” to capture what he remembered from his own training in France around 1836.
August Bournonville’s Konservatoriet: A Marriage By Advertisement, a two-act vaudeville ballet created around 1849, was staged by Canadian Pacific Ballet at Victoria’s Macpherson Playhouse on Feb. 13 and 14.
Aided by the expertise of Kennet Oberly, a renowned Bournonville expert, the Canadian Pacific Ballet is the only company in the world to have the the full-length work in its current repertoire. The ballet was last staged in Europe in 1995.
August Bournonville (1805-1879) served as choreographer to the Royal Danish Ballet for 47 years, during which time he created a signature style of ballet dancing known for being expressive, lilting, and difficult to execute.
This style, regularly practiced by only a fraction of ballet dancers today, is full of circular movements that describe three-dimensional space and sequences meant to highlight multiple angles at once. Imagine a double helix compared to a ladder and you’ll have some idea of the expressive beauty and difficulty Canadian Pacific Ballet must have felt in taking on Bournonville’s work.
The result was impressive, and the audience seemed to have a fantastic time from start to finish.
Konservatoriet is a romantic comedy set in Paris in the 1800’s. The choreographic jewel of the first act takes place in the ballet academy owned by the main character. To the delight of theatre-goers, choreographers, and dance historians alike, Bournoville used this “ballet scene within a ballet” to capture what he remembered from his own training in France around 1836.
