Word: ballets
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...Preceding Firebired comes The Princess and the Pea, Daniel Pelzig's wacky, slapstick parody on traditional storybook-ballets that was wildly successful in its 1995 premier. I felt The Princess and the Pea overly goofy; as a balletomane, I wished there had been more classical dancing. But for others, who often find long, conventional ballet-stories tiresome, this may just what they needed to rekindle an interest in ballet...
...ballet is based on the dark and brooding Russian fairy-tale. The despicable monster Kastchei has created a colorless, depressing realm where he keeps princesses and others captive. After mistakenly wandering nearby, Prince Ivan falls in love with one of the princesses and resolves to save them, eventually doing so with the help of the magical Firebird...
...Boston Ballet, however, Firebird becomes much more than a story-ballet. It is the combination of an award-winning, inventive choreographer and fantastic dancers, who, having mastered the athleticism of ballet, are accomplished artists capable of expressing the human emotion and sensitivity behind Wheeldon's choreography, able to relate to the audience and imbue the piece with relevance...
...ballet opens with a scrim, a semi-opaque curtain at the front of the stage that blurs the action behind it, cementing the ballet in the human subconscious that lets the viewer experience and personalize art. The characters are endearing, fictitious, yet and somehow logical, carefully developed through choreography. The Firebird herself, given frantic, bird-like steps, seems supernatural, wrought with the frustration of being the sole guardian of good in a realm deprived of it. The princesses dance barefoot, as if to accentuate their delicacy and femininity in a dismal bleak world, and also their child-like helplessness...
...music adds to the intensity of Firebird. The choreography is intricately tied to Stravinsky's haunting score, which complements the dancing perfectly. Combined with Boston Ballet's brilliant sets and costumes, the result creates a delicately-synchronized, maximum impact...