Performances at Seoul Arts Center every month
The two major ballet companies in Korea, the National Ballet and the Universal Ballet, are competing with each other with the masterpiece ‘La Bayadère’. They will present the works one after another at one-month intervals at the Opera Theater of the Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul.
The Universal Ballet performance, which opens first on the 27th, is based on the choreography of Marius Petipa, the ‘father of classical ballet.’ Petipa, a French choreographer, created a piece for the Russian Mariinsky Ballet in 1877. The National Ballet is different in that it will perform a version created in 2013 by Russian choreographer Yuri Grigorovich. It opens on the 30th of next month.
Kim Yang-hyun, head of the Universal Ballet Company’s performance business team, said, “In terms of visual aspects, Petipa’s Mariinsky style pursues sophistication and extravagance, while Grigorovich’s Bolshoi style pursues national colors and grandeur.” He added, “Petipa’s version features a splendid elephant that is over 2 meters long, which is representative.”
As it is a large-scale production with a cast of 120 to 150 people, each of them has a powerful cast. The National Ballet performance features two dancers who have earned the title of “first Asians.” Park Sae-eun, the first Asian to become a principal dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet in France, and Kim Ki-min, the first Asian to join the Mariinsky Ballet, are meeting as partners for the first time in 15 years since “Swan Lake” in 2009.
The Universal Ballet performance features the hottest dancers of the moment. Next-generation star Jeon Min-cheol, who will become the second Korean member of the Mariinsky Ballet following Kim Ki-min next year, and principal dancer Kang Mi-seon, who won the Benois de la Danse, the ‘Academy Award of the dance world’ last year, will play the lead roles.
The difference between the two performances is evident in the ending. La Bayadère, which means ‘Indian Dancer’ in French, is a tragic love story set in ancient India. It features Nikiya, a Hindu temple dancer, Solor, a warrior, a Brahmin, a high priest who is in love with Nikiya, and Princess Gamzatti, Solor’s fiancée.
The National Ballet performance ends with Solor’s regretful monologue about his unfulfilled love, while the Universal Ballet performance ends with Nikiya and Solor dancing the “scarf dance” in the world of the spirits. Ballet critic Han Ji-young said, “The scarf is a tool that symbolizes the spiritual connection between the two people.”
Reporter Lee Ji-yoon [email protected]
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2024-09-21 03:03:29