Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "French choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot believes dance cannot express everything.
All he aspired to convey in his interpretation of 'Romeo et Juliette' is 'this very specific energy you feel when you have your first love and your heart is beating so strong, when you cannot think of anything else and are ready to go to the end of the world for what you feel.'"
5 comments:
I saw this show at the Festival of Firsts this past fall, and it was amazing. I agree with Maillot's statement that dance cannot represent everything. I think that this is true with anything. Song cannot represent everything by itself, nor can word. I think that in order to try to encompass everything, you have to bring in several different types of media. It's sort of the ideal of reaching "total art".
I have seen Romeo and Juliet performed by a few different companies and they start to blend together, this version however seems so fresh and innovative. I am really looking forward to seeing it this weekend and seeing it first hand!
The amalgamtion of movement, music and design, all of which may seem without dimension when left alone, together have a sense of vibrancy and life which could not otherwise have been attained. Having seen this piece, I remember afterwards thinking that the piece was literally emotion put to movement --- the rawness of the effect being so strong.
This simplicity in beauty is fresh and alive and capable of reinventing an old and worn out piece.
I've found that I enjoyed Romeo and Juliet better when performed as a ballet than the stage version. Perhaps this is because it is such a well-known play that so much can now be done with it visually without losing the story, and this is a story that can be told through dance quite well.
When I saw this performance, I thought that the dance was just amazing. However, thinking back on it, I realize that it was the flawless coordination of all of the elements that made it as successful as it was. The concept of playing the story backward and forward also brought a new light upon the idea of cause and effect.
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