Christopher Wheeldon’s mixed programme at the Royal Opera House in London includes “After the Rain” and “Within the Golden Hour,” alongside a new work, “Strapless.”“Strapless,” Wheeldon’s eighth work for The Royal Ballet proved astounding, a beautifully-crafted piece that showcased his prowess for narrative. Inspired by Deborah Davis’s book (2003) of the same name, it tells the story of painter John Singer Sargent’s controversial “Madame X” (1883 – 84), the notorious portrait of Virginie Amélie Gautreau. With a strap of her gown slipping off one shoulder, the painting scandalized visitors to the Paris Salon and disgraced young society woman.Set to a new score by Mark-Anthony Furnage and designed by Bob Crowley “Strapless” flows cinematically; its sets, costumes and neo-classical choreography evoke Belle Époque Paris. From Sargent’s sparse, workman-like atelier to a Parisian café brimful with high society and enlivened by can-can dancers, Wheeldon’s picture-perfect translation of a time past reinvigorates our grasp of history in the present. Through a series of tableaux vivants, Sargent’s painting slowly evolves, its subject never straying from the spotlight.Natalia Osipova is compelling as Amélie Gautreau, marvelously embodying the socialite’s poise and pose, her solos forming an axial center around which everything rightfully revolves. Lighting design by virtuoso Natasha Chivers illuminates Osipova’s skin in a milkiness cool enough to suggest Sargent’s portrait that captures Amélie’s soft whiteness. Edward Watson’s artistry as the painter manifest leapt to life in a bravado dream sequence comprising a trio between Osipova, Watson, and Matthew Ball in the role of Albert de Belleroche, Sargent’s lover. Federico Bonelli is apt for the role as Amélie’s lover, Dr. Samuel-Jean Pozzi; his innate masculinity convincingly seduces Osipova in a passionate duet.The ballet’s final scene is a moment set today, with Osipova set free, now posing without her gown against the painting that permanently hangs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. A group of museum visitors take a guided tour and admire her immortalized beauty, with the strap now back on her shoulder as Sargent repainted the portrait.Two abstract ballets created for American Ballet Companies complete the evening. “Within the Golden Hour” (2008), set to music by Ezio Bosso, showcases a series of serpentine duets and ensembles of varying tone. Set to Avro Pärt’s “Tabula Rasa” and “Spiegel im Spiegel” is the two-part, mesmerizing “After the Rain” (2005). During the first half, six dancers demonstrate fine precision in what seems to be a seascape; dragging and gliding across the stage like stones skipping across water, they bounce but never sink. For the second half, a delicate pas de deux by Mariannela Nuñez with Thiago Soares results in breathtaking silence in the auditorium. Lifting her, light as a feather, their movements suggest psychic hearts, the effortless give-and-take of innocent love.After the Rain / Strapless / Within the Golden Hour runs at the Royal Opera House London, until March 11, 2016. The same programme will be staged at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia in 2017.
↧