In watching these three performances, I found Petrouckha to be the most interesting. Although all the ballet's were beautiful and fascinating in their own way, Petrouckha told a story which is a rare quality for many ballet pieces. The story was not only deep but let the mind contemplate about its symbolism.
Petrouckha
The first ballet, "Petrouckha" performed in 1911 and choreographed by Michel Fokine, is a story of a Russian traditional puppet named Petrouckha, who comes to life and develops emotions. The ballet starts off with a colorful carnival setting, with two dancers entertaining the crowd, when suddenly a curtain rises from the tiny theater placed in the background, revealing what seemed to be three lifeless figures, Petrouckha, played by Thierry Monge, a ballerina, played by Monique Lourdieres and a moor, played by Jean Guizerix. With a simple flick of the Charlatan's wand, the puppets come to life and begin to perform their vigorous Russian dance amongst their astounded audience. During the remainder of the performance, Petrouckha portrays his sadness towards the audience because of his love for the ballerina who in turn is in love with the Moor. The ballet performed with many precise and straight movements returns to a carnival scene once again where Petrushka is killed by the Charlatan and the ballet is ended by Petrushka's ghost appearing on the roof of the little theatre. I personally enjoyed the performance with its exaggerated movements and mixture of emotion, it was nothing short of colorful, lively and interestingly quirky!
Monotones
This ballet performed by Joffrey Ballet in 1966 was choreographed by Frederick Ashton. Consisting of three dancers, Elizabeth Parkinson, Glenn Egerton and Tom Mossbrucker costumed in white unitards, performed slowly and precisely, showing off their flexibility and talent.
Sinfonietta
The last ballet our class watched was performed in the Nederlands Dans Theater and was choreographed by Jiri Kylian and composed by Janecek. Starting off with a piece performed by all male dancers, the dance starts off upbeat and transforms into various pieces performed my many dancer all through out the performance.
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