On the evening of September 9, the classic ballet "Don Quixote" of the National Ballet of China premiered at the Tianqiao Theater in Beijing. In the music performed by the China Ballet Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Liu Ju, Ma Xiaodong, principal star of China Ballet, and Qiu Yunting, the main actor, played Nureyev's version of "Don Quixote", bringing a difficult and passionate performance.
The classic ballet don Quixote is based on the world famous work of the same name by the Spanish literary hero Cervantes and premiered in 1869 by Marius Petipa, the "father of classical ballet". "Don Quixote" has always been one of the world's major ballet companies' reserved plays, and the Nureyev version rehearsed by China Ballet this time is a "difficult and difficult" version of "Don Quixote". Created in the 1960s by ballet performance artist and choreographer Nureyev, this edition was sent to China Ballet in 1985 and came to China to rehearse and direct it himself.
The curtain opened on the premiere, the strong Spanish style came to the face, the style of Spanish girls and tall and handsome boys chatted in the streets, and the distinctive national costumes of the gypsies were particularly eye-catching. The main story of this ballet revolves around the heroine Kitli played by the actress Qiu Yunting, who falls in love with the kind and handsome Basilio, but her father is poor and loves the rich and wants to marry her to the elderly Gamash, and the eccentric Don Quixote identifies Kittli as Miss Ducinia he wants to save and invites her to dance.
"It's a very dramatic, very comedic story, and I often say to the actors who play Kittli, you have to perform a variety of feelings." Before the premiere, Feng Ying, director and artistic director of the National Ballet of China, commented on the play, "At the same time, it is also a very technical work, which every ballet dancer wants to challenge." Feng Ying introduced, especially The version of Niuriev, also has high requirements for the skills of male actors, "open the bow left and right, and the movement of both feet should be quick to react." ”
During the premiere, the actors on the stage brought a wonderful rotation, jump and lift, and the dazzling dance movements were very eye-catching, and they also attracted applause and admiration from the audience again and again. The big duo dance at the end of the wedding is the pinnacle of showmanship, and after the high-intensity dance, the male and female protagonists still complete this dance segment with super speed, strength and beauty.
Watching the actors perform on stage, Feng Ying thought of the situation when Nuriyev came to China to teach the play in 1985, when she was under the guidance of Nuriyev as an actress. "Nuriev's requirements for art are really harsh, it can be said that it is a pursuit of excellence, and there is no one who can't reach it." Feng Ying said that at the beginning, everyone was still a little unaccustomed to Nureyev's requirements, "The crossover action should be done to the limit, he is particularly strict, if you can't do it, you can repeatedly come to this one action, you can do it for a morning." ”
In her impression, Nureyev is a very serious person about art, once he was eating, saw the actor's movements are not satisfied, directly threw the food in his hand. "Now the actors still think I'm harsh, I'm really not as good as him." Feng Ying said with a smile, "But his extreme harshness has let us know that we are more exquisite and more correct directions, and now they have become conditioned reflexes, which have benefited me a lot." ”
Watching his play taught by Nureyev himself re-staged, Feng Ying was also full of emotion, "This group of young people, the technology has been better than the overall level of actors in the 80s, better than we did in technology." She revealed that the ballet dancers are young and energetic, and the overall age of the actors is more than ten years younger than the average age of the dance company when she starred.
What makes her even happier is that this time "Don Quixote" was staged four times, with four different groups of actors on the stage, and the actors in each scene were different every day, "This is a challenging work, but we have four groups of actors in China Baba who can dance, and we have more and more actors who can play such plays!" ”
It is reported that the performance will last until September 12.