Pirouetting into our hearts
Review by LIM ANG NEI
MEN in tutus pirouetted into our hearts with their artistic grace and ballet techniques.
The performance by Les Ballets Grandiva was peppered gleefully with well-timed digs at classical ballet. The audience and dancers alike had a blast and the house shook with whoops of laughter.
Founder and artistic director of Les Ballets Grandiva, Victor Trevino, has combined ballet and comedy with devastating effect in the show billed, Men In Tutus.
In coming up with the show, Trevino had taken the men into the realm of the ballerinas.
As a general rule, men do not dance “en pointe” (on their toes) and their roles are usually confined to lifting ballerinas and holding poses.
Les Ballets Grandiva has given that rule a tweak. As it is an all-male company, the dancers performed both male and female roles.
This is where the fun began because there was no intention to disguise the gender of the dancers.
This ballet is truly about ballet dancers (as the men are called) taking on the roles of ballerinas which they did very well right to the presumed cattiness, facial expressions and gorgeous costumes.
Even the bigger and heavier dancers danced on their toes with lightness and grace with exaggerated lapses in between. It actually worked well for the dancers for if there was an actual stumble as they could cover it up as part of the show.
Trevino as a dying swan was a study of exquisite technique and hilarity, en pointe.
The second part of the show was Act 2 of Swan Lake. Infused with comic elements, the swans — Prince Siegfried and Swan Queen Odette — also gave the audience a beautiful classic ballet performance. So beautiful that I felt it was too short a performance.
What is obvious about Men In Tutus is that the dancers truly enjoyed themselves. They were also allowed room to improvise on their parts.
The 14 dancers of Les Ballets Grandiva are from different countries and have performed with companies such as Russia’s Bolshoi and Kirov Ballets, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, UK Royal Ballet and Royal Sweden, among others.
Men In Tutus is a good introduction to ballet — although an unusual one.
n Catch the last performances of Les Ballets Grandiva’s Men In Tutus today at 2pm and 6pm at Pentas 1, KLPerforming Arts Centre, Sentul West, Jalan Strathan, off Jalan Ipoh. Tickets: RM86 to RM220. Schools, groups and OKU cardholders get special rates. Call 03-40479000.
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