Wochenende in Dresden - wunderbare Stunden

Finally it came after so long wait.

A few days in Dresden, visiting the city and of course attending a Ballet and Oper performance at the Semperoper.

I start with the Friday performance:

3 Colors Green:

Copyright: Costin Radu

The first piece is "Emeralds": As the name reads, the green Emeralds are on stage, first part of the Jewels choreography created by George Balancine (I already have written my impressions on this ballet as I saw it twice at La Scala). I love the sweet music and the soft movements of the dancers. Fauré's music is fantastic!

The second piece is "She was black". A completely modern piece, very different from Emeralds, simple and elegant choreography by Mats Ek. I already "met" him last year. At Teatro Verdi - Salerno the Italian Etoile Roberto Bolle performed Giselle (one of Mats Ek's most known pieces in Italy). The main theme was then love and madness.

Copyright: Costin Radu

Today Mats Eks' theme is TIME. Subjective and objective time. The way we feel it and we see it moving around us. On one side there is our personal perception of it, on the other side the Time with no feelings, no worries, no needs. Sometimes our subjective perception maches perfectly with the objective Time, but more often this does not happen. Is it not the same in our daily life?

In this "space" life runs from birth to death.

The "She was Black" of the title is exactly the Death. No one centimeter of skin can be seen, completely covered by black tights. Like a ghost it moves on stage, observing and interacting with the dancers daily life. For all the time of the performance no one knows if Death is male or female, only at the very end we discovered it was female. Like a mother gives birth, she takes life back.

Another figure hit me. A male dancer wearing an almost completely red dress with only one leg black. He (Raphaël Coumes-Marquet) dances always alone and always on his tips. He has never contact with the other dancers and he also moves like a ghost on stage.

The colour of the costumes caught also my interest. All male dancers dress completely in black, like the Death. On the female dresses, like on Raphaël's dress, the two colours (red and black) combine together, like to state that in life nothing is all black or red (white).

Copyright: Costin Radu

And now I come to the third piece: "Artifact Suite" by William Forsythe. A modern piece too. Also for this piece the Time is the main theme but in a competely different way. It is the beat and the backbeat to rule the game. The ballet assembly makes the choreography together with a few lights. A female in white tights guides all dancers on stage like puppets.

Two or three couples dance in the main role but there is no coordination among them. It is like if they cannot hear the music or if they feel it in a very personal way.

Only when the female or the male dancers dance alone on stage the perfect balance is reached, they move in a perfect coordination in the main role.

To cut the scene, like a sharp knife, the curtain goes up and down in the first part of the ballet.

All pieces were amazingly beautiful. I cannot say I liked one more than another. They all gave me strong feelings and opened my mind to new ideas and perceptions. Like everytime I attend a performance (Oper or Ballet), what is performed on stage touches my soul and makes me feel like if my body has no boundaries, a fantastic feeling, inexplicable.

So ended my first great evening at Semperoper.

My impressions on Rusalka (Opera) will come soon.