Jenna Savella with Artist of the Ballet in Orpheus Alive. Photo by Karolina Kuras.
(program)
The National Ballet of Canada presented the world premiere of Orpheus Alive and Chaconne on Friday November 15th, 2019 at The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
Cast (Orpheus Alive):
Jenna Savella - Orpheus
Spencer Hack - Eurydice
Sonia Rodriguez - Eurydice’s Mother
Choreography by Robert Binet
Cast (Chaconne):
Heather Ogden
Harrison James
Staged by Susanne Farrel, Lindsay Fischer, and Christopher Stowell
Lost Identity: NBoC Mixed Programme loses touch with problematic Orpheus Alive alongside dazzling Chaconne
reinventing the wheel is a risky business.
it’s for this reason that ballet companies mostly stick to performing ballets. some classical, some modern and contemporary, but all centred around a core of dance. it’s no different for the National Ballet of Canada. with its new production Orpheus Alive, the NBoC loses sight of its identity, presenting a misguided work filled with bells and whistles but lacking in dance.
on friday november 15 the NBoC presented two short pieces related, in varying degrees, to the classic greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. the night opened with legendary modern ballet choreographer george balanchine’s Chaconne, a dazzling production first premiered in 1976. with simple pastel coloured costumes and a minimalist blue backdrop devoid of set pieces, Chaconne is a ballet utterly about ballet, one that privileges the purity of movement through tableaux, synchronized movement and linear formations. while it takes christoph willibald gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice as its score, the connection with the myth is abstract. instead, balanchine utilizes various pas de deux, a pas de cinq and a full-fledged corps de ballet to collectively showcase the regal and triumphant quality of classical ballet. heather ogden and harrison james are brilliant as the principal couple, performing intricate pointe work (her) and soaring grand jetes (him). a dazzling opening to the mixed programme, Chaconne showed what the NBoC dancers are capable of, when given the chance.
Spencer Hack and Jenna Savella in Orpheus Alive. Photo by Karolina Kuras.
the world premiere of Orpheus Alive followed, a modern retelling of the classic greek myth by resident NBoC choreographer robert binet. a fixture at the NBoC, binet has created gripping contemporary works including The Sea Above, The Sky Below for xiao nan yu’s 20th anniversary with the company and Self and Soul for the 12th International Competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize. on paper, Orpheus Alive was a promising and innovative venture: an original score by new york-based composer missy mazzoli, a gender reversal that saw a female Orpheus attempt to rescue her lover Eurydice from the Underworld and the rare-for-ballet integration of text and spoken dialogue written by playwright rosamund small. unfortunately, in practice it’s a production that spreads itself much too thin. pushing in so many disparate directions, it becomes a hybrid musical theatre/play/cinematic experience that loses touch with its dance roots.
Orpheus Alive begins in the familiar space of a Service Ontario-like waiting room. a revolving receptionist desk is manned by a ‘three-headed monster’ (three female dancers) who guards the gates to the Underworld. against the all-black backdrop, illuminated only by overhead fluorescent tube lights, mourners dressed in all black present various offerings to the front of the stage. Orpheus, performed by first soloist jenna savella is unmissable. wearing a jarring yellow skirt and white shirt——the first of many misguided aesthetic choices——she offers a blue shirt of Eurydice’s to the audience who take on the role of the gods. everyone onstage is here for a reason: they’re attempting to retrieve a loved one from the Underworld, hoping the gods will hear their story and change their fate.
there are some humorous moments: the three-headed receptionist’s all-too-familiar repetition of ‘Thank you for calling, please hold’ gets some laughs. as does the screen above the stage as it flashes cinematic-like opening credits: ‘The Saddest and Truest Story Ever Told.’ but there’s something uncanny: in the opening scene there’s virtually no dance. instead of emoting the action through movement——as narrative ballets typically do——Orpheus picks up a microphone and verbalizes her request to tell her story and bring Eurydice back from the dead. jenna savella does well enough as an actor. but this is supposed to be a dance production.
Jenna Savella and Sonia Rodriguez in Orpheus Alive. Photo by Karolina Kuras.
things don’t get much better from here. Orpheus’s story is told in flashback, with a recounting of her romance with Eurydice, performed by spencer hack. an elaborate set of the Osgoode subway station is wheeled onto the stage as the backdrop for their first encounter, followed by an apartment building kitchen with white cupboard doors and tiled floor. there are glimpses here at binet’s talent as a choreographer, as well as savella and hack’s promise as dancers. but the dance sequences are short-lived: the movement never reaches far beyond simple lifts, jetes and pirouettes and is overshadowed by the sets, the lights and above all the interruptions of dialogue. none of the dancers have headsets, so every time they speak out loud, they’re forced to physically pick the mike up from centre stage and stay there.
Eurydice’s mother is also, for reasons unknown, part of the retelling. she and Orpheus weave around each other in/beside the kitchen. one of the most ironic moments of the night come when Eurydice’s mother, performed by sonia rodriguez, picks up the mike and says, ‘I don’t even know why I’m here.’ neither does the audience. rodriguez, like savella and hack, aptly performs her role. but there simply isn’t enough dance. binet has shown a capacity for choreographing moving duets filled with tension before—lyrical extensions meet staccato movement. but it isn’t found here. instead, there is a great deal of standing around. walking. looking. at one point all the dancers wander off and there is a completely empty stage to watch. the biggest emphasis of the production is seemingly on Eurydice’s blue shirt. Orpheus puts it down and then picks it up. Eurydice puts it on. then takes it off. Orpheus puts it on. then takes it off. it gets put down at the front of the stage. Eurydice might put it on again.
after an overly drawn out first story that is then revealed to be untrue——why this much running time got spent on an untrue story is, again, unclear——we finally get to the Underworld. a sharp contrast to the urban Toronto setting, this is dark and cavernous, amber lights along the length of the back of the stage. the corps de ballet now wear long brown coloured robes reminiscent of Tattooine desert dwellers in Star Wars or medieval friars. five couples of varying gender combinations perform pas de deux. but alas, it is short-lived. they vanish, Orpheus locates Eurydice and attempts to take him from the Underworld. she is blindfolded, and much hand-waving and confusion ensues. in a twist, he pulls off her blindfold, showing his desire to stay in the Underworld.
Jenna Savella and Spencer Hackin Orpheus Alive. Photo by Karolina Kuras.
it seems the production will end here, but no. Orpheus makes a plea to the audience who have taken on the role of the gods. another uncomfortable moment occurs when she tearfully says, ‘You just want me to go home.’ not quite, but after an hour (total runtime is 73 minutes) it’s beginning to drag. for reasons unclear, she is granted the chance to dance with Eurydice once more. a pas de deux ensues, most prominently marked by Eurydice stripping down to nude coloured briefs. it’s another perplexing aesthetic choice, but fortunately the last.
Orpheus Alive could be a brilliant production. the NBoC is a world-class ballet company, known for performing cutting-edge new works with a diverse and uber-talented pool of dancers. binet has shown greatness in his previously choreographed works. but Orpheus Alive is a rare miss. by mixing in too much theatre and cinematic features, along with witty sets and flashy lighting, it’s a production that, in being overly ambitious, loses sight of what it’s supposed to be at its core: dance.
if nothing else, Orpheus Alive serves as a warning. don’t push reinventing the wheel too far. unless you want to risk losing the wheel entirely.
Erin Baldwin is a freelance writer based in Toronto. A former dancer and Violist, Baldwin completed her Masters in English at the University of Toronto. She currently runs Truths + Edits, a literary blog dedicated to talking about all things books.