Ballet Review
Production: Joni Mitchell’s The Fiddle and The Drum
Company: Alberta Ballet
Choreographer: Jean Grand-Maître
Music/Set Design: Joni Mitchell
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre (Vancouver)
When: Jan 23, 2010

Reviewed By: Tessa Perkins (Vancouver)

I have to say this is one of the best ballets I’ve ever seen. It is definitely the most emotionally moving and memorable, to say the least. The songs featured are from Joni Mitchell’s lesser known material of the eighties dealing with topics such as genocide, war, and the destruction of our planet. Her artwork is displayed in a slide show that she designed on a circular screen which completes the stage as the backdrop to Jean Grand-Maître’s evocative and innovative choreography. The perfect melding of these two greatly talented artists is manifested in the beautiful movements of the dancers, and the result is a ballet that has the power to inspire and touch the soul.

The full company is on stage for the opening song, the acapella “The Fiddle and the Drum,” and as Joni’s voice echoes through the theatre, the mass of dancers begins to move, gradually separating from the group and then dispersing. The second song, “Sex Kills,” is much more upbeat with a lot of big drum beats, and the dancing becomes much stronger and sharper to reflect this.  

One of the pieces that stood out the most was “The Three Great Stimulants” which Joni says are “artifice, brutality, and innocence,” and there are three dancers representing these concepts. The lyrics to “Woodstock” are also very moving, and some of the words were displayed on the screen behind the dancers as Joni sings that “We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.” The saddest piece was “Ethiopia” in which the dancers moved as if they were hungry and weak, pleading for help.

The costumes for the show consist mainly of nude second skins and little else, but “Shine” stood out because the dancers had flowing pink dresses on, giving the song a much happier feeling than the others as Joni sings “Let your little light shine,” but also contrasts the darker side of the song as Joni says “shine on rising oceans and evaporating seas,” and “shine on our Frankenstein technology.” The war theme of the show was brought out in “The Beat of Black Wings” as the dancers had on helmets and broke into marching a few times. 

My favourite song in the show was “If” because it finished the night off in a celebratory tone as all of the dancers were on stage again en masse. The choreography had a strong hip hop influence, and the dancers were cheering and hollering as they all took turns dancing in the centre. The song is actually a Rudyard Kipling poem that Mitchell has put to music, and “Slouching Toward Bethlehem” in the same way was based on “The Second Coming” by Yates.

As the dancers gradually left the stage after “If,” the entire audience was on their feet applauding enthusiastically. Luckily, the show wasn’t quite over, and we were treated to an encore of the “Big Yellow Taxi” remix. This piece retained the celebratory tone and was also quite humorous as a woman with a briefcase walked back and forth determinedly across the stage to point out that sometimes in life we need to slow down and enjoy what we have.

The themes of this ballet are very relevant as humans struggle to overcome so many environmental and societal problems, but it also leaves you feeling optimistic that change is actually possible and there is still hope that things can improve. As Joni says of the topics presented: “With our situation for all earthlings – man and animals – becoming so dire, I felt that it was frivolous to present lighter fare.” I think that’s what makes this ballet so powerful – it combines beautiful dancing with serious themes to create a strong message that our time here is precious and we must do all that we can to preserve our natural world.

Songs featured in the ballet:
1. The Fiddle and the Drum
2. Sex Kills
3. Passion Play (When All the Slaves Are Free)
4. The Three Great Stimulants
5. Woodstock
6. For The Roses
7. The Reoccuring Dream
8. Slouching Toward Bethlehem
9. Ethiopia
10. Shine
11. The Beat of Black Wings
12. If I Had a Heart
13. If
14. Big Yellow Taxi 2007 

Written by :

tcp

 

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed