[20040087] Ballet Nacional de Espaņa
Ballet Nacional de Espaņa @ Festival Theatre
8:00pm, Fri 12 Mar 2004
Score: 7
Short Review: Disappointing
I was so looking forward to this. Ballet inspired by flamenco, I though. Well, remove the "ballet", and you've got the pre-interval idea - three pieces of exciting flamenco, the opener Grito being quite astounding. It's hard to believe how fast these people can move, can snap their limbs into position - fabulous stuff to watch.
Being flamenco, there's a fair bit of stomping, clapping, and tapping going on, which drives the excitement level right up. The costumes were colourful, the lighting superb - lovely large projected shadows. Additionally, there seemed to be a bit of eastern influence in the movements of the female dancers; still, it was all very joyous stuff. Then came the interval.
At this stage, this show was looking for a big score, and raptuous standing ovation. But the company returned after the interval with their production of Medea - or, as I like to refer to it, Skanky Lays Some Smack Down. This hour-long production was, frankly, boring as batshit. Sure, there were some OK-ish bursts of flamenco, but they were few and way-too-far between.
In the end, Ballet Nacional de Espaņa milked the applause for all it was worth, and got a standing ovation from about 8 people. Which is about right, really. Those expecting traditional ballet would have been disappointed - this performance owed more to flamenco and opera theatrics than ballet. Still, it was worth seeing - if only for the undeniably exciting first half.