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Royal Winnipeg Ballet 'Moulin Rouge-The Ballet'
April 15, 2010 -- National Arts Centre, Ottawa Royal Winnipeg Ballet is performing at the National Arts Centre in Canada’s capital city. As Andre Lewis, the company’s artistic director addresses the audience- he can’t contain his exuberance about “Moulin Rouge-The Ballet”. All three nights are sold out. He acknowledges the death of former artistic director (1958-1988), Arnold Spohr, who passed on only five day before. Out of respect, the National Arts Centre has lowered its flags around the building. “We want to dedicate this performance to Arnold, because he would be the first to say the show must go on,” Lewis tells the crowd. The curtains open to a lone man playing a melancholy tune on his accordion, foreshadowing the events about to unfold, like a narrator in a story book. Behind him stands the most famous cabaret in Paris, Moulin Rouge. The company’s strength lies in their ability to take a well known tale and spin it into something fantastical. Tonight’s ballet is not the recent movie version. The main characters are new, but set in the same time frame, during the last decade of the 1800s. And, it is of course, a romance. Matthew, a naïve young artist, portrayed by Gael Lambiotte, arrives in Paris only to be robbed by gypsies. One can forgive him for being cautious when he meets Natalie, a beautiful laundress, danced gracefully by Vanessa Lawson. An attraction develops between the two. Before it has time to deepen, a well dressed man enters the stage. It is Zidler, owner of Moulin Rouge. His mission is to find dancers for his famous cabaret. While local woman audition with impromptu dance numbers, it is clear Zidler wants Natalie. And so, a love triangle begins. The audience can see where this drama is leading.
Danced with smooth, seamless, effort by Yosuke Mino, the choreographer, Jorden Morris, misses an opportunity to be creative with Toulouse-Lautrec, who is real life, never recovered from a childhood injury of two broken legs. There are, however, a number of fun painting scenes, where the wealthy artist befriends Matthew. He buys him a suit constructed by a group of comical tailors who dance as sharply as if on pins. The suit enables Matthew to blend into Natalie’s new world Designers Ann Armit and Shannon Lovelace create magical costumes that transform the dancer’s wardrobe from the grey/brown of Paris’s cobbled stones to the rainbow bright hues of a lavish night life. It’s like watching “The Wizard of Oz” change from black and white to Technicolor. With the costume changes the dancing is more rowdy and entertaining, full of mirth and Can-Cans en pointe. Natalie and Matthew are lost in the crowd, away from Zidler’s watchful gaze. The couple escapes for a romantic pas de deux, atmospherically French, under the twinkling lights of the Eiffel Tower. The audience erupts into applause. It’s a moment of breathtaking perfection. As in all dramas, happiness is brief. The couple is confronted by Zidler and his revolver. Natalie tries to intervene and save Matthew’s life. She is inadvertently shot and blood seeps across her whisper pink gown. A crowd gathers, but they are helpless. Matthew holds Natalie one last time, while life leaves her body. The curtains close. The audience in Ottawa gives Royal Winnipeg Ballet a standing ovation. The curtains part to allow the dancers a final bow. Read related stories in the press and see what others are saying. Click here. |
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by Karen Barr
Moulin Rouge does exist, in Paris. Royal Winnipeg Ballet had to obtain special permission from the cabaret to use the name in the ballet’s title. Opened in 1889 by Charles Zidler and Joseph Olle, the venue’s glamourous female dancers helped popularize the Can-Can, a dance considered scandalous at the time. Success ensured for the owners despite public outrage. One of the most famous patrons was artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and his character is reflected in the ballet.