Recreating the greatest ballet of them all
THIS has been the centenary year of one of the most iconic figures of ballet in Ireland — Joan Denise Moriarty. As a final tribute to the first lady of dance, Cork City Ballet will present a full-scale production of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty at both Cork Opera House and Wexford Opera House in November.
Perfectly timed to open the festive season, it will attempt to recreate all the magic and enchantment of a fairytale world, where castles are hidden for a hundred years, and princesses awaken to the love of a handsome prince. Yury Demakov of the Bolshoi is recreating Marius Pepita’s original choreography, Elena Evseeva, star of the Kirov Ballet in St Petersburg, will dance the lead.
Spectacular sets, glorious costumes, music, lights, the lot. ! Staging any full-length ballet is a challenging task at the best of times, and these are rather the opposite kind of times. Quite simply, one wonders how on earth Cork City Ballet can achieve such a Herculean task. That it is doing so, is down to the single-minded determination of artistic director Alan Foley.
“Yes, it’s been a hugely difficult year, especially with no Arts Council funding, but once again it’s Cork and the professional people of Cork that have saved the day. The City Council, the Opera House, the Irish Examiner and the Evening Echo are wholeheartedly behind us. They know the status such a major production bestows on the city, they’re proud of Russian stars coming over for it, and they are always there ready to help. They believe in us, and in this production, and without such unstinting support, this would not be happening.”
Plus everybody associated with Cork City Ballet pulls their weight in all departments, he says. “There is no such thing as ‘That’s not my job’. Everybody helps, and that’s how we keep going.”
Foley has always said that Beauty was JDM’s favourite ballet above all, and that was his reason for choosing it this year. “She always called it ‘The Sleeping Princess’, though. She staged it in full in the early 1960s, bringing in Michel de Lutry and Domini Callaghan. We did it in 1988 and Michel de Lutry came back to create it for Colleen Davies and Zoltan Solymosi, the superb Hungarian dancer who went on to partner Darcy Bussell and Sylvie Guillem with the Royal Ballet.”
Foley says he can’t emphasise enough how amazing it was that Moriarty had been bringing over ballet stars since the 1950s. “For young dancers like myself, to attend class with such stars at the very peak of their profession – it was lifechanging.”
He remembers seeing the young Zoltan, — at 18, exactly the same age as himself — and realising what endless hard work, married to talent, could achieve. “That spurred me on to try even harder, and it was JDM who made that happen.”
He recalls Aloys Fleischmann being asked in an interview why they were attempting Beauty, since it was such a massive undertaking. “He said, ‘I suppose it’s like Hillary and Mt Everest – because it is there!’ I loved that, and it’s probably the reason we’re rising to the challenge now.”
To keep the ballet within limits, Alan and Yury Demakov have pared it down somewhat from its original four-hour running time to a more acceptable two. “The kids would be asleep if we went on until midnight.!”
Perhaps the huge cast offers a clue to why it was JDM’s favourite ballet. Besides the stars, the glittering soloists, it offers the perfect opportunity to introduce young dancers, trainee students, in small corps de ballet or cameo roles. This time-honoured tradition dates back to the earliest days of the Russian ballet, and it is one which Moriarty practised constantly – as many of her former students will remember fondly.
It is also one Foley continues today with the students of his full-time diploma in dance course. “It’s wonderful for them to participate, to share the rehearsal and the stage with the stars. They give it everything they’ve got and more, and never complain, no matter how much is demanded of them.”
* The Sleeping Beauty, Cork Opera House, Nov 22–24, at 8pm, with a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm. 021-4270022 or corkoperahouse.ie. After Cork, the company will tour to Wexford Opera House for one performance only on Sunday, Nov 25, at 8pm. 053-9122144 or www.wexfordoperahouse.ie
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