Scottish Ballet A gift from the God

Scottish Ballet------ A gift from the God

This time, Scottish Ballet has brought with it the new version of "Carmen" and also "Pennies from Heaven"" which is originated from a TV play of America in the 1930"s. As the majority of us have been familiar with "Carment"", it"s sure that the ballet play "Pennies from Heaven"" mixed with Jazz will give us a new experience.

Who is Scottish Ballet?

Scottish Ballet, which is funded in 1957, is one of the Four Treasures in Scotland. The other three are Scottish Opera, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Chamber Orchestra. Its distinguished skills and creative classic art"s style contribute a lot to its high international reputation. This "Best Christmas Ballet of the Great Britain" named by "The Daily Telegraph" has its fans from Edinburgh to Hongkong, with 100 acts every year and an audience of more than ninty thousand.

In 2004, Scottish Ballet got the Outstanding Achievement Award of Management Association of the British Drama because its works reflect solid classic ballet skills and modern style based on high artistic quality. On Junuary, 2008, Scottish Ballet defeated Royal Ballet and Bolshoi Ballet to obtain the "Oscar Dance prize", a dance prize covering the whole UK selected by the famous English artistic comment organisation "Critics" Circle".

We tend to think that the "Carmen" characterized by mania and ghosts is the twin sister of flamenco, both two need the red color covering the whole play to attract the eyes of audience and to express the passion of dancers. But the "Carmen" choreographed by Richard Alston is more suitable for the scenes of modern ballet. This time, "Carmen" gets a simple stage decoration, which is filled with a strong English style. There is no one nation who is more suitable for this play than the scottish nation, which has its unique wild style in the continent of Great Britain.

However, what we want to recommend is the second part: Pennies from Heaven. It is noted that, these two dance dramas last for 50 minutes respectively. So it"s cost-effective not only seen from the view but also from the economic point.

The chinese spectators must know little about this American TV play "Pennies from Heaven". This work wrote by the deseased English wizard playwright Dennis Porter is very popular in the USA. We can hear in this play a lot of American pop songs of the 1930"s which enjoy the appreciation of local people, such as <March Wind>, <April Rain> and <White Clouds Coated with the Sunshine>. The album seller Arthur is always dreaming of inventing his own music for his passion to music. But he can"t realize his dream as he doesn"t get enough money. Later on, he meets a beautiful girl Irene, they become crazy for music together, thus take up a series of incredible things.

A typical experience to succes of an American little guy, a miracle in the cruel reality, fascinate so many people. Dennis added a lot of English humorous scenes in the play, which highlight the two words <from heaven>. We can imagine that an interviewee, when he is seriously ill, can call the pancreatic cancer which will take his life Robert, for the reason that in doing so ,he comes closer to it. Dennis has arrived at a high lever in joking life and lives.

The chereographer of <Pennies from Heaven> is Ashley Pegg, artistic director of Scottish Ballet. His characteristic lies in the combination of English classic ballet"s style and the cold style of American avant-garde choreographer Cunningham. The stage decoration, the costumes and makeup of American society in the 1930"s, based on elegance, magnificence and sex appeal return to stage. The participation of jazz intensifies the drama"s taste "music along with dance". Ballet gets another sort of interpretation here.

The <Pioneer> gave such a comment: It"s a memorable, pleasing and lovely dance festival.

The dancers gave a perfect interpretation of the toe dance,which is full of humor. When we left the theater, The scenes on the stage made us laugh with tears in the eyes.