A ‘Dream’ at the Center
Young Chang
As if there weren’t enough worlds to begin with.
William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” presents three
realities and three groups of denizens -- fairies, courtsmen and
players -- that melt into each other to create the most other-worldly
place.
Add yet another dimension to this fanciful scene and you have
Aterballetto’s dance version of “Dream” at the Orange County
Performing Arts Center, running today and Saturday.
“If you take traditional ballet of the 19th century, you see
everything dance,” said Carla Vigevani, head of Aterballetto’s press
department and translator for company President Frederico Grilli. “In
this ballet you will see certainly it’s dance, but dancers also run.
They are in little moments a little bit actors.”
The prestigious Italian troupe makes its United States premiere of
the show in Costa Mesa. With a commissioned score by Grammy
Award-winning composer Elvis Costello and choreography by
Aterballetto’s artistic director Mauro Bigonzetti, the performance
offers a contemporary yet reverent attitude toward classical dance.
“A rupture with the traditional ballet,” Vigevani said.
Grilli, whose words were translated by Vigevani, said the basis of
Aterballetto’s work is usually academic, inspired by traditional
dance and developed with Bigonzetti’s modern flair. The process of
marrying a rock musician’s scores and a choreographer’s acclaimed
contemporary style is comparable to a “cultural operation,” he said.
“We toured in Italy and in Europe . . . the reaction of the
audience was very open,” Grilli said. “Now we are very curious to see
how the American audience will react.”
Vigevani added that people think “Costello” and expect rock music.
“But Costello had a very particular approach to dance and he
wanted to have a very respectful approach to ballet,” she said.
The story is about four lovers, the magic juice that gets in some
of their eyes, the misunderstandings and mischief that ensues and
then how life as Shakespeare intended it gets restored in this world
full of fairies and playfulness and even theatrical arts.
Set designer Fabrizio Plessi, known in Europe for his video art,
built rotating sets that by their creative designs depict the
differences between each world, as do the costumes.
But the choreography most dramatically interprets “Dream’s” three
worlds and moods.
“He has found the ability to describe each of them,” Vigevani said
of Bigonzetti, who has also interpreted works by Balanchine and
Antony Tudor in his five years as artistic director of the company.
“He will recognize every figure, every character, while dancing in
the way Mario feels it. That means in a contemporary dance.”
To realize the separateness between the worlds of dancing and
acting, Bigonzetti eliminates the use of costumes and masks, for
example, when the character of Nick Bottom transforms into a donkey.
In fact, you won’t even see a donkey on stage.
“It is felt like a physical transformation so this is not done as
usual,” Vigevani said. “It is done through a sort of suffering
through the body, through the movement.”
When it comes to the fairies, Bigonzetti plays with the idea of
having one’s feet in two worlds as each dancer sports a point shoe on
one foot while leaving the other foot bare.
“The point is, in one sense, different from reality, but in
another sense, it’s something that can be recognized as a tribute to
classical ballet too,” Vigevani said.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.