Don Quichot
Introduction
The Dutch National Ballet is opening the season with a series of performances of the new full-length production presented by the company in February 2010: Don Quichotte.
programme
This version has been created exclusively for the company by leading Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky.
The ballet – an audience favourite of prestigious companies like the Bolshoi Ballet and American Ballet Theatre – is a dazzling display of high spirits, virtuosity and Spanish temperament. The flamboyant leaps, dizzying pirouettes and crisp pointe work that are standard features of the production give the performers every opportunity to show off their technical prowess. But at the same time, the comic story based on Cervantes’ masterpiece makes strong demands on the dancers’ acting abilities.
It is the first time that a full-length Don Quichotte has been presented in the Netherlands. Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky has drawn inspiration for his production from the libretto of the first version of Don Quichotte by Marius Petipa, created in 1869. The former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet has also added his own new elements and choreography to the ballet. The modern designs for the ballet, by the renowned French designer Jérôme Kaplan, refer to the times of Cervantes.?