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Wed 23 Aug 2006

A classic ballet spectacular

Edinburgh International Festival is proud to host the European premiere of this ballet, created by George Balanchine in 1965 and directed here by Suzanne Farrell, one of the great ballerinas of 20th Century and the inspiration for the original ballet. In the original production of Balanchine’s Don Quixote, Suzanne Farrell danced the role of Dulcinea, aged only 19, opposite the elderly George Balanchine himself playing the hopelessly enamored Don Quixote.

Balanchine’s ballet is based on Cervantes’ classic tale of the Spanish nobleman Don Quixote, who with his trusty companion Sancho Panza tilts at windmills questing for his beloved maiden. Adapting the novel slightly, Balanchine chose to make Don Quixote’s love for Dulcinea the central aspect of his ballet.

As it has been said that Don Quixote was created by the renowned choreographer as a “love letter” to Farrell, it seems that art mirrors life in its imitation of the close relationship between Farrell and Balanchine.

Don Quixote is one of several ballets Balanchine (1904 -1983) bequeathed to Suzanne Farrell in his will. Until the ballet was restaged at the Kennedy Center in June 2005, it had not been performed anywhere for a quarter of a century. Premiering on Saturday 26 August at The Edinburgh Playhouse, the ballet is performed at the festival by The Suzanne Farrell Ballet in co-production with The National Ballet of Canada.

Balanchine’s ballet retains all the magic and romance of the Don Quixote story, transcribing the essence of the original novel through emotional and flamboyant choreography. Interestingly, Balanchine’s ballet is set to a score by Russian composer Nicolas Nabokov rather than the Leon Minkus music that had been used in previous Don Quixote ballets.

Though Suzanne Farrell has pieced together the ballet with only the aid of her memory and a 40-year old black and white film, much of the flavour of the original Balanchine piece has been retained. She says, “I still do feel very close to Mr.B. He’s always in the room with us whenever we perform his work”. Farrell’s restaging maintains the use of period costumes as in Balanchine’s original ballet, though new sets and large scale special effects have been commissioned for this European premier. Running from Saturday 26th to Tuesday 29th August, kindly sponsored by Standard Life, Balanchine’s Don Quixote is a unique spectacle not to be missed.