After the critical
and box-office success of Rama, Hari,
which had its full-house audiences giving rousing standing ovations after each
performance, Ballet Philippines once again takes on an old-time favorite and
gives it a new twist in A MIDSUMMER
NIGHT’S DREAM.
Running for
one weekend only from February 15 to 17, 2013 at the CCP Main Theater, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM is a new
ballet adaptation choreographed by Hong Kong-based award-winning Filipino
choreographer Carlo Pacis. Based on the timeless romantic comedy of William
Shakespeare and the music of Felix Mendelssohn, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM is a world premiere, and is Pacis’ first
full-length ballet for Ballet Philippines.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream weaves
together the lives of mortals and fairies. Oberon, the King of the Fairies, and
his Queen, Titania, are fighting over an Indian changeling. To punish her,
Oberon instructs the mischievous Puck to place the juice of the
Love-in-Idleness flower on her eyes so she falls in love with the first living
thing she sees. Oberon also instructs Puck to place the juice on a young mortal
man, whom he sees spurning a young woman.
But Puck
makes a mistake and his folly creates madness and mayhem in the forest. He puts
the juice on Lysander, in love with Hermia, instead of Demetrius, who spurns Helena’s
love because he pines for Hermia. Lysander awakens, sees Helena and falls in
love with her. To correct his mistake, Puck places the juice on Demetrius’
eyes, who also sees Helena when he awakens. Meantime, Titania, after getting
juice on her eyes, awakens and sets her eyes on a man with a donkey’s head. The
result is an unforgettable romantic comedy of errors between man and magical
beings.
While Rama,
Hari is heroic and epic in scale, centered on a prince who is an avatar of a
god, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is
fun and youthful. It is the interplay of humans and fairies, with
mischief-maker Puck at its focal point.
“Fairies
have no morals, they want it, they want it now,” says Pacis, whose short work
for Ballet Philippines, “Shifting Wait,” won Outstanding Choreography at the
Philstage Gawad Buhay Awards.
“The
youthful energy of the company will be perfect!” he says. With this, he builds
his characters, and uses it to bring out the “fun” and “comedic” nature of the
ballet.
While Rama,
Hari showcased the dancers’ strength in modern dance, A Midsummer Night’s Dream will let the dancers’ classical ballet
technique shine. But Pacis wants to go beyond ballet and infuses more modern,
contemporary and non-ballet elements to the dancing. He wants to “push the
envelope as far as pas de deux work, musicality and all that.”
Pacis also wants
to tell the story with multimedia, sets (by Ricardo Cruz) and costumes (by fashion
designer Eric Pineda).
“For me, the
underlying theme is love, and I think that being a universal experience to us
all, the audience can hopefully understand the story,” Pacis says.
The world premiere of Carlo Pacis’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs at the
CCP Main Theater on February 15 (3pm and 8pm); February 16 to 17 (2pm and 6pm).
Bulk and group sales are also available for
schools, classes, organizations and corporations.
For tickets and inquiries please contact
Ballet Philippines at (02) 551-1003 and (02) 551-7919 or Ticketworld at (02)
891-9999.
