Aronoff Center for the Arts
February 12, 2012

Before attending the ballet on Friday night, I wasn’t too familiar with the story of Carmen, and honestly, without a little help from the program, I still might have been lost in connecting the plot points. What I can tell you, however, is it doesn’t really matter if you can relay every detail of this story within a story. The Cincinnati Ballet does a fantastic job, and this is a ballet you NEED to see. I could have said “must see” or “should see,” but I chose the word “need” carefully, and you need to see it to fulfill a void that you didn’t even know was missing. Lucky for you, Carmen is playing this weekend.

Gema Diaz and Cervilio Miguel during rehearsal

Echoing the vocally charged words of Dancing With the Stars judge Bruno Tonioli, if he had seen the performance… “Sensational and sexy. I was left with my jaw on the floor drooling over the passionate dance of love played out against the backdrop of sizzling Seville. TEN!!!”

Of course for those familiar with the history, Carmen is better known as Bizet’s opera which first premiered on March 3, 1875 in Paris, France. Roland Petit was the first choreographer to take the music and turn it into a ballet in London in 1949.  Cincinnati Ballet’s performance of Carmen was choreographed by Amedeo Amodio. In summary Carmen is a tragic love story, a seductress who tries at every turn to escape her fate. Unfortunately, as we all know, fate is something that cannot be skirted.

The choreography is beautiful, pulling from the roots of classical ballet but incorporating modern movements to help capture the sensual overtones. The dancers are spot on in the dichotomy of actions they must execute — from hard to soft, big to small, fast to slow, and passive to aggressive, the ballet ebbs and flows like a Nadal/Federer five set thriller.

Beyond the spicy choreography, I have to applaud the set design. Simplistic and subtle, yet poignant and metaphorical. The production and lighting team did a brilliant job in certain sections creating shadows of the dancer’s movements to heighten the drama. I also loved the costumes, the women dressed in classic Spanish garb and Liang Fu’s costume as the matador was majestic in its own right.

Speaking of Escamillio (the matador) the scene when he gets dressed in front of the mirror and Carmen appears… well, it goes down like a 2004 bottle of Aquilon. Off the charts in ripeness, richness and intensity, it was fever pitch perfect in its climax. Of course it was also the cause of Carmen’s ultimate downfall, death, when Don Jose is consumed by jealousy over his lover’s betrayal.

To say Carmen leaves you wanting for more would be an understatement. Let’s just hope on this Valentine’s Day we embrace the passion and leave the tragedy for the stage.

With two performances left (Friday, Feb. 17 and Saturday, Feb. 18 at 8 p.m.), Cupid’s arrow is looking for a lady and lad to hit his mark. Could this be your lucky day? You will just have to call the box office to find out. 513-621-5282.

*For more information please visit the Cincinnati Ballet website: http://www.cballet.org/performances

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