Sep. 11, 2007 - Issue #621: Sex in The City 07

And now for something completely different from The National Ballet

As Xiao Nan Yu and The National Ballet of Canada prepare to go on a tour of Western Canada, she and company members are busy rehearsing for roles in two drastically different ballets, both of which they’ll perform on a single program during the tour. The works include Polyphonia, a contemporary piece, and the traditional full-length ballet Giselle, in which Yu is very excited to perform the most coveted and demanding lead role in the ballet world.
The unconventional program has created some exciting challenges for the company.

“It’s two completely different feelings,” says Yu about dancing in both works, adding that Giselle is very demanding—emotionally, mentally and physically. “You could never dance in both ballets in one evening because the preparation is so different. If I do Polyphonia, I can’t do Giselle afterwards.”
In fact, the company, which has a total of 62 dancers, forms two completely different casts who alternate in the two pieces each evening.

Although Yu agrees that classical ballet is harder than contemporary dance, she says that a work such as Polyphonia also presents some interesting challenges.

“For people who have trained in classical dance, it’s difficult to break out of the classical form into the modern one,” she says. “But you get used to it. You learn where to let go, where to hold on.” If she prefers one dance style to the other, Yu isn’t telling. She fully admits she loves dancing Giselle because it’s the role she spent years working for, but she also has a special love of the contemporary work.

“In Polyphonia, I could be a creature, like a jellyfish; I can creep around—I can’t do that in Giselle,” she says, laughing. “I have to be a real person.”

Besides differing in their characterization and movement styles, the two pieces also diverge in their narrative approaches. Giselle is a story ballet, while Polyphonia is considered an abstract work. Its short dances are based on ten piano pieces created by 20th century composer Gyorgy Ligeti. The company decided to put the two works together because, although most full-length ballets traditionally have three acts, Giselle has only two. That makes it a shorter piece, allowing extra time for a second work.

By putting Giselle, one of the oldest story ballets in history, on stage with a contemporary work, the company illustrates the changes that have taken place during more than a century and a half of ballet. Yu says that the program allows The National Ballet to offer its audiences an opportunity to see its very diverse talents.

“Rather than the audience just getting a little taste of the company, and then the evening’s finished, this way, we can present more of what we can really do.” V

?Tue, Sep 18 & Wed, Sep 19 (8 pm)
Giselle & Polyphonia
Produced by The National Ballet of Canada
Northern Alberta Jubilee
Auditorium (11455 - 87 Ave)

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