About the search and finding of nobility in us, and about prejudices.
This is the Cinderella of Alena Peskova
Why did you choose the ballet Cinderella for your next work? What makes the fairy tale about Cinderella entertaining, moving...
Yes, the fairy tale of Cinderella moves me... How nobility of heart does not depend on what family you come from, what you wear, or whether you are ridiculed or ignored by the majority society. Simply, the noble heart of the prince finds the noble heart of Cinderella. No more prejudice - love conquers all.
Just like The Nutcracker three years ago, you transform Cinderella into the point of view of today's child, or rather teenager. Is it just the capacity of the company or was it the experience with The Nutcracker, which is still in the repertoire and very popular, that led you to do this?
Yes, you're probably right, somewhere in the subconscious it is: making scarcity a priority - file capacity, technical possibilities... But I'm not so sure I wouldn't do the same with all the comforts of a large file. You see, everyone has a different opinion on updates of classical themes (although Prokofiev's Cinderella was ultra-avant-garde in its day), and it's certainly not a knee-jerk reaction on my part. Rembrandt dressed the Virgin Mary of the Holy Family in a baroque dress and no one would be surprised today. Today, when someone dresses her up in jeans, this concept has many militant opponents and equally militant defenders... instead of looking at her face, at the expression she gives off... Even Saint Mary is not recognizable by what she is wearing. So why did I trade my shoe for a cell phone? Maybe I just wanted to make us adults and children even more aware that Cinderella is not a fairy tale, that Cinderellas walk beside us, maybe they are a different race, they dress impossibly, they stare into space, they probably have some kind of sadness, problem..., we make fun of them, or we just don't notice them. And when they pull out an impossibly old cell phone - how cruel children can be... I've seen a few scenes like that.
What type of mobile phone do you have?
(laughs) I have a deep aversion to learning anything new in terms of technology. My husband bought me a brand new cell phone a year ago, it was sitting in a drawer for a year, I didn't have the nerve to relearn anything. I was wearing the "embarrassingly old" one, it was even missing some keys, had a scratched display... just when I realized it sometimes, I was almost embarrassed. And then I started to enjoy it: in all my meetings I would put my phone on the table on purpose. Someone didn't even notice it until we were interrupted by the ringing... I enjoyed watching the sympathetic smiles, the raised eyebrows... But what do we judge others by, the mobile phone? Prejudice.
Who will the Liberec Cinderella be for?
Adults and children. There are touching, sad and thought-provoking places. But thanks to the evil sisters and stepmother, they're also very comical.
You cast Japanese Rie Morita as Cinderella. Was your choice clear from the beginning or did you think about the casting? Why Rie?
I thought about the cast for a long time. Of course, the casting of Maria Gornalova and Alex Yurakov as the main couple was a good idea. Technically they would have done everything perfectly, but the moment my concept was getting clearer contours, it was clear that I would prefer the stage type. Rie is Japanese, she is still different, exotic in our country. She can be very shy to depressing, touching, but also flirtatious... And Maria Gornalova is now a great stepmother, technically she performs par excellence, and I'm afraid of her too (laughs). While Alex is the ambivalent dad, sometimes comical - when he has to hand over all his credit cards to Maria.
The same question to the Prince, danced by Jaroslav Kolář.
Our Prince, he's a bum from a rich family. He has everything, but he's always missing something, looking for something... Maybe he's had enough of the awkward company and wants to know something worth giving his life for. I don't know if Jarda has everything, we're friends, but we don't really know each other. I just get the feeling that he's also looking for "something worth living for". At least that's how he comes across to me. I don't want to jinx it, but technically he's getting very good now. And acting. ...I hope we all cry at the end.
You "transplanted" Cinderella from the century before last to the twentieth century, you replaced the slipper with a mobile phone... The evil sisters remain... What other changes will the ballet undergo?
After consulting with set designer Richard Pešek Jr., we set it in the 1960s and 1970s. And "mobiles that weren't then" is artistic license Actually, the wind was taken out of our sails by the copyright holders of Prokofiev's music, who did not allow it to be combined with the Bee Gees. Everyone can have their own opinion on this too - in Milan Kundera's opinion on copyright (which I love as a novelist, but I totally disagree with him on this one), Prokofiev would be turning in his grave. In my opinion, he would be smiling down on us from Musician's Heaven... Whether condescending and sympathetic or amused and delighted I leave to him. Perhaps it's a good thing, then, that in the end we will hear only Prokofiev with sound design by Petr Čermák.
And then, instead of three nuts, we have one big nut - a charming armchair in a 1970s design.
Prokofiev's music is perhaps a little more complex at first hearing than, for example, Tchaikovsky's, but it is nevertheless engaging. What would you say to the audience who don't go to the ballet because "they won't understand it"?
That ballet, like life, doesn't have to be understood. It must be experienced. If they stop trying to explain every step, they'll understand everything. Knowledge alone, science alone, understanding alone will get us nowhere, just like faith alone. But when we put both together, we get "to ourselves", and therefore to God. It's not easy, but it's the only reason we're here.
Have you ever felt like a "Cinderella" in your life?
I think every child - in fact, even adults - experience this feeling when you throw them into a different company. When I came to the difference exams at the conservatory, I was wearing a zippered leotard, and I had tied my weavers from the toes to the knees like krbce (folk shoes). For the first time in my life I combed my bun, and everyone saw that my ears were more like sails. I had to have them sewn on the very next holiday (laughs). I came from a district town where everybody called each other comrade, and I expressed myself that way too. My classmates still had fits of laughter for weeks whenever they looked at me, and I was terrified. Today I know they didn't mean it. I tried all the harder to show them that I could do something, that perhaps there was something in me, and I believed that my Prince - my audience - would see it...
Thanks for the interview.
Helena Syrovátková
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