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| Thursday, 2 September 2004 |
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The importance of the Corps-de-Ballet by Gwen Herat No ballet or for that matter, not even the excerpts of ballet can be produced without the sound backing of a Corps-de-Ballet.
In many countries as well as in Britain this term is referred to all dancers of a particular ballet other than the soloists in it. Whether it is called formation, group or back-up, no ballet, especially the full-length one can be mounted without a strong Corps-de-ballet. Its functions are dominant and not to fill the stage or gaps. Today's Corps-de-ballet dictates its own terms to the choreographer who has to depend on it not only for visual effects but for support of the main dancers. There have been many instances where a member from the Corps-de-Ballet replaced a lead dancer during performance but then, they have to be excellent dancers for that purpose. Paris Opera Ballet for example, recognised it as its whole company from the lowest ranks to its principal dancers. Often, some dancers outshine the main ones and attracts the attention of the audience towards them. Among performing arts associated with serious or classical music, ballet has a distinct advantage for visual effect and ethereal beauty. The Corps-de-Ballet readily satisfies a broader spectrum of social groups. It is pre-eminent among the live arts as a medium for spectacle but ballet is not just two famous people dancing like Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. Their spectacular appearance is focused by the support given by the Corps-de-Ballet. Take for example the lake-side scene from the Swan Lake or from the streets scenes in Romeo and Juliet. Where would this couple rank without it? No audience would wish to see only the principal dancers on stage all the time. The variations have to be supplied by the rest of the cast. It is worth remembering that these choral dancers represent the aura even in some pugnacious new ballets of today. This is a fine testimony in excellent workmanship by choreographers who know exactly what the public want to see. What is important is to comfortably fit in the Corps-de-Ballet for everyone to enjoy. As ballet is much more than fluffy tutus and hummable Tchaikovsky, a finer image is portrayed and projected, surprisingly not by the principal dancers. One cannot measure the prerogative of talent in a group by comparing them with leading dancers because it is not meant so. Ballet is not immortal nor an esoteric habit persued by the obsessed and although like everything that is of fine art, it is an entertainment enjoyed to the full by thousands around the world. The youngsters who get smitten and with potential, make it to the Corps-de-Ballet and eventually may become the star dancers. However, this is a long and tedious process like for example a leading ballerina who wanted to dance Odette in Swan Lake at nineteen, waited for ten full years and on the brink of turning thirty, was lucky at her last chance (I forget her name). To the dancer of tomorrow, ballet means enchantment, mystery, beauty or even dancing. But ballet is not simply dancing because it is a form of imaginary performance, dreamt by many. It is like opera which is not just singing but more complexed than imagined. So, once a dancer reaches the breeding ground which is the Corps-de-Ballet after years of training, the doors are open to her/him to take wings from there. These dancers have the chances to learn as well as perform alongside with the world's best and who knows, they might be the best one day. Never run away with the idea that members of a Corps-de-Ballet are the second best. They are not. It is just that a group of about fifty dancers cannot be the principal dancers. Originally a whole ballet was accepted as Corps-de-Ballet whose whole body of dance was the company's dancers especially as I mentioned earlier with the Paris Opera Ballet. In other companies they made groups as opposed to solo dancers. They appear mostly in standard classics while modern ballets often use them individually to fullfill its functions in chorus themes. There is hardly a ballet mounted without a Corps-de-Ballet and one has to accept its presence on equal terms of the scores used without which no ballet is possible. When Tchaikovsky wrote the score for Swan Ballet, he scored it for the number of swans he confronted in the lake and later when danced, they were the Corpos-de-Ballet. The Prince and the main swan came later in his score sheets. 'My Way' - a smash hit My Way', a play in three acts, was staged at the Russian Cultural Center from August 18 to 21 by the Tidbit Theater Company; written by Manuka Wijesinghe and directed by Lasantha Rodrigo. A shorter version of the play was staged at Frangipani in 2003. Manuka Wijesinghe (who divides her time between Germany and Sri Lanka) is a gifted playwright, artist and poet. Her plays are basically comedies that explore serious social and political themes with biting with and rib-tickling sarcasm. By nature a cheerful and witty human being with a keen eye for the injustices and absurdities of life, she loves to lampoon the establishment in her plays, which are so cleverly crafted as to keep her audiences on their toes from beginning to end. 'My Way' is a sharp, pungent and sizzling comedy that explores the themes of homosexuality, racial bigotry and social humbug in a delightfully offbeat and iconoclastic manner. It succeeds in making us weep with laughter as well as squirm with embarrassment, for so unsettling are some of the jokes and naughty swipes at the establishment. Everything in the play - the characters, the setting, the humour - is typically Sri Lankan, and everything typically Sri Lankan, especially the values and ideals of middle class, Sinhalese Buddhist society, is viewed through a social microscope equipped with a high-tech iconoclastic lens. Through this unique lens (Manuka would be advised to patent it without delay!), we get to see who we are and what we are under the skin. We begin to see how stupid and bigoted we are in regard to most things in life. We laugh our heads off and walk way feeling good. That is the beauty of the play. We are stripped naked and rejoice in seeing the truth. Only a clever, saucy and outrageously funny play can do this, and all credit goes to Manuka for having written such a play and succeeded eminently in creating the desired effect. 'My Way' is an example of interactive theater, where at times the cast leaves the stage to mingle with the audience and exchange pleasantries. This type of play is hence suited for a small theater (such as the Russian Cultural Center) and would not work in larger halls. Interactive theater, fringe theater, alternative theater, etc. is immensely popular in the West and we hope it begins to catch on in Sri Lanka as well. Manuka deserves credit for having the courage to venture into interactive theater, backed by the Tidbit Theater Company. The play was skillfully directed by Lasantha Rodrigo, who acted in it as well. Lasantha, a new name in English theater circles, kept the production very tight and provided us with some slick and hugely satisfying entertainment. The lighting was subdued and cleverly manipulated to create subtle changes in mood and ambience. The acting on the whole was good, with Charmaine Tillekeratne being a cut above the others. Some of the thespians tended to overact, but this was a minor flaw in the overall production, which was of a high standard. We look forward to more sizzling scripts by Manuka Wijesinghe, who is truly magnificent at portraying social humbug and hypocrisy in a lighter vein. - Senaka Abeyratne. A review: The Prisoner's Song The World of Prisoners opened out to us very effectively and evocatively at a presentation of mime and song. 'The Prisoner's Song' produced by Nazli Zuhyle of the Inner Wheel Club of Colombo Mid Town held at the Russian Cultural Centre on August 6 and 7 brought to mind two concepts. The first being the very meaningful and thought provoking words, spoken before the performance, by the wife of the Commissioner General of Prisons. Also effective were the backdrop of slides enlarge to life size, which portrayed the life of a prisoner which were screened before each musical charade. The Inner Wheel Club of Colombo Mid Town decided to accept the project to uplift prisoners for their current year and to bring some light and solace to the lives of prisoners. The words the audience heard certainly provoked our thoughts that there is another world of despair, desolution and desperation! The second notion was that singers Clifford Richards and Suhardhini Perera with their very moving and poignant rendering of singing gave us the exact expression and depth of the words and music of these well thought of songs. Backed by 'Friends In Harmony' the performers dressed in prison garb moved around the stage miming the words of haunting songs that pertained to deeds which called for the incarceration in a prison. Between the pain and sorrow of these songs, 'Friends In Harmony' broke out with vintage music so familiar and loved by us in the audience. Bosco Fonseka and Denzil Perera were a well balanced duo, harmonising easily and played their part that communicated to us the very meaning of the music. Clifford Richards stood out among them all, acting each song that he rendered in his own inimitable style which had us all toe tapping, clapping and joining in. The programme moved easily from tunes that lingered in our minds like 'Delilah' 'Bank of the Ohio' 'Precious Lord' to the pulsating rhythm of 'Jail House Rock' 'Tie A Yellow Ribbon', 'Catch A Falling Star'. I know many of us in the auditorium that night not only realised that locking away a human life for a misdemeanour or a crime was not the answer and 'The Prisoner's Song' a programme of music and song will stay in our minds for a very long time. I know that whenever I hear these strains of that particular music, it will bring to my mind that somewhere out there is a lonely prisoner crying out for help !!! - "Em - Cee - Tee" Tissa Abeysekera's new book out Tissa Abeysekara's new book 'In my Kingdom of the Sun and the Holy Peak' published by Vijitha Yapa Publications, will be launched today at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute at 4 p.m. This book constitutes of three stories, independent of each other, although there is a temporal design that binds them together. Each story is located at a crucial moment in the last two centuries of Sri Lankan history. The first story covers the last years of the Kandyan Kingdom, the second takes place on the eve of our regaining independence and the last story tries to capture the social disintegration and the moral decay of the eighties. The artistic career of Tissa Abeysekara began in 1957. When he was still at secondary school he had his short stories written in his mother tongue and published in the national dailies. He dropped out of high school and began earning a living as a free lance writer. In 1961, his first book, a slim volume of short stories, was published. A chance encounter with Lester James Peries, Sri Lanka's only internationally acclaimed filmmaker, lured the young writer into films, and there he remained for the next three decades. Beginning as an assistant and dialogue writer to Lester James Peries, Abeysekara graduated to screen writing and by the end of the sixties, when he was not yet thirty, he became the most respected writer for films in Sri Lanka. His earlier book 'Bringing Tony Home' on the Gratiaen Prize for 1996 for the best literary work published in English. Tissa Abeysekera is the Director of the Sri Lanka Television Training Institute and was earlier the Chairman of the National Film Corporation. |
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