Noted ballet director says 'it's easy to work with Koreans'
A scene from “Sleeping Beauty” / Courtesy of the Korean National Ballet
Marcia Haydee visits Seoul to direct Sleeping Beauty
By Yun Suh-young
Artistic director Marcia Haydee / Courtesy of the Korean National Ballet
Artistic director and ballerina-turned-choreographer Marcia Haydee was in Seoul to stage her version of "Sleeping Beauty" which has been performed throughout the world for the past 30 years since premiering in 1987 by Stuttgart Ballet in Germany. Haydee showcased Sleeping Beauty for the first time for Stuttgart Ballet while she was artistic director of the company from 1976 to 1996. She was also artistic director for Ballet de Santiago. During her career as an artistic director, she reinterpreted classics such as "Giselle," "Swan Lake," "Carmen," and "Cinderella."
The Korean National Ballet invited Marcia Haydee this year to direct her version of “Sleeping Beauty” to be staged here, more than a decade after Rudolf Nureyev's version of Sleeping Beauty played in Korea in 2004. Haydee's version will present a fantastical, fairy-tale like stage setting and spectacular costumes.
"I come from Brazil so I believe in fairies and gnomes," said the 79-year-old Brazilian choreographer.
"Even if it's a fairy tale, there is a truth about something that's part of our lives today."
"Fairies bring in another atmosphere ― the lights change and the air changes. The bad fairy Carabosse signifies darkness while the lilac fairy is light. It is a contrast of love and hate," she said during an interview on Oct. 25.
"The last person that comes on stage is Carabosse because nobody can kill evil. You can confront it, but you can't kill it. Carabosse looks at the audience and says 'umm I'm coming back' and disappears. It reflects human nature. We can be both good and bad."
Sleeping Beauty is one of the three ballets written by Tchaikovsky ― Swan Lake (1876), Sleeping Beauty (1889), and The Nutcracker (1892). Of them, Sleeping Beauty is most faithful to the original tale (written by Charles Perrault).
The key to Haydee's version is the importance of the role of Carabosse. Depending on the version, the role can be played by a male or female ballet dancer. In Haydee's version, the Carabosse is played by a male dancer.
"Not only will he be showing off his ballet techniques but also great acting as a mime," said artistic director Kang Su-jin of Korean National Ballet.
Sleeping Beauty is a typical classical ballet with elements such as Grand Pas de Deux (a duet between a male and female dancer consisting of four parts) and Divertissement (sequences that are inserted for entertainment).
"I felt the company (Stuttgart) needed a new classical ballet and we didn't have Sleeping Beauty in the repertoire," she said, explaining how the version came to life.
"I myself danced everything in Sleeping Beauty including the main role. So it is an important ballet in my life. When I was three years old, my mother took me to see the third act of Sleeping Beauty and I never forgot it. So when I had to choose a classic for my company, I said Sleeping Beauty.
"The company suggested I do the choreography but at first I said no because I'm not a choreographer. But they said, 'you know every version.' So that's how it started."
The role of Carabosse was strengthened for her longtime partner, male dancer Richard Cragun who she chose for the role.
"I always thought the role of bad fairy Carabosse was not enough. It was always given to somebody that couldn't dance," she said.
"In the Stuttgart Ballet, my partner Richard Cragun, who was the first dancer in the company, had great technique, and was a very good actor. So I said 'I want you to do Carabosse.' So, I was creating Carabosse for Richard and I included seven dancers to lift him instead of him lifting others. I wanted to create something more for the men in the performance."
In the Korean performance, ballerino Lee Jae-woo performs Carabosse.
"The Carabosse here is almost 2 meters in height. I was surprised but he's so fantastic as a Carabosse. He dances as fast as a little boy ― it's amazing. He has the capacity of understanding and everyday he gets better. I'm really happy that he's playing my Carabosse," said Haydee.
Commenting on her experience directing the Korean National Ballet's dancers, she said, "they're very special and they work very hard."
"Even when rehearsal is over, they put the music on and continue. It's so easy to work here. Because in Chile or South America, they talk the whole time during the rehearsal so you have to scream the whole time. But here, they're quiet, they listen and they practice."
She said the Korean ballet group was "very good especially for Sleeping Beauty."
"The dancers here look like they're floating. Here the Auroras can do that because they're so skinny; they are transparent, they have no weight."
The ballet will run from Nov. 3 through 6 at the Seoul Arts Center. Ticket prices range from 5,000 won to 100,000 won.