Additional Thoughts

“Coppélia”
Ballet Company of Teatro alla Scala
Teatro alla Scala
Milan, Italy
December 17, 2023 (online broadcast)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

Alexei Ratmansky’s latest piece is a new version of Coppélia for the Ballet Company of Teatro alla Scala. A recording of its premiere on December 17^th can be watched on Medici TV. In her review on December 18^th, the New York Times dance critic, Roslyn Sulcas, praised the “wealth and detail of nuance” that Ratmansky brought alive. “He has infused [Coppélia] with new life,” she wrote, “as if a carapace of formulaic presentation and interpretation has been cracked open.”

She’s right, it’s an ambitious production in many respects – an asset for the company. At times though, Ratmansky’s wealth of detail feels like a continuous bombardment, as if he is overeager in combining an abundance of steps with plenty of flourish and excessive acting. His unconventional, fresh approach suffers from his striving for exceptionalism. And though I understand that as many dancers as possible should be involved, I’d have preferred a less crowded village square to better show off the pas de deux of the leading couple – Nicoletta Manni (Swanilda) and Timofej Andrijashenko (Franz).
Sulcas fittingly described this Franz as “a klutz” conveying “poor-me-I-am-just-a-man sulkiness.” This poor guy indeed had to express remorse at length – puffing his cheeks, rolling his eyes, and letting himself fall like a wimp. An overdose of emotionality and botched attempts at swagger made him ridiculous. Can anybody explain why a woman as smart as Swanilda would marry such a man?

Undoubtedly, Jérôme Kaplan’s set and costume design is elaborate. Its most effective part is the secret workshop of Coppélius – a fabulous repository of curiosities! To replace the humanoid automatons with the mechanical tailor’s dummies was a good idea. Only the costume for Hymen, the Greek god of marriage appearing in Act III, needs a few inches more fabric. We don’t wish to see what is beneath his short, flimsy tunic.

In the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Wiebke Hüster called Ratmansky’s Coppélia historic in terms of canon formation. She called it the ballet premiere of the year, presumably meaning her favorite premiere. In an indirect quote, she said that Ratmansky believed our perception of Petipa and the 19^th century in general to be entirely wrong – much too cumbersome. Petipa would be closer to Balanchine and Ashton – and, in Hüster’s view, closer to Ratmansky.
About Act III she said, “As if the music had been written for Ratmansky, he choreographed an apotheosis of the ballet.” The allegorical divertissements that go along with the blessing of the village’s bell weren’t invented by Ratmansky. They have existed since Arthur Saint-Léon’s time.
Hüster attributed the blue and yellow color in the mayor’s costume to Ukraine. Galicia, the region where Coppélia takes place, was part of Austria-Hungaria at the ballet’s origination in 1870. Ukraine didn’t exist at that time. The flag of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was blue, red, and yellow. The village women in the Bolshoi Ballet’s production of Coppélia wear the same colors.

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