Giovanni Rotolo | Landgraf on Dance

Too Bad

29. June 2025

“Scheherazade”
Czech National Ballet
National Theatre
Prague, Czech Republic
June 21, 2025 (matinee)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

To be upfront, Mauro Bigonzetti’s new Scheherazade for the Czech National Ballet is no asset to its repertory. Its choreography is meager and the plot thin; the characters lack depth, and the digital set design is unconvincing.
Bigonzetti takes up the narrative thread where Fokine’s 1910 Scheherazade for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes ends. Zobeida, the favorite but unfaithful wife of Shahryar, the king of Persia, had died. Enraged about womanhood in general, Shahryar took revenge by killing every woman he slept with the morning after their first night together. Scheherazade, the clever daughter of his vizier, put a stop to the slaughter. The tales she narrated to the king each night (collected in the Middle Eastern folk tale, One Thousand and One Nights) softened him.
Bigonzetti portrayed the women in line for Shahryar, among them Scheherazade (Nana Nakagawa), who was ready to sacrifice herself. (more…)

Fighting Evil

15. October 2024

“The Sun, the Moon and the Wind”
Czech National Ballet
The Estates Theatre
Prague, Czech Republic
October 10, 2024 (matinee)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

“It has been written that the shrewdest thing Evil can do is to trick us into believing that it does not exist,” warned Štěpán Benyovszký who, together with Viktor Konvalinka, wrote the libretto and directed the Czech National Ballet’s new ballet, The Sun, the Moon and the Wind. It is based on a fairy tale that was first recorded in 1845 in the Czech Collection National Tales and Legends by Božena Němcová who later incorporated elements of Slavik versions. Although the ballet is meant to attract a young audience, it is entertaining for adults as well.

Benyovszký’s and Konvalinka’s adaption tells of the star of creation that illuminated primeval darkness. It split into four parts from which the sun, the moon, the wind, and Zora, the dawn princess, arose. Yet Zora’s part was stolen by Triglav, the vicious Dragon Lord of Time, who kidnapped and bewitched her. Determined to get ahold of the other three quarters of the star and thereby seize world power, Triglav regularly had to suck the souls of young men to stay young and strong. He singled out Prince Jan as a victim, but Jan’s three sisters, Rufflette, Sparkette, and Pallidette set off to rescue their brother. (more…)

Soul Food

1. June 2024

“Coppélia”
Czech National Ballet
The State Opera
Prague, Czech Republic
May 26, 2024 (matinee)

Arthur Saint-Léon’s comic ballet Coppélia premiered on May 25, 1870, at the Théâtre Impérial de l’Opéra in Paris. Two months later, on July 19th, Napoleon III declared war on Prussia. The opening night featured a military dance portraying twelve Ottoman Janissaries fencing against twelve Austrian Hussars. It concluded with a ballerina holding an olive branch heralding peace. Times were anything but auspicious during the descent of the Second French Empire, but that wasn’t reflected in the ballet. To the contrary, Léo Delibes’s vibrant score infused the comedy with a buoyant joie de vivre. Might it be a stroke of fate that now of all times, as the political landscape darkens with mind-boggling speed and social cohesion is worn down (at least in my home country, Germany), the Czech National Ballet premiered Coppélia? The Prague audience’s warm reception proved that the ballet still conveys what people are yearning for in times of crisis: togetherness, good humor, generosity, and a romance with a happy ending. (more…)

A Fairy Tale Told Too Simply

31. January 2018

“The Snow Queen”
Czech National Ballet
The National Theatre
Prague, Czech Republic
January 27, 2018

While beautifully costumed brass and percussion bands paraded across Prague’s Charles Bridge, vociferously driving out wintertime, icy winter’s cold descended on the National Theatre’s stage as the Snow Queen tried to extend her power over innocent village youth. She fails, securing a happy ending. Over the years a number of choreographers have adapted Hans Christian Andersen’s popular story for the ballet stage. In spring 2016 the Czech National Ballet took Michael Corder’s version into their repertoire, which was created for English National Ballet in 2007. (more…)

Tag Archive: Giovanni Rotolo

Too Bad

Fighting Evil

Soul Food

A Fairy Tale Told Too Simply