KVT – Dancing the Night away at the Citadel

Dancing and ranting… but mainly dancing and loving it

Went to see a performance of the Ballet ‘Moi Tinh Thanh Co’ at the Opera House on Wednesday. I saw its world premiere in the same place in November 2010 when it was called ‘Love in The Citadel’ and mostly I still stand by my comments about it then …as condensed below in bolded script with today’s comments attached.

Love, Betrayal. Destruction and Great Tragedy at the Citadel. In future productions it would be great if a concise and readable synopsis of the story was included in the program.

Well it was a long wait for almost the whole length of 2010 but finally there came a Vietnamese cultural event that really knocked my socks off and completely took my breath away. This reprise lacked a bit of that first time, full house magic, but it still has the ability to leave me gasping

I saw it on both nights and if it had a longer run, which it deserves, I’d see it again, and again. First night was an edifying entrée with a couple of minor hitches but night two was truly top notch! The hitches last Wednesday were with the projected visuals that were a bit off screen and displayed the computer controls. This should have been cleared up at the dress rehearsal stage

Give the talented VNOB dancers a brilliant and renowned dance director and choreographer like Bertrand D’At (who has done stunning work with the Shanghai Ballet in 2006 and 2008 so his eyes and ears and senses were already attuned to the nuances of the Far East) and it’s inevitable that a great piece of contemporary dance would eventuate. This is the first full length dance commissioned for them. What I loved about this performance was that the jaded western tourists around me who were a bit cynical about the whole experience before it started were soon all eyes and oohing and aahing and attentive all the way through and effusive at the end

As theater it was directed as though by a magician and every human tableaux could have been frozen into a perfectly coordinated painting or a classically beautiful sculpture. In fact I’ve rarely seen such a painterly stage production. This time a bit of the magic was missing but this so often happens when the reins are handed over to the company and a different approach is given, often one that fits in with the cultural sensibilities of the authorities. I was no longer in awe of the staging but it worked well and the choreography retained a muscular intensity

As theater, too, it was acted beautifully by the whole cast and this is too often a rare thing in ballet companies a whole troupe that can act convincingly. Once again this held true but there seemed to be a more restrained atmosphere

As excellent theater it sustained a perfect pace and the tension, that necessarily built up in such a great tale of love, betrayal, destruction and tragedy, was palpable right up to the final black out. If only!!!!!!!! When oh when am I going to get to see a VNOB performance this year that doesn’t have its tension ruined by some rude Vietnamese person having a phone conversation? Worse still, I left the confines of the tourist seats at interval and snuck into an empty seat closer to the front and the dramatic final scenes were totally wiped out by Vietnamese (probably there on freebies) carrying out loud and non stop conversations and commentaries….and some young kids gabbering, gabbering and gaggering……Never have I left the Opera House so angry. What could have been a great night was ruined and relatively expensive seats (500 00VND a ticket) were wasted. And no this is not a rant about a Vietnamese audience, merely a rant about very rude people. Teach me a lesson about changing seats eh? I’ve got a theory about the rude stuff (which is not confined to Vietnamese but often practiced by foreigners). I call it THE FREE SEAT SYNDROME.

As a tale of young love and passion the tenderness, the grace, the youthful eroticism, the sense of starry eyed infatuation was worth any great production of a Romeo and Juliet and the dancing of these two young principals was 100% captivating. Still true even if the eroticism was a bit diluted. The young male,Van Luong (I think) is fabulous to watch dance

………..couldn’t have been achieved without the great ability of all the principal dancers and the way in which they blended with and never overwhelmed the corp de ballet. Perfect direction! Excellent performances by all principals! And Chi Thanh as the King was beautifully athletic and Han Giang as the foreign general has a great stage presence

As with the best of the VNOB works, the set was starkly and very sensibly minimalist and this meant that the total space could be captured and carved up by the bodies of the marvelously supple young men who were dancing at full tilt and their wonderfully lithesome female colleagues. Almost true again even though, I guess, some of the original cast may have been replaced with up and coming dancers and thus a bit of rawness  is excusable.

The set and lighting designers need to be given awards! Though the technicians need to be on top of the technology

A beautiful filmic quality was added by having the dance take place behind a massive scrim curtain. It was as if we were witnessing a silent movie with the additional boost of grainy color.

The music by Claude Debussy was a Cinderella fit and came through at the right decibel volume. One day a Vietnamese contemporary dance will have its own commissioned Vietnamese music swelling around it….but until then Debussy will do.

If anything beats this as my pick of the best for 2010 I’ll eat my conical hat with chilli sauce on top. This outing of the dance, take away the rudies, was really good but wouldn’t quite get up to the top ten now….but it certainly could again

VNOB publicity people please note that I’ll donate my editorial skills for free so that your program notes fit the brilliance of your contemporary dance productions. Contact the Grapevine. The offer is still open!

But no matter, it was still a piece of dance well worth seeing and I’ll be there on its next outing (perhaps with a water pistol to squirt the rude ones). The less than half full auditorium may have been due to lack of publicity, especially the attractive and slightly sexy kind that pulls people in droves into overseas dance theaters…and this ballet deserves crowded (non talking) houses whenever it runs.

Congratulations dancers. I’m still your biggest fan.

To read KVT’s previous review about “Love at the Citadel”, click here.