Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella at the National Ballet - Not Disney


 


After I returned from seeing Cinderella at the Dutch National Ballet last night, I stayed up reading about Christopher Wheeldon and the choreography. Some moments were spectacular - for instance, the end of the first act, when Cinderella's coach appears to take off into the air on the way to the ball (see it here: https://www.operaballet.nl/en/ballet/2014-2015/show/cinderella). A few were over the top, and if I'd been a child, I would have been terrified by some of the creatures of nature, including one that looked like a perverse Mr. Potato Head.

I agree with the reviews that criticize the stereotyping of the Thai, Spanish, and Turkish dancers. We should be beyond that in ballet, even when it's classical. I was disturbed, too, that one of the stepsisters was given glasses to show her ugliness - ugh!

I disagree with those who said there was no dancing between Cinderella and the prince at the ball. See the picture above!  There wasn't always a lot of chemistry between Cinderella and the prince; in fact, what I found most refreshing was the theme that the prince was having much more fun with his male friend Benjamin than with women. Benjamin marries the stepsister with glasses, keeping him close to the prince. One reviewer wondered why Wheeldon, who is openly gay, turned to such a heterosexual love story. In my mind, his great contribution is to suggest that the prince's primary relationship, whether it's homosexual or homosocial, is with a male, and it's the insistence of his parents that he undertake the responsibilities of adulthood, as defined in the kingdom, that makes him seek a bride. This is a common theme in novels about nineteenth-century women, but less frequently found about men. 

 Here's hoping for a world where the responsibilities of adulthood no longer require finding a mate of the "opposite" sex. The film Girl was on my mind during much of the performance, because it focuses on a transgender ballerina. If we are going to rewrite or re-choreograph Cinderella, let's reconfigure it altogether!




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