Forbidden love: Shanghai Ballet’s thrilling floral tribute
Queensland Ballet hosts the Shanghai Ballet for an exclusive Brisbane season of British choreographer Derek Deane’s tragic tale of love, The Lady of the Camellias.
Shanghai Ballet’s exclusive Brisbane season of The Lady of the Camellias became one of Australia’s earliest Covid cancellations early in 2020, but there is a silver lining accompanying its long-awaited premiere here.
A decade after retiring from performance, renowned international dancer Ivan Gil-Ortega will portray the tragic tale’s pivotal role of Monsieur Duval, who secretly pays courtesan Marguerite to leave her young lover – his son Armand – in three performances at QPAC’s Lyric Theatre from December 5 to 8.
Presented by Queensland Ballet, this 2019 production choreographed by Shanghai Ballet’s then artistic director Derek Deane (now artistic consultant), was originally programmed for March 2020 to complete a performance exchange between the sister companies of 30 years.
Featuring 44 performers, the lavish romantic story ballet of doomed love set in 19th-century Paris was an apt choice following QB’s 2016 critical and box-office success staging Deane’s Strictly Gershwin, which received an encore season in 2023.
Despite the passage of almost five years, accomplished Shanghai Ballet principals Wu Husheng and Qi Bingxue are reprising their original roles as the ill-fated couple (alternating with another cast).
You might like
Even some of those thinking they don’t know the story of The Lady of the Camellias might be surprised to realise they actually do – just in another guise.
Andre Dumas fils’ (son) landmark 1848 novel has been adapted numerous times – famously, as the opera La Traviata, the titular heroine Camille in multiple stage and film renderings, and into Sir Frederick Ashton’s ballet Marguerite and Armand, created for Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in 1963.
There have been other versions, including a memorable 1996 Queensland Ballet production choreographed by the company’s former artistic director, the late Harold Collins.
The work is dear to Spaniard Gil-Ortega’s heart, having created the role of Armand when Deane first choreographed The Lady of the Camellias to Carl Davis’s commissioned score in 2008.
Subscribe for updates
Praising the ballet’s music, he says it goes from “great” to “oh my God” in the scenes involving Armand’s father. Mirroring the character’s intense emotional process, “it makes (portraying) it so much easier”, as do fewer technical demands and the perspective he now has aged 47, being a father to six-year-old Max.
“Once you’ve had experience in your own life, it’s easier to come out with the interpretation,” he says. “I don’t really think about the steps. It’s more about being in that moment. That’s what I really enjoy. If I can touch at least one person in the audience with what I’m doing then I’ve arrived at my goal.”
That ethos was pivotal in taking Gil-Ortega to the top of Stuttgart Ballet and Dutch National Ballet companies, and it’s the key message he imparts to dancers around the world when he stages Englishman Deane’s ballets with different companies – including Strictly Gershwin at Queensland Ballet.
“It’s all about the artistry,” the Zurich-based veteran says. “It’s taking that extra mile to become an artist. Repetition can make you good, but never great. You have your own way of expressing yourself, and that’s what is most important. I try to give the dancer tools so that they can find the character within themselves – their interpretation is what makes a difference.
“What gives me the most joy is when I see a dancer seeing themselves in a place where they didn’t know they could be.”
More than four decades after starting ballet as a four-year-old, Gil-Ortega’s undiminished passion and enthusiasm meant he happily took on the double duties of rehearsing Shanghai Ballet and preparing for his stage return.
Deane has also been hands-on readying the company and will oversee the final preparations in Brisbane with Gil-Ortega, who says: “I get them ready and then Derek puts his magic ballet dust on top of them.”
Shanghai Ballet’s The Lady of the Camellias, presented by Queensland Ballet, Lyric Theatre, QPAC, December 5-8
queenslandballet.com.au