Ballet du Capitole, Toulouse
The most significant interpretations of the ballet Carmen get their dramatic contexts from Georges Bizet’s opera of the same name. Yet Davide Bombana, a former principal of Italy’s Teatro alla Scala Ballet and now a freelance choreographer, has chosen an unusual musical collage for his Carmen, which the exciting French company, Ballet du Capitole in Toulouse, presented in March.
Bombana combines the provocative irony of Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite with the rough rhythms of the French percussion group Tambours du Bronx. He also adds the Los Angeles Quartet’s easygoing version of Carmen set for guitars and excerpts from Meredith Monk’s ethereal Mercy—plus some Bizet of course.
The choreographer’s choice is by no means casual: “This love is lopsided,” said Bombana, when I interviewed him before the debut, “and is destined to fail due to the conflicting energy of the two characters…. Carmen is the very essence of freedom, a young wild horse whom Don José longs to master. Only with Carmen’s destruction does José find some kind of solution.”
This production, however, is not helped by Dorin Gal’s costumes and scenery, a metallic arena, which becomes a death cell in the finale. Together they create an effete and anachronistic setting far from exotic Seville. Even the choreography is hesitant, oscillating between allusive neoclassical dance phrases and ordinary, brusque movements.
The ballet opens with a bored Don José and the soft and gentle Micaela. Pascale Saurel portrays Micaela as a solitary and melancholic figure—the complete opposite of the restless, fiery Carmen. She is given little space in the ballet, being immediately overwhelmed by Carmen’s entrance. In the title role, Paola Pagano displays a well-developed sense of Mediterranean expressivity and Gypsy volatility, together with far-reaching technical abilities. On pointe, she holds her own, irrespective of Bombana’s choreography, which at times lacks the exuberance and seductiveness called for by the character. Luca Masala’s Don José has a captivating physique and gestures majestically, followed by submission, frustration and finally anger when Carmen scorns him.
Thanks to each dancer’s versatility, precision and generosity, Ballet du Capitole manages to bring the ballet’s “gut” meaning to the fore. Bombana spreads the narrative over 11 scenes, respecting Bizet’s basic plot, which includes a clash between Carmen and the cigarette smugglers and a visit to a wine bar, Chez Lilas Pastia. The choreographer does introduce such new ideas as having Don José kill Garcia, chief of the bandits, and Bombana adds cross-dressing toreadors with moustaches and flame-red skirts who sing to Shchedrin.
Both new and old ideas are also seen in the arrival of a Minotaur, half man and half bull. Jerome Buttazzoni, wearing a taurine mask à la Picasso, bursts onto the stage, thus highlighting the force of primitive instincts. Carmen succumbs to her own sensuality, copulating with the animal in a long sequence of pagan carnality that reawakens interest in the action.
Ermanno Romanelli is a regular contributor to Danza & Danza and Il Giornale della Musica.
