„Don Quixote", Première, NdB, Národni divadlo Brno (National Theatre Brno), April 25th, 2025

„Don Quixote", Première, NdB, Národni divadlo Brno (National Theatre Brno), April 25th, 2025

A night to remember... An “intimate” Review.

It is always wonderful, a real joy to visit Brno and the performances of the National Theatre's Ballet. Such an organised company, for me, besides Bratislava and Budapest, one of the best in Central Europe at the moment. No question.

It has been years since I first set foot in this theatre and saw this company for the first time. It was then that my admiration for this company and, especially, for Mário Radačovský's visionary and future-oriented hard work began.

Yes.

This company is not only a wonder because it is more like a family that works, learns, and fights together, but also because its internal harmony is future-oriented.

This „Night at the Opera", this ballet evening, brought us quite a few additional joys:

I had never seen José Martinez's „D.Q." before, and I must admit that I was not quite sure of what I had to expect. I wanted to give myself an intellectual „treat", sort of a surprise, so I did not do any research, I did not read anything about it, and I did not watch any YouTube videos of it. No. Absolutely nothing.

And it happened: I could not have been more enthusiastic and delighted about it!

José Martínez, the present ballet director of the Paris Opéra, created the Don Quixote production in 2015 for the Spanish National Dance Company (Compañía Nacional de Danza).

His choreography has a fresh and dynamic approach, which sensitively balances respect for classical tradition with „real" Spanish feeling, as proved by the inclusion of (real) Fandango elements supervised by the lively (and lovely) Mayte Chico, with whom I also had the chance to chat. It is authentic.

Martinez's concept is a very joyful one. During the Première party, while we were chatting, and we did this for a long time, I had to tell him that this version had been the only one that I had neither been bored nor fallen asleep during the second act (especially like in Nureyev's version). His simple and straightforward answer was just: „Yes, that is what it was intended to be!". Wonderful!

"In a way, I can say that I tried to create a Don Quixote that Marius Petipa would have dreamed of. Authentic Spanish dances and by giving the ballet a new dynamic. For this purpose, I omitted the tavern scene because I didn't consider it essential to the plot, and I gave greater depth to the roles of Don Quixote and Dulcinea. I think this version is more Spanish than many others. Into this narrative, where Kitri and Basilio are the main characters, I've brought another dimension, a love story between Don Quixote and Dulcinea, who embody ideal love," says José Carlos Martínez.

In my opinion, the so-called „plot" is not so important to D.Q. because the whole rigmarole is nothing more than a beautiful divertissement – a kind of “Circus”, but a good one when done right! You're wonderfully lucky if you understand how to bring it to the surface as a joyful, dynamic, and lively piece. Until now, the only version I had enjoyed was Baryshnikov's 1978 version, which, unfortunately, is not in ABT's repertoire anymore (Although the second act was also boring, not like Nureyev's but still very boring). In this production, Baryshnikov was assisted by Elena Tchernichova.

But, thinking of my preferences, I must admit that, somehow, I have changed my mind after seeing Martinez's. Especially because of the lively, dynamic second act. Wonderfully lively.

The only piece of choreography that did not “send” me was the unusual Kitri variation with the fan. I would have preferred it “the old way” - but this is solely a question of taste, and tastes shouldn’t be discussed.

We know that this is a very delicate production, not only choreographed but also pinpointedly directed and supervised by wonderfully talented José Martinez (who, by the way, was a favourite dancer of mine), and fantastically designed (Sets and costumes) by Iñaki Cobos Guerrero.

Conductor Ondrej Olos gave (sometimes) a hard time to the dancers with his oscillating tempi – sometimes too quick, sometimes too slow. A bit more empathy and ballet understanding are still required.

And, breaking one of my rules (well; rules are made to be broken, especially mine, by me) I have to tell you of a name you'll probably hear of in the future: While backstage watching the whole cast being photographed, I saw a (very) young corps de ballet dancer who impressed me much while on stage- it was just a coincidence that I saw him there – I addressed him because I wanted to tell him of his jumps, his en-dehors and whole attitude that had me impressed me so much. Then I found out that he is Portuguese, and we could have saved our time talking in our language instead of English. Anyway. He is still a member of the Junior Company, but I am predicting, foreseeing a bright future for him. Gabriel Pimparel. Remember this name.

This particular Première was exquisitely cast:

Not only did the in-house soloists as Nanaka Ogawa, Anna Yeh, Izabella Graciková (wonderfully captivating), Momona Sakakibara, Shoma Ogasawara and Joao Gomes, give beautiful, precise and extremely professionally exciting performances, but also the main roles, which were danced by the „guests".

The first soloists of the Dutch National Ballet and international Stars, Anna Tsyngakova, who has won many international awards, and the gorgeous Georgian dancer Giorgi Potskhishvili (who has such a jump quality - something I haven't seen in years. Explosive!) brought Kitri (Quitéria) and Basil (Basílio) to life at the Stage of the Brno National Ballet. Needless to go into technical details, there's no need to write about that, when the storytelling is happening on stage and their performances are more than perfect. More than that, they were, as mentioned above, explosive!

Both artists brought to the stage not only technical brilliance but also the extraordinary dramatic talent that has earned them recognition on world stages, including Covent Garden and the Paris Opera.

The unique contrast between both is amazing and so full of harmony. Her delicate, feminine ways and his masculine, tall figure, which contrasts strongly with the small company (I don't mean the number of dancers, I mean their height - the whole, extremely homogenous company, is not tall), is, how can I put it, a „kick". The kind of experience that happens so seldom nowadays. Both are quick, in times when dancers nowadays tend to be always slower. Both are strong – but in different ways; she femininely, he extremely manly. And strong stage presence.

This time, I am making an exception and won't write about technique at all. It is not necessary. It'd be a redundancy.

There's not much more to say, except that it was a complete joy and honour to be part of this evening!