HCMC – HBSO’s ballet division will mount its major success Suite Ballet Carmen at the Saigon Opera House for a single performance on April 2.
This is the main item in a three-piece evening. The other ballets are Depaysement (“disorientation”) and Falling Angels.
Falling Angels is short and for just three dancers. It explores the ambiguities of masculinity and femininity, and the choreographer is Nguyen Phuc Hung.
Depaysement uses eight dancers in a series of configurations to music by Satie, Chopin and others. It was choreographed by Julien Guerin.
Carmen is of course Bizet’s most famous opera. It wasn’t until eighty years later that it was turned into a ballet in Cuba.
Rodion Shchedrin used Bizet’s melodies but the general tone was more relaxed. The original choreography was by Alberto Alonso, re-staged for Saigon by Kim Quy.
Carmen will be danced by Nguyen Thu Trang and Don Jose by Ho Phi Diep.
Ticket prices are from VND400,000 to VND750,000, with a special concession for students of VND80,000.
The event begins at 8pm.