Amal Choucri Catta falls under a Cuban spell The Magic of Dance, National Ballet of Cuba, general director and choreographer Alicia Alonso; Cairo Opera Orchestra cond. Giovanni Duarte; Main Hall, Cairo Opera House, 14 to 16 Sept., Sayed Darwish Theatre, Alexandria, 17 and 18 Sept. Summer may not be over yet and the heat still on but Cairo Opera's new season has already opened, beginning with a phenomenal spectacle, The Magic of Dance, by the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, one of the world's leading dance companies. On opening night they captivated the audience with their spectacular choice of dances enhanced by enchanting sequences of choreography and wonderful colours and costumes, backdrops and sets that evoked the spirit of the island of Cuba. The six dances chosen from among the most beautiful and popular of romantic and classical ballets began with an alluring scene from the second act of Adolphe Adam's Giselle : we were given the drama and mystery in an excellent interpretation by the four stars of the show. As the curtain rises following the orchestral prelude the scene is dark and gloomy. The gamekeeper, Hilarion, visits Giselle's grave, while the Wilis -- souls of maidens who died before their wedding night -- leave their graves to exact their revenge on men. They suddenly appear from behind the trees of the dusky forest, engaging Hilarion in a turbulent dance until he drops dead with exhaustion. When Duke Albecht visits Giselle's grave he is, in turn, caught by the Wilis but Giselle intervenes. She pleads with the Wilis' queen and with the first dim light of dawn the Wilis and Giselle return to their graves while Albecht sadly leaves the scene to loud applause. The soloists and corps-de-ballet were brilliant; the perfect synchronisation of their movements and their ease and elegance were particularly appreciated. The mood changed with the second dance, the grand divertissement from act three of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty. The scene is the wedding of Princess Aurora to Prince Desire, who woke her from her hundred-year- sleep after she had been cursed by the wicked fairy Carabossa. Prince Desire and Aurora joined the corps-de-ballet to the tunes of a vivid polonaise. The costumes d'epoque were enchanting, the dancers magnificent and the whole performance positively thrilling. The third dance was the lovely waltz of the flowers and the pas-de-deux in Confiturenland from the only ballet that boasts a Christmas tree, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. The waltz of the flowers is an exquisite piece of music. The dance was performed by 10 beautiful ballerinas and included a lovely pas-de-deux by the Sugarplum Fairy and her cavalier. The second half of the programme opened with scenes from Leo Delibes' Coppelia, or "The girl with the Enamel Eyes", a pantomime ballet featuring young Franz, who is in love with Swanilda while being intrigued by Coppelia's immobility. She is a doll created by the alchemist Coppelius, who tries to engineer a union between Coppelia and Franz, nearly killing the young man. Franz is saved by Swanilda and wedding bells ring for them in the third act. They dance an exciting pas-de-deux to which the Mazurka of the first act has been added together with the corps-de-ballet. Choreographer Alicia Alonso gracefully and successfully amalgamated different sequences, turning each of her artistic conceptions into a spectacular event. Prima ballerina assoluta and director general of Nacional Ballet de Cuba, Alonso is one of the most outstanding personalities in ballet history. Born in Havana, she began ballet studies in 1931 and her professional career in 1938 on Broadway. A year later she joined the American Ballet Caravan, predecessor of today's New York City Ballet. In 1940 she joined the Ballet Theatre of New York, her first step on the path to fame and glory. In 1948 she founded the Ballet Alicia Alonso in Havana, which eventually became the National Ballet of Cuba. Her choreographic versions of the great classics have been adopted by many companies, including the Opera de Paris, the Vienna Opera and La Scala. Alicia Alonso has been awarded numerous honorary degrees and prizes in Cuba and other countries and occupies an esteemed place in the world of ballet. In 1993 she visited Egypt as a tourist, the only holiday she had ever taken, and when she returned to Cuba the Nacional Ballet performed Cleopatra, a ballet the germ of which she conceived while in Egypt. On opening night the second part of the programme also comprised scenes from acts one and two of Ludwig Minkus' Don Quichote, including the bullfighters' entrance into the village square, featuring Espada and Mercedes, while the sequence from act three, with Kitri and Basilio's grand pas-de-deux, stole the show. The final item on the programme was scenes from the second act of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake set in the enchanted forest where Prince Siegfried meets Odette, transformed into a swan by the evil Rothbart. She and the ladies of her court return in human form each night, when they perform their radiant dance of hope, before returning to the lake as swans at daybreak. In their short tutus, with crowns of feathers, they were a beautiful sight. Cairo Opera Orchestra conducted by Giovanni Duarte of the Cuban National Ballet, gave us some fascinating music. Duarte has been conducting the National Ballet's performances since 2001 and is musical director and conductor of the Cuban National Lyrical Orchestra. After these lavish performances the mood changed with the music of Louis Morau Gottschalk, an American pianist and composer of French origin. Born in New Orleans in 1829, he died in Tijuca, Brazil, in 1869. He lived in France for ten years and on his return to the US pursued a career as pianist, playing his own compositions inspired by local rhythms, by Creole music and traditional folklore. To Gottschalk's symphony Night of the Tropics, in two movements "Night" and "Creole Party", Alonso has choreographed a stunning dance. She chose a scene from the second movement, eloquently reminiscent of Caribbean Art de Vivre, of dusky nights, exotic perfumes and memories of the deep blue sea. With this dance Alonso introduced her Cairene audience to a fabulous new world of beauty and mystery and as the curtain fell the audience roared its approval. They had witnessed a performance unlikely to be forgotten any time soon.
