Amal Choucri Catta hails the freedom fighters Zorba ballet, music by Mikis Theodorakis, choreography by Lorca Massine, presented by the Cairo Opera Ballet Company, directed by Abdel- Moneim Kamel, Cairo Opera Orchestra and A Capella Choir, conductor Ivan Filev. Venues: Main Hall, Cairo Opera House, 12 & 13 April, 8pm; Sayed Darwish Theatre, Alexandria, 12 & 22 April, 8pm. Zorba was back for two nights on Cairo Opera House's main stage, with star dancer Hani Hassan in the title role on opening night. The ballet, produced by the Opera House and choreographed by Lorca Massine for Cairo's Ballet Company a few years ago, is undoubtedly one of the most popular in Egypt and around the world. Originally created by Massine in 1988 for the Arena di Verona, Italy, Zorba has been viewed by approximately three million spectators in 30 different countries. In view of its astounding success, Lorca Massine founded the Zorba Company in Poland, going on regular " Zorba tours" around the globe. Last week, the ballet's performers danced to a full house on each of the two nights on programme, with Mikis Theodorakis's music played by the Cairo Opera Orchestra and an excellent A Capella Choir conducted by Ivan Filev. Critics have often asked what it was that made Zorba as popular as it has become. Well, the music is rather simple, the plot candid and the general atmosphere somewhat murky. Jealousy and greed, disaster and death, are sparingly tinted with nostalgia, while love and friendship flourish magnanimously, just as in many other tales. There is, however, a difference with regard to Zorba : the ballet never fails to strike a chord in the hearts of its viewers, with characters as pathetic as Madame Hortense, who lives in a dream of glorious bygone days, while enjoying her very own signature tune whenever she appears on stage; or young Marina, a widow loved and desired by the village's heartthrob, Yorgos, and Zorba, the unbiased adventurer who bears no grudges against anyone, while loving women as much as he loves life. His performance is smooth and flowing and his movements replete with smiles and occasional chuckles: a debonair, happy-go-lucky old chap who seems to be floating in a world devoid of sadness, his feet barely touching the ground while dancing the Sirtaki. Hani Hassan's interpretation was, once again, fabulous on opening night. It was in 1917 when the famous Greek author, Nikos Kazantzakis, met Georges Zorba on a trip to the Peloponnese, planning to establish a business relationship. When it did not succeed they decided to go their separate ways. Twenty-five years after this rather strange, though unforgettable encounter, Kazantzakis resolved to put his experience to paper. Between 1941 and 1943, World War II had reached Greece and the author retired to one of the Greek islands on the Aegean Sea in the Saronic Gulf. There he reminisced over the man Georges Zorba, over his attitude towards life and his numerous adventures. Published in 1946, Kazantzakis's novel, Alexis Zorba, turned into an instant international hit and Zorba himself into a philosophy of life. Just as his author, who had been fighting all his life for the cause of freedom, Zorba lived and loved, talked and danced, for freedom. Among his numerous works, Nikos Kazantzakis created several sensational novels, such as Freedom or Death in 1953 and Christ Recrucified in 1954. Born in 1883, he died in 1957 and on his tomb in Heraklion visitors can read the following inscription: "I have nothing to wish for, I have nothing to fear, I am free." This sincere desire for freedom has, in later years, played an important part in the life of yet another prominent Greek personality: composer Mikis Theodorakis, born in 1925 on the Greek island of Chios. He had always loved music, mainly folklore, but his early years were clouded by sorrow and suffering: he was tortured during WWII and, at a later date, arrested as Communist after the Greek military coup and imprisoned from 1967 to 1970. He studied at the Athens Conservatoire and at the Conservatoire de Paris, with the celebrated Olivier Messiaen, one of the main composers of the 20th century. In Paris, Theodorakis's music gained worldwide recognition and in 1957 he was awarded first prize at the Moscow Festival. In 1959, his ballet Antigone at Covent Garden attracted the attention of Darius Milhaud who entered his name for the American Copley Music Prize, as best European composer of the year. However, in 1967, while Greece had fallen under right-wing rule, Theodorakis's music was banned. Yet, while he was in prison, the world did not remain silent, and the composer was released in response to worldwide appeals. In 1967 he founded the Movement for Peace and Culture, giving concerts throughout Greece and in 1983, was awarded the Lenin Prize for Peace. Theodorakis's works include two operas, ballets, oratorios, seven symphonies, piano concertos, over 1000 songs and song- cycles, and film scores such as Zorba the Greek and Z. Zorba 's plot is based on the film, as well as on Kazantzakis's original novel, and on Theodorakis's music with a new symphonic and choral score, beautifully sung by Cairo's A Capella Choir. It must, however, be said that Lorca Massine's excellent choreography is largely responsible for the ballet's constant success. Last week, at Cairo Opera's Main Hall, star ballerina Erminia Kamel gave her audience a lovely version of Marina, the young widow in love with John, the American tourist who tries to be everybody's friend, but whose friendship is undesired. As percussions rumble on, Yorgos kicks him out of the village square while Zorba tries in vain to reconcile the two young men. One of the ballet's finest sequences is the nostalgic aria opening the second part of the spectacle, marvelously sung by mezzo-soprano Hanan El-Guindi, undoubtedly the real Prima Donna of Cairo's Opera House. Her song comes as a warning, an omen of pending disaster, calling Marina's attention to the tragedy that awaits her, while Marina herself is just about to declare her love for John with whom she is performing a wonderful pas-de-deux. But when Yorgos appears and the village men start hounding the poor girl, everyone knows she will be killed -- just as she was killed in the novel and, later on, in the film. When she dies, John seeks revenge, but Zorba stops him: there will be other women for him to love and other romances to experience; he should try to forget, try to dance and enjoy his freedom. John, who still cannot abandon his classical way of performing, does his best. One day, when Zorba discovers Madame Hortense, who is dying after having been clandestinely deprived of her few belongings by veiled village females, he is filled with bitterness and anguish. That is when John turns up, giving him one of his own lessons on freedom. After all, life does have to go on and death will come to each and every one in due time. Let us therefore enjoy our freedom and if we do not have it, let us fight for it, as Kazantzakis did, and as Theodorakis did, and as Zorba did, and does every time he appears on one of the world's stages. On both nights at Cairo's Main Hall, all star dancers were perfect and the entire ensemble brilliant. As they repeatedly danced the Sirtaki, closing the ballet with a flourish, the house yelled with delight.
