Junior Ballet Antwerp, the pre-professional program in the form of a 'junior company' is currently pulling out all the stops. In the studio, intensive rehearsals are taking place on a contemporary version of the classical ballet 'Cinderella' in a choreography by Altea Nuñez and artistic director Alain Honorez. With this, he rigorously builds further on classical heritage and ties a broad range of innovative elements to it, even the smallest cogs are attuned to each other. This enchanting family spectacle will be performed in the magnificent Handelsbeurs. Klassiek-Centraal finds out more about the making of.
-Junior Ballet Antwerp has already been seen in various contemporary styles and choreographies. With this production, you return to basics.
Alain Honorez: We started the fourth season full of energy and are pulling out something very special this year. One of the great classics that we breathe new life into. The story is constructed in a very creative way like a Lego house, block by block. We chose to construct a storyline that aligns more with our current society.
-That calls for an explanation.
A.H.: We're moving away from the fairy tale premise. The good fairy who appears on stage… We asked ourselves: how can we make the story more relevant? We started working more personally and chose to have Cinderella's mother, who dies at the beginning of the story, return as a ghost, as a 'spirit'. She watches over her daughter's well-being and will guide her to the ball. That is an enormous shift to somewhat dim the fairy tale quality. A fresh and original perspective that makes the subject more realistic and brings the family bond strongly to the fore. It is a blend of reality and imagination and between tradition and modernity.
-Young people grow up in a difficult time period.
A.H.: Not only that, we wanted to make the whole thing more relevant and align it more with reality. Everyone eventually deals with the loss of family or friends. How can we weave that into the story in a visual way? It's about motifs and variations, love in many shades.
-You also have to take into account the number of dancers at your disposal. Is that a limitation or does it sharpen your imagination?
A.H.: JBA is a fairly small group. We are 15 this year: 12 girls and 3 boys. When a company dances this ballet, we're already talking about 50 to 60 dancers on stage. Some ensembles take it even bigger! With us, it becomes something very intimate, although the cast is expanded with students from the fifth grade of the Royal Ballet School and some children from Prins Dries. This way we double our group and we also have just over 30 dancers on stage.
-All young people who continue their studies here are talented. Choosing someone for a leading role is a delicate task!
A.H.: We obviously have different casts. We will dance at least eight performances at the Handelsbeurs with three different casts. JBA has three boys. We give all three of them the opportunity to dance the role of the prince. They each get a Cinderella at their side. The three boys also have other roles in the production; they will alternate. For the girls, besides Cinderella, there are many beautiful roles, including the stepsisters. These roles are often presented very caricaturally. We won't go down that path.
-A family performance, and especially for the very youngest, calls for some humor.
A.H.: In the development of the characters, humor will be present, certainly with regard to the stepsisters: we try to bring out the character traits of the dancers in question. One is hyperactive, the other is a devil-may-care type. I still remember the words of Kathryn Bennetts when she rehearsed the choreography of 'Impressing the Czar' by William Forsythe at Ballet Vlaanderen: "Don't play a character, but become the character".
-It is an appeal to their empathy and creativity.
A.H.: If the girls bring their role with conviction, they become particularly funny acts.
-Method acting!
A.H.: With the necessary acting but without it becoming overacting. Our slogan for this production: "It is a family performance for everyone who wants to keep dreaming of a better tomorrow." I am sometimes asked the question: "Why Cinderella? Isn't there a new story?" I am certainly in favor of forward-thinking and introducing new things. But I am also in favor of cherishing the legacy and building on it. We must honor the foundations of classical ballet: the precision, elegance, the bravura. These achievements must be passed on to future generations. We shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. I see it as my task to further develop it so that the public can appreciate and understand this ballet form. No one benefits from dragging an old dragon out of the closet. That no longer fits in our society. You can still bring something based on it and put it in a new accessible jacket for today's audience. The glass slipper becomes a pointe shoe for us. All the young ladies go beautifully dressed to the ball on pointes.
-JBA positions itself like never before!
A.H.: What is very special is that we were able to book a live orchestra for this performance. CASCO PHIL, the Belgian Chamber Philharmonic, under the direction of Michiel Delanghe, will be present. Besides that, something very special will happen on the set in the visualization of the performance. The architecture of the Handelsbeurs is very specific, very present. The space is gigantic. Set pieces disappear into nothing there. That's why we use the space itself as decor. It will be projected in 3D. The entire architecture is actually drawn in 3D-mapping to then add the necessary colors, atmospheres and sometimes even moving images. It will be breathtaking, even groundbreaking. Such a mapping has never happened in the Handelsbeurs before. The creators create a 3D platform of the entire space, which is integrated into the computer. Via animation it is all drawn out. Extra depth can be given to each decorative element in the space, a different color, alignment, etc… The combination of dance, music, lighting and 3D-mapping will undoubtedly be magical.
-Where will the audience sit?
A.H.: We are also working on the development of a seating plan. There is a lot involved. The Handelsbeurs is not an opera or concert hall. We will build an entire construction where each row will be higher than the one before it. So you still get the feeling of a grandstand. We perform eight performances from February 17 during the Krokusvakantie. During the week performances are at 8 p.m. and on Sundays at 5 p.m. Ticket sales started on October 1.
-You work full-time with your wife on the choreography and organization. Constantly being on each other's case, does that never create tension?
A.H.: It happens, I'm very honest about that. Sharing my life with Altea is a gift, we complement each other. Her strength is of course her talent for thinking up choreographies: working out patterns and figures. Thinking of new alliances between music and dance, mainly consisting of group movements. My contribution is telling the story and deepening the characters. Something I myself very much enjoyed doing during my dancing career. Besides that, I'm attempting choreography for the first time. Those are mainly solos and duets, which we create together.
-Can you just adapt an original ballet to your liking?
A.H.: Everything is new. There is nothing we have borrowed from another version. We simply started from scratch. The only thing we base ourselves on is the music of Prokofjev, the musical alchemy of it. We have been working on this project for almost two years now. The ideas kept bubbling up. What works is retained and the rest was scrapped as ballast. It is work in progress. Also laying the necessary contacts. Who designs and makes the costumes? A young talent from our own soil, Jolien De Weerdt, who works in the costume workshop of Ballet Vlaanderen, has come on board. It is her very first production that she designs herself. Ria Van Looveren, who led the costume workshop of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen for years, is retired but has a fondness for classical costumes and immediately offered her services. She coordinates everything. For one cast, 94 costumes are made and so we have three for various roles!
-All in all, this production must carry a gigantic price tag!
A.H.: That's why we are looking for sponsors! A risk is being taken. I am certainly not impulsive about that and work very intuitively. That was already the case as a dancer. I feel that all the cards are in the right place. We're taking a very big leap. The time is ripe to put classical ballet back on the map in Belgium. In recent years it has hardly been featured. It is necessary that we take care of it.
-Are you positioning yourself as an advocate?
A.H.: Belgium is known worldwide for innovation, social relevance, inclusivity. Agreed, that is all important. These are things that an average audience can relate to because they do and experience those things themselves. But the less we bring pieces of history and show them to the public, the more the public will stop knowing and appreciating that history. My vision: there is a place for all forms of dance art. If we want to continue offering a rich cultural landscape, we need to be able to showcase everything. What is innovative today will be passé in five years. Imagine if the KMSKA had discarded all works by Rubens in favor of contemporary work! The paintings are surrounded with the greatest care for the next generations. Meticulous work is done on the restoration.
That care and pride are also needed in the ballet world. It is up to us to continue nurturing it. Our generation must do it. Let us hope it continues on an upward trajectory. The children who start at the Royal Ballet School here and have the ambition to one day stand on stage as ballet dancers must be able to dream and have role models to look up to. That is so important.
-What else is happening at JBA after Cinderella?
A.H.: With 'Cinderella' the season doesn't stop, of course. As compensation, there is an evening in April at the Opera featuring exclusively modern work. This allows our dancers to switch from one dance style to another. On the program is a version of Ravel's 'Bolero', a contemporary choreography by Ihsan Rustem. We also present a creation by young British choreographer Andrew McNicol who will work with our dancers in November and a choreography by Altea. We end the season with a new version of our 'Miniatures.' Each one new choreographies, again a diverse palette of emotions, colors and styles.
Now it's time to look forward to the sparkling 'Cinderella' by JBA, a feast for the eyes and ears. A performance that will enchant young hearts.
WHO: Junior Ballet Antwerp
WHAT: Cinderella
WHERE: Handelsbeurs, Antwerpen
WHEN: 17 February 2023 (première) to 26 February 2023.