BalletMet’s Cinderella

BalletMet’s Cinderella was a traditional take on a classic story but with a few twists. The background was set in a unique way: Cinderella was in the woods and had a daydream of seeing herself as a young girl with her parents, her mother dying and father remarrying then later dying as well. This was a new and interesting way to show Cinderella’s past quickly and simply. As the prologue progressed into Act I, it became very clear that no detail was left unfinished. From the costumes, to the set, to the characterization, every detail was tended to and done so with care. Additionally, everything fit together and was coordinated extremely well.

Choreographically, there was interesting dancing during the climactic moments but a lot of the choreography over all was rather classic and repetitive. Choreographer Edward Liang choreographed into a linear narrative that already exists therefore he had to choreography inside those limitation. He did although dress Cinderella in white rather than the traditional blue and had all the other girls (except the step sisters) in blue. One thing I noticed was that Cinderella did not put the slipper on at the end but rather presented the other slipper to the prince to show that she was the girl from the ball. I greatly appreciated that the glass slipper was a point shoe. While Cinderella is a widely known tale, it was hard to follow what was going on unless the story was shown in pantomime. For example, the playbill describes the beginning of the ball and says that the Prince is missing but I entirely missed that until I read through the description.

The heart of BalletMet, as well as a large source of funding, is the school. Including the little kids was an easy way to ensure audience and also show that BalletMet is, at its core, a school and not just a company. It was also a very valuable experience for the children to be able to rehearse and perform with the company and learn what ballet is like outside of class.

The music is the story: it is scored for this particular ballet and meant to convey what is happening. The choreography was made exactly to the music and they went very well with each other. The music did though seem stronger than the choreography was. In terms of music and characterization, the stepsisters had a great connection between movement and their character.