Queensland Ballet in co-production with Hong Kong Ballet and Atlanta Ballet. PLAYHOUSE, QPAC
Performances: 4-19 October 2024
What a celebration of high fashion and brilliant dance!
The influence of Coco Chanel extends well beyond her native France to the world at large. Her impact spans effortlessly over mere time and space. She brings wonder in her fashion and in her celebrated perfume, the inimitable Chanel No. 5. This is the story of a woman who went from poverty to international stardom. This was a journey not without falls from grace and rejection by many for her co-operation with the Nazi occupying power in France in World War II. She knew poverty, fame and infamy and somehow transcended all three.
The production results from a collaboration amongst the Hong Kong Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and our very own Queensland Ballet. The international element is further enhanced by the Belgian Choreographer Anabelle Loprz Ochoa who has successfully created 14 narrative ballets to date.
Neneka Yoshida performs magically as the fashion Icon Coco Chanel. Kaho Kato adds a dimension of mystery as her future self, "Shadow Chanel", a fitting foil to the lead character.
The ballet touches on Chanel’s rumoured romance with the great Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (danced finely by Joshua Osterman). Stravinsky’s confronting ballet “The Rite of Spring” opened in Paris in 1913 to heckling and outrage. Coco Chanel attended opening night and was impressed by Stravinsky and his music. Your reviewer had the challenging experience of seeing (and feeling the thumping, auditory sensation of) “The Rite of Spring”” by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in 1972. It remains to this day an overwhelming of the senses.
Superb music from Camerata - Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra lifted the audience on opening night to sheer delight.
This ballet is a potent expression of beauty and art, to be enjoyed by the young and the young at heart.
It is also a powerful symbol of the Queensland Ballet’s creativity and eminence in the international world of dance.
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Reviewed by: Matt Foley
Choreographer : Annabelle Lopez Ochea
Composer: Peter Salem
Conductor: Nigel Gaynor
Music performed by : Camerata - Queensland's Chamber Orchestra
Duration: Two hours including one 20-minute interval
Performance seen: 7.30pm Friday 4 October 2024 (opening night)
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