You might expect a ballet about Coco Chanel to look good, and this one does, right from the first moment. The sets, costumes and lighting leave a lasting overall impression of elegance and beauty.
Belgian-Colombian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa has said that she wants to reveal ‘the essence’ of Chanel in this chronological progression through Chanel’s life, and the many facets of her personality and development. The ballet is a co-production of Hong Kong Ballet (first performed in March 2023), Atlanta Ballet (performed in February 2024) and Queensland Ballet.
The work is tightly constructed, with many different scenes shifting smoothly from Chanel’s days performing in cafés with her sister Julia (Alisa Pukkinen), to her development as a fashion designer, her many affairs with men who supported her financially, her association with a Nazi officer, her subsequent exile from Paris, and her triumphant return.
Chanel is not a likeable character, although her determination, creativity and nonconformism can seem admirable. She is a ruthless opportunist, anti-Semitic and a Nazi collaborator. This may be why she is represented by two dancers. Chanel (Neneka Yoshida) might appeal more to the audience, while Shadow Chanel (Kaho Kato) is the darker side of her character. Chanel is at first troubled by her conscience, but by the end, the two merge into one.
Chanel and her Shadow are on stage most of the time, with Yoshida conveying a huge range of emotions and behaviours, as well as Chanel’s elegance. The roles of the lovers Boy Capel (Patricio Revé), Etienne Balsan (D’Arcy Brazier) and Stravinsky (Joshua Ostermann) are less dominant, but danced with fervour. Boy Capel is Chanel’s main love, present as a ghost after his death in a car crash, a faintly comical scene ending with him covered by a heap of cartoon-like car fragments rendered on pieces of card. Stravinsky is particularly dramatic, as he struggles to write the music for Rite of Spring, with parts of that music and ballet introducing a primeval contrast with the world of French fashion. Vito Bernasconi is a forbidding presence as the Nazi officer Hans Günther von Dincklage.
In black-striped white unitards, Georgia Swan and Edison Manuel as the Chanel logo curve and twine around each other sinuously. Luke DiMattina dances with precision and assurance as a resilient Pierre Wertheimer, the owner of the Chanel No. 5 perfume and Chanel’s eventual financial saviour.
The movement is mostly classical for the main characters, while the ensembles of seamstresses, and a chorus of black-clad men, are vigorously staccato and spiky in a contemporary style. The seamstresses cutting, folding and smoothing fabric, and dancing with their work tables, are hypnotising. The patterns the ensemble dancers form on stage, and their intricate arm movements, are highlights of the work. Occasionally, movement in unison is a little ragged.
Shadow Chanel wears black pants and top, and strings of pearls throughout, while Chanel is at first in white. Kato is a steely, sinister presence, often behind Chanel or to the side, or twining around her. Both almost always have a cigarette in their hand, or awkwardly clamped between their lips. Perhaps the cigarette could be dispensed with when they need their hands?
The designs of set and costumes (Jérôme Kaplan) and lighting (Billy Chan, recreated by Jon Buswell) are a triumph. The set is minimal, but beautiful, with chairs that rise to become unusual chandeliers, an arch of white roses over the stage, and a curved staircase whose two halves can be moved together or apart reflecting the dramatic action. The main colour is white in the first act, and black in the second. Pools of light and shadows are used to great effect.
The colours of the costumes are mostly subdued – black, white, cream, grey, navy, mushroom pink. An exception is the fringed pink and purple dress Chanel designs early in her career for actor Gabrielle Dorziat (Vanessa Morelli). The flower girls representing different perfumes, and the models in floral Dior-style dresses wear the only bright, light colours. When Chanel dances with her Nazi lover, she wears a red satin dress, with its obvious symbolism.
The music, a mixture of live (Camerata Queensland's Chamber Orchestra conducted by Nigel Gaynor) and electronic sounds, is by UK-based Peter Salem, who has composed numerous ballet scores. It creates many different moods, moving from lighter in Act 1 to much darker in Act 2. For example, it echoes popular music of Chanel’s day, changes to a minimalist style in keeping with the pared-down elegance of her designs, moves to harsh grinding beats for the Nazi occupation scene, and tinkling doll-like music for the models wearing postwar Dior designs.
Congratulations to Queensland Ballet for presenting this work by Lopez Ochoa, someone whose choreography we don’t often get a chance to see in Australia. This is a winner for the company, with all shows sold out.
