For the foreseeable future, anything of Russian origin is understandably cancelled in Poland, which in terms of ballet means no Nutcracker (Tchaikovsky) and no Cinderella (Prokofiev), leaving a sizeable hole in family-oriented repertoire. Step forward Anna Hop, to fill it with an ingenious interpretation of Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio (Pinokio in Polish).
Still a dancer in the corps de ballet, this is Hop’s fourth production for the company and her first full-evening work on the main stage. There are many reasons to admire this new creation including her success in making a ballet that will appeal to children who only know of Pinocchio through Walt Disney’s cartoon film, and yet still faithfully represents the morality tale that Collodi intended (his 1883 novel was an allegory about children taken into serfdom through urbanised industrialisation).
Hop doesn’t cut corners. She has weaved 35 tightly integrated scenes into a linear treatment that faithfully represents Pinokio’s adventures. As an aside, the synopsis in the programme (in English as well as Polish) was an outstanding guide for anyone not familiar with the tale. It was however (for me, at least) a redundant aid since the narrative onstage flowed with seamless clarity.
Hop has assembled an outstanding team of co-creatives and the design for Pinokio was a triumph, both in Katarzyna Rott’s extraordinary variety of costumes (for a cast of over 70) and in the vivid imagery of Małgorzata Szabłowska’s colourful set designs, incorporating striking multimedia impacts. As in Hop’s stunning earlier work, Exodus, her creative concept involves a vertical axis with performers occasionally on platforms above the stage, bringing added depth to the work.
Making sure that the whole production was homegrown, Hop chose music by Mieczysław Weinberg, a Polish-born Jewish composer who fled Warsaw on the eve of Nazi occupation to escape (ironically) to the Soviet Union (all his immediate family died in concentration camps). Much of the score comes from Weinberg’s The Golden Key (a story based on Pinokio), composed in the mid-1950s, and Hop – working with the excellent, demonstrative conductor, Marta Kluczyńska – has herself orchestrated Weinberg’s music into a marvellous new ballet score that is commendably illustrative of the onstage action. It is a remarkable achievement quite apart from her choreography.
A crucial innovation is to have three dancers perform the title role. Anastasia Bilokon is the freshly carved puppet, made by Gepetto (given an indelible benign identity by Łukasz Tużnik). Bilokon perfectly epitomised the gangly, uncoordinated newness of sentient movement, brought to life in MacMillanesque lifts through a pas de trois with Tużnik and the Cricket (Geppetto’s strange lodger); a striking performance by Marko Juusela. Hop uses another dancer (Vladimir Yaroshenko) in the final two scenes after Pinokio has been turned into a human boy by the Blue Fairy (Evelina Godunova), utilising this finale for a gorgeous pas de deux.
The middle Pinokio carries most of the story with the wooden boy charismatically portrayed by Diogo de Oliveira, who managed to exude an essence of the Disney character alongside his portrayal of the wilful and mischievous puppet on his adventures with the Fox and Cat (sinuous performances by Kristóf Szabo and Karolina Kiermut). Pressed by this pernicious pair, Pinokio wins a talent show and is hired by the theatre director (Paweł Koncewoj) to perform in his shows. Hop provided excellent repetitive choreographic motifs to illustrate these theatrical scenes.
Four fairies in differently coloured tutus are the benevolent overseers of Pinokio’s journey to become human. In addition to the aforementioned Godunova, these roles are performed charmingly by Mai Kageyama, Yuka Ebihara and Yume Okano, bringing strong resonances of both The Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella to their collective Fairy Godmother compassion.
Considerable humour will appeal to children and adults alike. Gepetto’s other creations include three little pigs (Wiktoria Kotlińska, Barbara Derleta and Paulina Magier) dressed as vintage ballerinas in chubby body suits and the underwater scenes have three (uncredited) children as tiny shrimps who stole their every scene and commanded thunderous applause at the curtain call! These ocean-floor scenes also included ingenious fish costumes that ran across dancers’ outstretched arms.
This world premiere would have benefitted from more preparation time and although there were no obvious under-rehearsed issues in the performance, some lighting cues were off. Such minor matters will be rectified, and this superb new family ballet deserves to be around for many years to come.
It is worth noting that the creative team is virtually all-female: apart from the long-deceased composer the only other male was Hop’s assistant, Piotr Stańczyk, formerly of the National Ballet of Canada. However, it’s also important to pay tribute to another man: the company’s long-standing artistic director, Krzysztof Pastor, for recognising and nurturing this remarkable choreographic talent from within. Are there any other examples of a female corps de ballet dancer in a major national company being entrusted to create the season’s only new full-length ballet on the main stage? It is clear that Hop has achieved the success that merits such faith.
Graham's trip was funded by Polish National Ballet
