Tag Archives: Edgar Degas

Ballet, Sydney Festival 2019, Theatre

THE NUTCRACKER AND I : A SUBLIME AND ENCHANTING EXPERIENCE

 

The Nutcracker and I, by Alexandra Dariescu, with ballerina Désirée Ballantyne, animations by Yeast Culture, and choreography by Jenna Lee. Photo by Mark Allen

Blending a piano rendition of Tchaikovky’s romantic melodies with 35,000 digital images and a live ballerina THE NUTCRACKER AND I produces a purely enjoyable and magical creation. Having both a world renowned concert pianist and ballerina performing against constantly changing colourful backgrounds and characters is a sublime and enchanting experience.

The production of THE NUTCRACKER AND I is quite beautiful but an unusual format. Images are projected onto a see-through black gauze screen at the front of the stage. Pianist Alexandra Dariescu and ballerina Désirée Ballantyne are illuminated behind the screen. The images tell the classical Nutcracker story. Snow is falling as the Silberhaus family decorates their Christmas tree. The magician and toymaker Drosselmeyer arrives. Presents are exchanged including a nutcracker. Clara’s dream that night includes the nutcracker fighting with the Mouse King before being transformed into a prince. The familiar story continues with matching images, both static and dynamic, on screen.                                               Continue reading THE NUTCRACKER AND I : A SUBLIME AND ENCHANTING EXPERIENCE →

Cinema, Visual Arts

Exhibition on Screen -The Impressionists

Impressionists-inset

This is a dazzling, gloriously photographed film documenting an amazing exhibtion jointly curated by three major international museums. It looks at the work of the major Impressionists (Monet, Manet ,Cezanne, Degas, Sisley, Renoir, Cassatt, Morisot et al). Who were they behind the public face of their works? What is the story behind their works?How and why exactly did they paint? What is the source of their enduring appeal? What inspired them? All these questions and more are answered in this stunning film.

Part of the broader ‘Exhibition on Screen’ series, THE IMPRESSIONISTS AND THE MAN WHO MADAE THEM is a hugely insightful documentary. The exhibition debuted in Paris’s Musée du Luxembourg last October, is finishing today at  London’s National Gallery and next moves on to the  Philadelphia Museum of Art between this June and September. Continue reading Exhibition on Screen -The Impressionists →