Ballet de Catalunya triumphs with its exceptional work.

The great expectation aroused by the premiere of Don Quixote bythe Ballet de Catalunya in the Temporada de Dansa de Terrassa led to the scheduling of an extra performance to meet all the requests for tickets. Even so, there were long lists of people at the box office waiting for last minute cancellations. On Saturday night the Centre Cultural was packed. The performance was a success as well as a miracle, since this formation with almost two years of life and with little subsidy has succeeded in dancing its first classic. Enthusiasm and technique were his allies.

At the end of this Don Quixote, the audience gave the performers long and warm applause, applause that was present throughout the entire performance. Once again it becomes clear how hungry the Catalan public is for classical dance shows. And it is also evident that an important sector of the Catalan dance world supports the idea of a national ballet to represent us. Time will tell if this Ballet de Catalunya deserves this denomination.

The company directed by Leo Sorribas, with artistic direction by Elías García and Larissa Lezhnina, has produced a lively adaptation of Marius Petipa’s 1869 libretto and choreography. In this version the characters of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza do not appear on stage, but from the stalls the actor Joel Minguet recites various texts from Cervantes’ work to situate the spectator.

On stage, the 25 dancers that make up the company plus the extraordinary participation of students from the Institut del Teatre. The choral work is cohesive and correct, although the performers are young and need to be less concerned with technique in order to perform a more expressive and natural interpretation. As a whole, the performers come out with flying colors in their classical dance variations or when they dance the folklore fragments. In the second act, the audience encountered all the elements of the late romantic ballet.

The best performance of the evening came from Rebecca Storani, the 22-year-old Italian dancer who plays the main character, Quiteria. Possessing a technique bordering on virtuosity and a strong stage personality, she was able to imprint the mischievousness required by this character and to shine in her technical evolutions. He confidently nailed all 32 fouettés in the big two-step in the second act.

His partner, Dmitry Zagrebin, guest star on this occasion, is a principal dancer with the Royal Swedish Ballet. His interpretations were characterized by his hypnotic turn and his confident leap, although he needs to refine his energy torrent, which sometimes overwhelms him.

Well, once finished this, we leave you with the promotional video of the work that the Ballet de Catalunya posted on its Youtube channel.

Pre-Show Promo “Don Quixote” – Ballet of Catalonia

News published in El Pais.