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The aging knight at the center of the classic ballet "Don Quixote" has traditionally been a role for standing and gesturing, not dancing. A new production at a Turkish state opera and ballet company changes that.
The Samsun State Opera and Ballet is preparing to premiere its staging of the 19th-century ballet this week at the Ataturk Cultural Center’s Aydin Gun Stage. A second performance is scheduled for Oct. 24.
Choreographer Mehmet Balkan said he set out to break with the way the title character is usually portrayed.
Balkan said the character steps out of a conventional supporting role and tells the story through dance. "That’s why I think the Don Quixote we are staging now is very special," he said.
"The person playing Don Quixote in this ballet has always been depicted as an old, motionless role. I didn’t do it that way," Balkan said after a rehearsal. "Don Quixote drifts between reality and dream. Sometimes he falls for Kitri, sometimes for Dulcinea."
Based on the novel by Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, the ballet was first staged in 1869 with choreography by Marius Petipa. Balkan first staged it about 25 years ago in Portugal and says he tries to add something new each time.
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The two-act production, set to music by Ludwig Minkus, involves 190 dancers, musicians and technical crew.
Orcun Unal, who dances Don Quixote, described him as a man driven mad by chivalric romances. "He’s terrified of windmills," Unal said. "While fighting one, he gets dizzy, collapses and sees Dulcinea in his dream."
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