Carmen and Boléro

Did I ever tell you that I love Philadelphia? Not only because of its Art Museum, The Barnes Foundation, The Rodin Museum and now the newly opened Calder Gardens; but also, for its world renown Philadelphia Orchestra and Opera Philadelphia, without forgetting that there is a daily direct flight to Madrid from its International Airport. However, my last love is the Philadelphia Ballet’s performance this season of Carmen and Boléro both choreographed by the Spaniard Ángel Corella.

It is well known that French composers are often inspired by Spanish culture due to its color and passion from bullfighting to flamenco. Carmen (1875), the opera by Georges Bizet, based on the novella of the same name by Prosper Mérimée, has plenty of all of the above. Set in Seville, Carmen, a fiery gypsy, who titles the work, with the jealous soldier Don José, the bullfighter Escamillo, and his entire cuadrilla, represents a romanticized Spain. The first well-known ballet version of Carmen was choreographed in 1949 by Roland Petit for his company, Les Ballets de Paris.

Likewise, Maurice Ravel wrote the ballet Boléro (1928) based on the popular Spanish dance that dates from the late 18^th century, which was accompanied by guitar and castanets—other traditional elements of Spanish folklore. It’s interesting to note that Frédéric Chopin, Clara Schumann, Giuseppe Verdi, Léo Delibes, and Camille Saint-Saëns among other musicians, had composed pieces based on the bolero dance before Ravel.

Ángel Corella had a brilliant career as a dancer in Spain and all over the world before becoming the Artistic Director of Philadelphia Ballet in 2014. He was a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre and performed as a guest artist at The Royal Ballet in London, La Scala Ballet in Milan, the New York City Ballet, and the Kirov Ballet in Saint Petersburg among many others. He has received numerous honors, glowing reviews and has danced in countless roles. His equally outstanding work as a choreographer was evident in last week’s presentation of Carmen and Boléro at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.

We have already stablished that both ballets are inspired in the culture and traditions of southern Spain, but at the same time they couldn’t be more different in style. Carmen followed closely the opera plot, emphasizing the women working in the cigar factory and the conflict between Fernanda and the protagonist. Carmen, in her role as the female Don Juan, seduces Don José and Escamillo in two provocative, sexy scenes. The staging also evokes the Spanish themes: a red bull hovers in the second part, an altar under a huge cross in the last. The props are equally folkloric; red fans for the women, knives and guns for the men. The costumes are traditional as well and the music recreated the sound of the castanets and the palmas (clapping). However, there was a short prelude with Don José in jail, dancing in extreme gymnastic movements, that foreshadowed not only his ending, but the next piece, Boléro.

Boléro is a tour-de-force of contemporary dancing and choreography in less than twenty minutes. The women and the men wear identical black leotards with cuttings. There are no protagonists or plot; no props, no fans, no castanets, just bodies. The dancers grow in numbers from one to the entire corps de ballet; exactly to sixty dancers to commemorate the company’s sixtieth anniversary.

There is one scene in each ballet that stands in my mind and reveals the intrinsic difference of both pieces. In Carmen Escamillo is carried on the shoulders of his cuadrilla, celebrating his triumph in the bullring. In Boléro the sixty dancers raise each other indiscriminately, they are all equally triumphant.

When I was in graduate school at Emory University, my favorite professor, the novelist Carlos Rojas, taught us the difference between a “españolada” and “españolidad.” The first exaggerates certain traits that are typically Spanish while the second reflects the true Spanish character.

Ángel Corella has grown as a choreographer from one who could follow traditions beautifully to one who could create his own. Congratulations, Ángel!

 

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2025 at 8:58 pm by conchaalborg and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.