Music serves Dance? Or vice versa? | Coppelia

VHS: Coppelia | The Kirov Ballet, Delibes

vhs video:


	• Coppelia The Kirov Ballet, Delibes Nonesuch, 1994 view larger image
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Too bad

The escenography overwrought and distracting. The choreography pretty terrible, especially the group dances. Coppelia an Coppelius disgusting. BUT Irina Schapchits is one of the most beautiful and talented dancers I have ever seen. She is the whole show. So she ended up marrying Mikhail Zvialov. What has become of her?

Music serves Dance? Or vice versa?

First of all, it must be said that this version of Coppélia is beautifully and expertly danced. The orchestra is technically excellent even if its performance is not particularly inspired, and the camera work is generally very satisfying.
However, changes have been made to the Delibes score which I, personally, find disturbing. They obviously were made to serve the choreographer's vision - which seems to have had a higher priority than did musical integrity - and they result in what may be a disappointing listening experience for those familiar with the original score. There is added music which fits stylistically with the rest, and is probably from Delibes, but it is certainly not the composer's best work. Even when the original music is used in this production, the tempi are often painfully slow, and some of the more appealing themes have been omitted. Furthermore, there are some poorly conceived gratuitous repetitions which tend, unfairly, to make the score sound trite.
These drawbacks might not be bothersome to a viewer who is not comparing this tape with other versions of Coppélia or who is not particularly attached to the original score.
It should also be mentioned that this performance was taped without spectators, so the applause and encouragement of an audience is missing. This may be a contributing factor to what I view as a certain lack of enthusiasm on the part of the dancers.
My personal opinion is that the videotape production of Coppélia by the Australian Ballet, which places much more emphasis on story line and humor - and which utilizes the score intact - is the more satisfying of the two.

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