Lisbon’s premier dance troupe, the National Ballet of Portugal, brings its moves to Largo São Carlos for a free performance of three quintessential pieces spanning a whole century, from the late 1800s all the way to present day. If you’ve never been to a show at Teatro Camões, don’t miss this — and if you have, chances are you’ve known about this for a long time already.
From the organizers:
Ambra Senatore (n. 1972)
Toccata e Fuga
William Forsythe (n. 1949)
Herman Schmerman
Marius Petipa (1818-1910)
Raymonda (3rd Act)
Some years ago Clara Andermatt choreographed for CNB-Companhia Nacional de Bailado a work whose title was Dance, Ballerina, Dance. It would be most appropriated to retrieve now that title as a motto for this great reunion with the public of Festival ao Largo and rename it Dance, Dancers, Dance. And the dancers will willingly dance works from Petipa to Balanchine to Forsythe. They will dance like almost everyone loves to see them: like angels that will make Festival ao Largo seem like a Garden of Earthly Delights.
Paulo Ribeiro
Artistic Director
The National Ballet of Portugal
Toccata e Fuga
Invited by Paulo Ribeiro, Ambra Senatore creates Toccata e Fuga for 18 CNB dancers. For Ambra Senatore, the act of sharing and getting together is an important element of live performance. Dance meets people – the human factor permeates all her work, which leaves room for frailness, doubt and humor. Be it solos, group pieces or performances, Ambra Senatore’s creations are inspired by life. Her dancing borrows from ‘simple gestures and daily life movements’ which are transposed to a surrealistic and changed universe. On stage, 18 individuals meet and some communicate with each other. Their movements elude the feelings that drive them. From this relation between the individual and the collective, Ambra Senatore meticulously portrays mankind and its flaws. Stubbornness, doubt, fickleness… all is observed through a magnifying glass. The choreographer draws our attention to those daily life gestures that are greatly revealing.
Choreography Ambra Senatore
Light design Fausto Bonvini
Sound design Jonathan Seilman e Marc Lacourt
World premiere
Lisbon, Teatro Camões
18th of may of 2018
Herman Schmerman
Herman Schmerman was choreographed for five dancers and premiered in 1992 by the New York City Ballet. Four months later, specially for the Frankfurt Ballet, Forsythe created an additional pas-de-deux. Since then, the work has been danced by several world ballet companies both in its entirety or as the pas-de-deux. It is apparently a competition between a man and a woman. For the choreographer, it is simply a piece about dance.
Choreography, Scenic Space and Light Design William Forsythe
Music Thom Willems
Costumes Gianni Versace and William Forsythe
Revival Maurice Causey
World premiere
Frankfurt, Opernhaus, Ballet,
Frankfurt, 26 september 1992
CNB premiere
Porto, Teatro Municipal do Porto. Rivoli
29 january 2016
Raymonda (Act III)
Many of the 19th century ballets ended with an act of great apotheosis that led to a happy ending and where all the performers – from the principal dancers to the corps de ballet – would show off their greatest technical accomplishments. Since its world premiere on 7 January at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, Raymonda has held a regular place in the repertoire, having been revisited by several choreographers. In this third act we celebrate the wedding of Raymonda and the knight Jean de Brienne, who returned from the Crusades and defeated Abderrakhman, a Saracen emir who had tried to abduct Raymonda.
Choreography Marius Petipa
Music Alexander Glazounov
Costumes Da Silva Nunes
World premiere
St. Petersburg, Mariinsky Theatre
7 january 1898
CNB premiere
(original version) Lisboa, Teatro Municipal de São Luiz
10 june 1982