Farida Oetoyo to stage classical ballet
Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Farida Oetojo's Sumber Cipta Ballet School will perform a production of La Boutique Fantasque (The Magic Toy Shop) at the Gedung Kesenian Jakarta in Central Jakarta on Sunday.
First performed in London by Ballets Russes in 1919 and choreographed by Leonide Massine, Sumber Cipta's production will be choreographed by noted Dutch choreographer and ballet instructor Jurgen Otte.
With more than 50 productions to his name, Otte has also produced several ballet productions with Sumber Cipta, including Summer for the Schouburg Festival in 1993, The Nutcracker in 1994, The Seasons in 1995 performed at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, and last year's Waves for the Jakarta International Festival of the Performing Arts.
"I am very happy to have this chance to produce this dance in Jakarta together with students from Sumber Cipta. This dance is a classic, and can be enjoyed by both young and old," she said in a statement.
La Boutique Fantasque was created on the behest of Ballets Russes impresario Serge Diaghilev, and its score arranged by Ottorino Respighi (1979-1936) from Gioachino Rossini's (1792- 1868) piano pieces.
The ballet tells of a toy shop in Nice, France, which sells toys from around the world. In the ballet production, the toys proceed to dance as each one is introduced to a customer.
The Italian dolls dance the tarantella, while the four Polish characters -- the King of Pique, the King of Carreau, the Queen of Heart, and the Clover Queen -- dance the Mazurka.
A Cossack dance performed by Russian dolls, Austrian dolls dance the tirolienne, Viennese dolls the waltz, and the French, the cancan.
The success of the dolls results in the sale of a ballerina doll to an American tourist and her lover, a soldier doll, to a Russian tourist. The tourists then leave the shop to come back in the morning for their purchases.
That night, the dolls plot to prevent the two lovers from decide to run away before the tourists return.
Sumber Cipta's production will be performed by more than 70 ballerinas of all ages from the ballet school.
"We want to prove that Indonesia can also produce a world- class ballet production," said Sumber Cipta director and famed ballerina Farida Oetoyo, who is the production's artistic director.
Sumber Cipta will put on two performances of La Boutique Fantasque on Sunday, March 16, 2003, at 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, Jl. Gedung Kesenian 1, Central Jakarta. Tickets are Rp 50,000, and can be purchased at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, tel. (021) 344 1892 or 380 8283, or at Sumber Cipta Ballet School, tel. (021) 765 9467.