Diablo Review: Diablo Ballet’s The Little Prince

World premiere of this interpretation of the French book combines simplicity with creativity.

To prepare myself for the world premiere of Diablo Ballet’s The Little Prince, I did a quick read of Saint Exupery’s book by the same title. I’m so glad I did, because even though the Friday evening performance would have been amazing regardless of any literary knowledge; I further appreciated it for how remarkably close the production followed the book.

For example, just like the text, the ballet began with a silhouette of the narrator’s drawing of a “hat,” which when the lights went up turned out to be a tent-like drape of gossamer material with a dancer inside propping it up. She began to move and did an interesting interpretation of the narrator’s drawing number two, a “boa constrictor digesting an elephant.”

I think my favorite scene was the lamplighters. The dancers all worked well together, and the added element of the illuminated wands made the dancing even more interesting while my eyes followed the traces of light. I really liked the costumes as well—simple brightly colored leotards with skinny tutus (they almost looked like those spandex Frisbees that used to be popular—a “whoosh” or something?), and each dancer had a unique hair style/ornament.

The music was as wonderful as the dancing. The pianist and violinist flowed perfectly together as they created a distinct atmosphere and feeling for each scene. From the melodic trope of The Little Prince to the more invasive sounds of the King or the Conceited Man, the music effectively helped convey the emotion the same way that words do in the text.

Much of what is great about the book is the stark simplicity—both in prose and illustration. The dancing and music in this production were no exception. Not because they were simple, but rather clean. The orchestra pit consisted of only the pianist and violinist, and the stage set was not over-cluttered with décor or garish lighting. I enjoyed the lantern-like stars that came down from the ceiling from time to time. Also, the costumes were simple and yet clearly illustrated what they were. The Prince’s flower, with her four thorns, the sheep, even the baobab tree costumes all relied mostly on leotards with simple tutus or accessories. Most of the dancers were even barefoot. And whether the dancers were moving inside of fabrics, on top of exercise balls disguised as meteors, alone, or with each other, the movement was creative, contemporary, and artistic.

Diablo Ballet, (925) 943-1775, diabloballet.org.

Posted at 01:52 PM in Best Of Editor Picks | Permalink