Who Is Elsa Canasta?
The classical dance piece I will be analysing is ‘Elsa Canasta’ choreographed by Javier De Frutos and performed by Scottish Ballet.
As the curtains came up on stage the audience were presented with a staircase. The first section performed is a pas de deux by two men who are in love. This part is a powerful opening and gives the audience an insight of the style that is most likely to continue throughout ‘Elsa Canasta’. Tension builds on stage and in the audience as they dance closely together, the feeling in the audience is tense as it is unpredictable what will happen next. The pas de deux takes place on the staircase the whole time. Both dancers had extremely controlled, effective movements throughout. The passion and connection with both …show more content…
Throughout this performance the audience are presented with a whole series of relationships. The stairs are used for the girls to jump off into the arms of the men, and also for an entrance and exit. The staircase has a curved metal banister of which the dancers use for leg extensions, arabesques, and at one point they spin round holding the banister for support, leaning backwards off the staircase. The way the girls were jumping from the staircase was so fascinating. At the post-show talk a member of the cast mentioned that after a while they get used to jumping off to be caught by the males and are no longer afraid to do so, which I thought was amazing. The characters in this piece had a bit of humour throughout most of the performance. The cast came down the staircase at one point laughing and chatting, which afterwards at the post show talk Constance Devernay, who was a soloist, explained to us it wasn't acting, they enjoyed it so much they didn't have to act. The majority of the performance was performed in duets or trios, often all groups in unison however sometimes they were not. The duets with a male and a female almost all involved a lift, there was so much partner work throughout.
As a whole I thought the performance was incredible, the characters were so well developed in the pas de duex and the following performance. It was so clear to see that the lovers had a passionate, fiery relationship.
As the curtains came up on stage the audience were presented with a staircase. The first section performed is a pas de deux by two men who are in love. This part is a powerful opening and gives the audience an insight of the style that is most likely to continue throughout ‘Elsa Canasta’. Tension builds on stage and in the audience as they dance closely together, the feeling in the audience is tense as it is unpredictable what will happen next. The pas de deux takes place on the staircase the whole time. Both dancers had extremely controlled, effective movements throughout. The passion and connection with both …show more content…
Throughout this performance the audience are presented with a whole series of relationships. The stairs are used for the girls to jump off into the arms of the men, and also for an entrance and exit. The staircase has a curved metal banister of which the dancers use for leg extensions, arabesques, and at one point they spin round holding the banister for support, leaning backwards off the staircase. The way the girls were jumping from the staircase was so fascinating. At the post-show talk a member of the cast mentioned that after a while they get used to jumping off to be caught by the males and are no longer afraid to do so, which I thought was amazing. The characters in this piece had a bit of humour throughout most of the performance. The cast came down the staircase at one point laughing and chatting, which afterwards at the post show talk Constance Devernay, who was a soloist, explained to us it wasn't acting, they enjoyed it so much they didn't have to act. The majority of the performance was performed in duets or trios, often all groups in unison however sometimes they were not. The duets with a male and a female almost all involved a lift, there was so much partner work throughout.
As a whole I thought the performance was incredible, the characters were so well developed in the pas de duex and the following performance. It was so clear to see that the lovers had a passionate, fiery relationship.