Don Quixote will entertain avid fans and dance novices alike. A season premier for Miami City Ballet not to be missed, this work is filled with plenty of ballet action and Spanish-style dancing. Poise, grace, and beauty describe the artists of the Miami City Ballet who are rehearsed to perform not only with great speed, energy and technical clarity, but also with the combination of force and delicacy needed to interpret musical scores from Bach to Stravinsky. Known for its impressive skill and gorgeous dancers, the repertoire of Florida ’s jewel has 82 ballets, including 12 world premieres. Gaze upon the sunny, passionate, and fiery energy so inherent to Miami City Ballet.
About the Company
Founding artistic director of Miami City Ballet and certainly America's most illustrious male dancer, Edward Villella did much to popularize the role of the male in dance through the supreme artistry and virility he exhibited during his performance career. Now an international mix of nearly 50 dancers hail from Boston Ballet, New York City Ballet, Ballet Nacional de Caracas, Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet of Belgium and from world-famous training facilities such as the School of American Ballet, North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Schools of the Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet, among others. Miami City Ballet has a tradition for great performances and its programming centers on the choreographic masterworks of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries – the best in dance from dance masters such as George Balanchine, Marius Petipa, Paul Taylor, Jerome Robbins, and Twyla Tharp. One of the largest ballet companies in the United States, Miami City Ballet has four home venues in South Florida.
Performances at Northrop
1992, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006
Critic's Comments
“…the company deserves accolades from start to celebratory finish.”- Palm Beach Post
“…the Miami City Ballet showed that it is one of the finest ballet companies, a worthy interpreter of the masters’ works.”- The Times-Picayune
“It was no surprise that Miami City Ballet danced with such brilliant clarity.”- The New York Times
Evening's Program
Music by: Léon Minkus
Choreography by: Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky
Adapted and staged by: Geta Constantinescu with Edward Villella
Period and stylistic choreographer: Frank Regan
Basilio’s “goblet” variation in Act I created by: Mikhail Baryshnikov
The Story of Don Quixote
Prologue: The elderly Don Quixote de la Mancha has grown confused by the knightly romances he reads so avidly. Accompanied by his squire, the peasant Sancho Panza, and armed with his sword and his lance, he sets out to right the world’s wrongs, inspired by a vision of Dulcinea, a beautiful local girl whom he mistakes for the Virgin Mary.
Act I – A public square in the city of Seville. Everyone’s there, bustling around. The young, impoverished barber, Basilio, is plying his trade; the flower girls are peddling their wares; and Kitri – the innkeeper’s determined daughter and Basilio’s sweetheart – mingles with the crowd, chatting with her friends and flirting with Basilio. But her father, Lorenzo, is determined that she marry the rich and silly fop Gamache, whose fancy house is across the square from the inn. The toreador, Espada, whirls on with his picadors and his fiery lady, Mercedes. While Kitri is trying to extricate herself from the ridiculous Gamache, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza arrive in town, and the fuddled Don is drawn to Kitri, whom he mistakes for Dulcinea. The young lovers flee together, followed by her father and Gamache, as well as by the Don and Sancho Panza.
Act II – A gypsy encampment outside of town. A band of gypsies welcomes the runaway Kitri and Basilio, and when Don Q and Sancho follow them on, the gypsies make them welcome and dance for them. The noble, somewhat addled knight, confused by the great sails of a windmill – he thinks they’re dragons – charges them with his lance and is knocked to the ground, unconscious. In his dream, he finds himself in a beatific vision of dryads, their Queen, the god Amor, and Dulcinea/Kitri. After he awakens, Lorenzo and Gamache turn up in pursuit of the eloping lovers, but the gypsies help spirit them away, and the Don and his squire help by giving Lorenzo conflicting directions before they, too, head for town.
Act III – The square. Kitri and Basilio have come back, hoping to remain inconspicuous. Outside the tavern, Lorenzo catches them and demands that Kitri marry Gamache, who’s offered him a lot of gold. As everyone crowds around, Basilio dramatically draws his razor and pretends to kill himself. Quickly, Kitri is in on the joke and, aided by the authority of the noble Don, convinces her father to give her and Basilio his blessing before Basilio dies. The moment he does so, Basilio jumps up in glee, Lorenzo and Gamache bow to the inevitable, and a wedding celebration takes place. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza ride off in search of further adventures.
Miami City Ballet premiere of Don Quixote was October 13, 2006 at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, Miami, FL