Hello and welcome to Fort Wayne Ballet's Kinetic Conversations.Today we're talking with Karen Gibbons-Brown, Artistic Director of Fort Wayne Ballet, about Don Quixote, ballet's most stylish rom-com.
So with that, welcome Karen, and let's talk about Don Q.
Thanks for having me.Don Quixote is a fun ballet.
Well, it's loosely based on Cervantes' novel, but loosely.And you're not going to be seeing Man of La Mancha or recounting of the novel.So let's go first through the characters.In any good rom-com or soap opera, we have characters.
We have the love interest and the foil and all the things that go with that.So let's let's let people know a little bit about that.So initially it's called Don Quixote. But Don Quixote is not a central character the way you would think.
So tell us about Don Quixote.
He's the title character.So if you're familiar with the novel, this is actually a few chapters typical of the ballet world.We took a few chapters out of that to make a story that's a little more frivolous and audience-friendly.
And I think a rom-com is a great description of that.Don Quixote, or Don Q as we call him,
is actually the last of the knights, and he believes in chivalry, and honesty, and truth, and integrity, and is searching the world over for all of that, and specifically in one woman.He believes she's out there.
Before we get to who she is, he has a sidekick.So Sancho Panza, how does he play into the ballet?
I see him as the character that Don Q sort of takes under his wing to school and educate, and that is not always so terribly successful.He's a sidekick.
He helps him along the way, Don Q, because he's an elderly man at this particular point, but he struggles with manners.
struggles with manners.Well, we'll look forward to that.
So the woman of his dreams, Dulcinea, explain her.
Dulcinea actually appears in the ballet, but she is a smaller character.She always floats around and Don Q sees her in his dreams.He sees her in crowds.He sees her everywhere.Not everybody else does.
And there has to be love interests and conflict or we wouldn't have a rom-com.So, Keetree.
Keetree, a sprightly young lady.I think sassy is a good description for her.And she is a lot of energy.She's just a bundle of energy.And she loves life.She loves her friends.She loves her papa.
A little rebellious, but she mostly loves Basil or Basilio.Same character, sometimes different names.
So Basilio, Basil and Gamache, the two love interests or foils in terms of this situation.So explain those two.
Let's do Basil first.So Basil is a handsome young man, very carefree, and of course he doesn't have very much money.It's not a wealthy community.But he's a barber, and that's how he makes his living.And he is determined to marry Ketri.
They are wildly in love with each other.Gamache is the town royalty. He does have lots of money.He has all the money in the world, gets what he wants, but he's not always the one that fits in the crowd.
So sometimes he seems to be a little out there, yet believes that Keetree should be his wife because he is who he is.
And the deal that's sort of set up is with her father, Lorenzo.And Lorenzo, explain that sort of motivation.
Lorenzo is a single dad.He runs a market, and part of it is outdoors.So this takes place in the plaza and outside of his storefront.And Gamache's house is directly across from the market.So he sees Keetree daily.
Lorenzo is a very protective father, and he only wants the best for her.The best for her, in his mind, is to marry Gamache.She'll be set for life, and he won't have to worry about her. Ketri doesn't want to marry Gamache.He is an older man.
She doesn't really care about the money.Again, her heart really belongs to Basil.
Mercedes and Espada, who were they and how do they play in the ballet?
Well, Espada is the head of all the toreadors, or the matadors, and they come to town once a year for the bullfights, and everybody waits anxiously for their arrival.
Mercedes is a part of the village, and she has been waiting all year long for Espada.She loves him, but Espada leading the toreadors in on stage, and he sees Mercedes for the first time in a year.And it's a lovely reunion.
Their relationship is lots of fun as well.
Just a few more characters and then we'll get into the story.So Cupid or Amore, that role.And then the dryads, which we'll see in one of the scenes, explain that a little bit.So we set up and then we'll talk about the story.
So the Dryads are a part of a typical classical ballet, in that they are, in this ballet, the dream sequence, but it's the corps de ballet work.The Dryads are the vision that protects Dulcinea.
Don Q falls asleep in the ballet, and these Dryads appear to him with Dulcinea, and Keetree, who for a brief moment, he believes she might be Dulcinea reincarnated.And then Amore, or Cupid, is the one that represents love.
So now I think we have the main characters, the ones that will be on stage.Let's walk through, as we mentioned, it's not the story that many people may think.
How does this story sort of progress and where do these characters fall in line to create the tension and release that makes the story work?
So in a ballet, there are smaller roles, but there is not a part that isn't critical in moving the story forward.And Don Q is no exception.So you have your village people.You have the gypsies.I'll get to that in a moment.
But this, again, is just a part of the story of Don Q. You know, it's the most celebrated translated story, one of the most in the world.So the first ballet of Don Q was actually presented in 1740.
If you put that in time context, the first codified syllabus for dance was the French in 1661.So this story's been visited and revisited and revamped and re-choreographed, et cetera.
The one we've landed on for today is a three-act ballet with several scenes.So when the curtain opens, Don Q. wanders into this village.And of course, you've already met Keetree, Basil, Lorenzo.You've met Espada.You've met Mercedes.
But Don Quixote wanders into the village with his sidekick and wants something to drink and to rest for a while.So they continue to entertain him.He sees Ketri and thinks that this is Dulcinea reincarnated.
Basil the whole time is, they always play off of each other.If he won't pay attention to me, I'll pay attention to someone else.If she won't pay attention to me, I'll pay attention to someone else.
The traditional, I'll make you jealous if you don't pay attention to me.So there's a lot of that give and play in the story.At the end of Act One, it's happy, it's the end of the day.
And in Act Two, what you've seen happen is, Ketri and Basil have slipped away, and they found a quiet spot to call their own for a little while and watch the stars.
They have a beautiful little pas de deux, but realize that they've come into a gypsy camp.And the gypsies do not want them in their camp.They need to send them away.
But they say, oh, you're hiding from your father, who's looking for her by this point, along with Gamache.And then Don Q comes in, sees his windmills, falls asleep.The dryads come to him.
Dulcinea appears to him as a vision, along with Khitri and Amur, or Cupid. and the dryads create a beautiful vision of a dream.At the end of that particular vision, he wakes up, interrupted by Gamache and Lorenzo, still looking for Keetree and Basil.
They find them in the town tavern.Lots of celebration in the town tavern.Keetree, of course, is constantly asking her father, can she please marry Basil?He, of course, says no.He doesn't have any money. Basil keeps saying, I'm a barber.
I can make money with this.Doesn't seem to be enough for Lorenzo.There's a stage scene, I don't want to give too much away, that's relatively humorous.
They sort of trick Lorenzo into giving permission for Keetree and Basil to get married on his last breath, supposedly.But it wasn't his last breath.He's all well.Everything's fine.
And in typical classical ballet mode, act three is a celebration of their wedding.
So you mentioned a little bit, and I know you don't want to give too much away, but it is a comedy.It's not just the traditional ballet situation.So when people come, we have two opportunities here.
Not only the fact that it's written as a comedy and there are elements there, but maybe let's talk about the opportunity presented by a more intimate space. This is a more vaudevillian kind of, in this, it's very different.
You won't have the separation of that proscenium and distance.It'll be different.So how might that play into the fact that it's a comedy and something that, you know, it might benefit from that type of interaction?
Well, I think the comedic path of Don Q is very similar to what you might see in a Broadway play today.It moves quickly.You've met the characters.You can follow them very well.You immediately recognize that Gamache is the comedy relief.
It doesn't mean Keitri and Basil aren't funny as well, or some of the other characters, but he's sort of your comedy relief.You recognize that right away.And every time he's on stage, you can't help but laugh with something he's done.
on accident, but again, remember he believes he is the highest of high and the most gentlemanly gentleman in the whole wide world, not just the village.That automatically leads to some comedy.
But because we don't have that proscenium arch, we're looking at ways to extend beyond the stage space, specifically how we can incorporate those characters into our audience interaction.Nobody's gonna have to get up and dance, I promise.
I understand, but I think the opportunity to do that's unique.
It's not how we normally present this, but we go back to a conversation we had earlier related to Ballet Russe and setting things up in a salon and doing things in a more informal or more intimate way.
It's a way to see the art form in a different way.How does this opportunity play on not only the comedy, but also the skills of the dancers?This is unique for them.That's not something they do.They're always from a distance, right?
But how is, how is this going to play or what's the opportunity or what kind of skills does this help develop?
On stage, we talk about, if you don't see it from 20 feet away, it's not going to be noticed.We don't have the luxury in our spaces with that this year specifically, but when you do a more close-enough personal performance.
And with the exception of Nutcracker, all of these performances in our season are very much that.So every eyebrow lift means something.The subtleness comes across in a very different way than it would on a stage with a large proscenium arch.
and that distance that's created.There's no orchestra pit at Pearl Arts between the dancers and the audience, so they see everything.
They'll see every little eyebrow, every little twist of the mustache, every little, tiny little thing the dancers do to carry their character forward will be seen, and I think that's really important for the dancers because they can't just rely on big, grand gestures.
They have to actually use their facial muscles very differently.In this ballet, they can see their faces, And part of it is the way it's costumed and the way it's staged.But the other part of it is the audience is right there with us.
So everything will be seen and you won't miss the comedy.You won't miss the joy.You won't miss the fun.
Sure.No, I think it's going to be a great opportunity, especially in the more intimate space to experiment with what that frees up, not what it takes away.Because I think sometimes the stiltedness is people just don't understand.
And once you break that membrane, you can have fun.
I think, too, the dancers are worried about the space, and the wings, and the lights, and the entrances and exits.And all of those will be minor.They're going to be what they're going to be.You go off here, you go on here.
That's what it's going to be.But what you do once you're there is what's going to be important for the audience.
I was a little hesitant about doing the ballet Don Q in this space because of the way it needs to be staged for safety, for numbers, for all those pieces.But then, as we started to embrace some of the characters in the rehearsal,
There's some things we can add to that that wouldn't be in the traditional, a little more vaudeville-like, that would not be in the traditional production.
Well, some of it is, this is the space you have, this is where you perform, and this is how, and I think that's interesting because so much of the pieces we revere, that's what they did.This is what I've got.This is what I have to use.
This is what I can't use.
Well, Mozart, perfect example.But the same with Balanchine and Diaghilev and all these people we've just talked about.That's what they did.So when we get to Serenade, the way that ballet was created, it was his first ballet in America.
And whoever showed up for rehearsal that day got to be in the ballet.And there's one day a girl doesn't show up, so she's not in that particular section of the production. A girl's hair falls down, the girl's hair falls down in the ballet.
Somebody falls, they run off the floor crying, that's in the ballet.So he used the real life experiences to create his first ballet in America.
He didn't have, these are the 12 dancers I'm using come to rehearsal, it's come if you can, and then it was presented at an estate in White Plains, in a garden.
Again, I think a lot of what we feel is revered has become legend as opposed to how it was really initially presented or how it was managed through.
And I think that flexibility will be necessary this year, and it probably gets back to some of the root of what that edginess was and the first time people were seeing these things.So we'll see how it translates.
I think it should be a very interesting year for the audience.
Before we wrap up, is there anything that we didn't talk about that you would like the listeners to know about or people before they come to see Don Quixote that might help them really get into the moment?
The score by Minkus is a very danceable score. It's hummable.It feels good.It sounds fun.For dancers, they love the score.It's easy to find the beat.It's easy to dance to.It's sort of a toe-tapping score.And I think the audience will enjoy the music.
But I think if your concept of ballet is that it is stuffy and always princesses and tutus, this is not that at all.And I think it's really a lovely piece to see.The dancers are very excited about performing it.
Well, with that, new space, funny and comedic ballet, an intimate environment, should be quite a weekend.So with that, Karen, thanks for being with us.We hope to see you there.Karen can be heard each Saturday at 6.55 p.m.
on Rob Nylund's Classical Connection Review on 89.1 WBOI.Don Quixote performances are October 18th and 19th at the Pearl Street Arts Center.You can purchase tickets by visiting the Fort Wayne Ballet website or calling the box office at 422-4226.
Kinetic Conversations is brought to you by Fort Wayne Ballet and Wayne Shop Productions.
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You will also find a library of past episodes on our website in the menu of options.Until next time, I'm Jim Sparrow, and thanks for listening to Kinetic Conversations with Fort Wayne Ballet. This has been a Wayne Shout production.
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