The classic tale comes to life in a soaring production at the Ellie
There’s one word that encapsulates Colorado Ballet’s premiere production of Jekyll and Hyde: Stunning. Conceived by internationally recognized choreographer Val Caniparoli, this evening-length work features Caniparoli’s gift for inventive choreography, David Israel Reynoso’s striking scenic and costume design and Ramona Pansegrau’s inspired pastiche of musical works by notable Polish composers. Add the accomplished dancing of the Colorado Ballet and the sensitive playing of the Colorado Ballet Orchestra and the company has a ballet for the ages.
Caniparoli developed Jekyll and Hyde in 2020 for the Finnish Opera and Ballet and, until this past October, it had been performed only by that company. Then, in 2023, Caniparoli reworked it for the Kansas City Ballet, which premiered it to great acclaim on October 13. Now, thanks to Colorado Ballet’s director Gil Boggs, Denver audiences have a chance to appreciate the power and beauty of this remarkable work.
Devotees of the book on which the ballet is based are advised to read the ballet program’s 11-scene synopsis closely as the story deviates somewhat from the Robert Louis Stevenson original. In this telling, as the ballet opens, Stevenson lies dying. Under the influence of opium, he dreams the story of an English physician, Dr. Jekyll, who develops a potion that unleashes his most evil impulses in the form of his alter ego, Mr. Hyde.
From that point on the ballet moves from the mass hysteria of Jekyll’s mental patients, flailing about, through a series of interpersonal conflicts to the final struggle between the warring Jekyll and Hyde. It’s a visually striking and emotionally absorbing journey that showcases the best of Colorado Ballet’s dancers.
Caniparoli spent his dancing career at San Francisco Ballet, a company lauded for its elegant, stretched-out style, and he brings that aesthetic to his work as a choreographer. He has an instinctive musicality and in this ballet is able to transition seamlessly from the beautiful lyrical sections of the party scenes to the more athletic freneticism of various scenes as the characters and the music convey the internal dramas playing out before us.
A play-like ballet
One of the most extraordinary aspects of the ballet is that it operates on the viewer (or at least on me) almost more like a play than as a traditional story ballet. The action is spare and deliberate and the choreography contemporary, with none of the mime that often mystifies modern audiences. The dancers so completely embody their respective characters that they sometimes seem ready to break out into dialogue. Of course, that never happens but it doesn’t need to. Caniparoli’s movements are so clear in their emotional content and the Colorado Ballet dancers so comfortable physically expressing the choreography’s requirements that we know at every moment what is happening, both externally and internally.
Jonnathan Ramirez cooks up some trouble as Dr. Jekyll in the Colorado ballet production | Photo: Amanda Tipton Photography
From the company’s corps de ballet to the troupe’s talented principals, the dancers shine. Artistic Director Boggs has said that one of the things that drew him to this ballet was the chance to push his dancers to explore and engage their emotional capacities. His dancers have clearly risen to the challenge.
Although the entire company looked strong and confident on opening night, it was Jeremy Studinski as Hyde who stole the show. Hyde doesn’t fully come alive until the second act, and from that point on Studinski owned the stage. Writhing and flailing in fury he had both the technical prowess and the personal charisma to dominate every scene he was in. The exception was with the ultimate confrontation with Jonnathan Ramirez as Jekyll in which the two are evenly matched in both physical and emotional force.
Because of the strictures of Caniparoli’s more restrained choreography for Jekyll, Ramirez doesn’t have a chance to completely burst forth as a physical presence until that final pas de deux with Studinski. Bare-chested, in flesh-colored tights, the two are held in a bright spotlight as they fight for control of their shared body. It becomes obvious that Ramirez has a physical presence and technique as compelling as Studinski’s, and the ballet ends with their compelling, ultimate confrontation.
Jennifer Grace and Jonnathan Ramirez | Photo: Amanda Tipton Photography
Special mention must also be made of the two lead female dancers on opening night. As the love interests — or victims — of Jekyll and Hyde, Jennifer Grace and Asuka Sasaki effortlessly glided through Caniparoli’s languid style. Both are extremely musical dancers with gorgeous extensions and brought much-needed moments of elegance and grace to this unforgettable ballet.
Leave A Comment