Ratmansky – artist in residence with New York City Ballet – was enthralled by Stravinsky’s music from an early age. The Russian-American choreographer is a master in reinterpreting famous ballets, folk tales and fairy tales, including The Ice Maiden and The Firebird – fairy tales that previously inspired Stravinsky to write two wonderful scores: Le baiser de la fée and L’Oiseau de feu.
Icy kiss
Stravinsky’s Le baiser de la fée, composed in 1928 for Les Ballets Russes, is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ice Maiden. During a snowstorm, a boy is saved by the kiss of a fairy. He grows into a handsome young man, but on the eve of his wedding, the fairy returns to claim him, sealing his fate with an icy kiss.
The legend of the firebird was the inspiration for Stravinsky’s L’Oiseau de feu from 1910. It tells the story of the tsar’s son Ivan, who captures a firebird in a magical garden. When she manages to escape, Ivan gets one of her feathers, which will save him in times of need.
Moving and passionate
Ratmansky has interpreted both fairy tales in dance in an extremely original way. In Ratmansky’s hands, The Fairy’s Kiss – with gorgeous sets and costumes by Jérôme Kaplan – becomes a moving story of a choreographer who cannot escape his fate. His passionate Firebird is a feast for the eyes, in which his firebird also stands for a force of nature that is difficult to evade.
