"Three Faces", the Battlestar Ballet
The day has come. I went and watched the premiere of "Three Faces" in the theater of Hagen, a three part ballet with one part featuring the Battlestar score.
It was a sight to behold on many levels. Hagen Theater is a typical German town theater - fighting for sponsors, trying to keep the endangered species of ballet dancers from dying out, and the town newspaper publishing positive reviews no matter what. It has a group of culturally inclined regulars, all of them above the age of fifty, who attend every premiere, dressing up in their fake fur coats and picking the colors of their make-up so it won't clash with the red curtain (except for that one guy I talked to who wore a pink suit and had twirled eyebrows. Strangely, he also had a wife. Nice guy though).
This unsuspecting, charming little place was invaded by geeks last evening. Considering that my hairdo was inspired by the hair of John Sheppard, I fit right in. They were everywhere. Granted, geeks seem to know how to dress - some of them looked rather sharp. But about half the audience were geeky looking out-of-towners half the age of the regulars, and we positively flooded the room, engaging in foreign rituals like asking for autographs and whistling instead of clapping. It was the BSG score after all. It's our version of Britney Spears, and it showed.
The regulars tried to rationalize this absurdity away. It's all because of the ballet, a member of the Friends of Hagen Theater (not the Hagen ballet, I was told, but the theater) explained to me sagely; she was a charming old lady dressed in violet fake fur. The very fine ballet of Hagen has attracted people from everywhere this time. Why, there's even a group of American ballet fans who've flown in to be here tonight!
Right.
I had a good seat not only to see the stage but also to observe McCreary, who was accompanied by who I suppose is his fiancé, wisely taking a seat close to the exit so he could flee the "ballet fans" if necessary. I hope he didn't ever need to go to the bathroom on the breaks because he was surrounded by fellow geeks all the time. My father, who'd come along, needled me that I should go and get an autograph, an act which he explained to me is an essential part of the fan experience (I don't really do autographs. I'm more for asking geeky music questions about peculiar musical choices, but not a chance to do that in the middle of a fan marathon). I resolved to wait until I'd actually seen McCreary's part of the ballet. 'Cause I don't clap while the baton is still up. ;-)
It was a three part evening, every part having been staged by different choreographers. The first was kind of a Beethoven remix done by a Brazilian guy, accompanied by a rather athletic performance by the Hagen ballet. It was a bit strange. There were ropes being used in artistic ways. He got a polite bit of applause. After him, there was a performance made up by a South Korean woman called Young Soon Hue that totally rocked. It was a very emotional, very expressive piece about the experience of being an orphan. I really liked this. I wasn't the only one either since me and the other geeks clapped enthusiastically and in relief to thank her for having been more interesting. Then the violin overflow was over and the most epic in proportions part of the night began: "Prelude to War," done by the regular choreographer of Hagen to the Battlestar score.
This German BSG website (who also interviewed McCreary and asked him to play the Caprica theme for them) reports vaguely that McCreary had been pointed out to Hagen's choreographer by a friend (a BSG fan, I wager). The regulars hadn’t ever heard of him at all but at least they got that this part of the evening was more about the music than about the ballet.
Unfortunately I couldn't make any photographs but I can scan the pictures from the program in a couple of days. The visuals were beautiful. The performance started with a projection of pictures from out of space and Earth. Contrary to the orchestra which was located in the pit, the drum players were situated on a balcony above the stage, red lights shining on them, while the ballet took place on the stage beyond. The music was of course heavy on the drums, most notably three Taiko drums (that are those huge hanging drums which get overused in martial arts movies all the time) but also a common drums set and other fun instruments my dictionary can’t translate. Additionally, part of the ballet was an imitation of fighting with sticks (like Teyla on Stargate: Atlantis), and the clacking noise was used to add a counter beat to the music. So, there wasn't a clear borderline between music and dancing. It was very edgy and original and cool. Add the exotic looking costumes (both the guys and the women dancers wore black and red skirts) and the very strong, colorful lighting, and it was quite a show. Okay, so there was a green laser thingy that got pointed at the audience, Borg style, looking very Star Trek. I could have done without that, it was a bit silly. But all in all, the visuals were very pretty.
The music was of course great. Most songs were taken from season four; I was surprised that quiite a few of the featured songs were songs that were heavy on the strings but I guess strings just sound less special if you've just heard sixty minutes of strings, while on BSG they are a really special and rare occasion. Never noticed the bassoons on the score before either. Anyway, the most beautiful performance was the one done to the Adama & Roslin theme from "Resurrection Ship" (I'm hoping I'm matching that right from memory). It was a duet dance, performed in a glass box filled with a couple inches of water. The water would splatter when the dancers moved, adding a dreamlike effect. It was a beautiful dance and also, I might add, quite hot at times.
After the performance, we shared our enthusiasm with the rest of the theater very loudly. There were whistling and screaming. You could see in the faces of the dancers that they weren't used to getting quite as many standing ovations. The awe on their faces was rivaled by slightly confused expressions of 'WTF is going on here exactly?'. I don't know why they were surprised. The drunk guy sitting next to me (also a Friend of Hagen Theater of course) told me that over a hundred people had written emails to the theater in advance, congratulating the management on the stroke of genius of inviting McCreary. Scifi fans are a commnicative bunch, aren’t they? They know how to be supportive.
I think the thing that impressed me most was that the ballet told exactly the same story as BSG, except on a more abstract level. It's amazing how all the story is represented in the music, and how you can understand it when you watch the ballet even if you don't know the show. It was so obviously a story about desperation and loss in times of war, but also about the determination to fight on. I don't know the next thing about ballet but I'd figured out at that point how to read it in order to make sense of it, and "Prelude to War" really was an organic, coherent story. Very epic in proportions, very edgy and full of strong emotions. I especially liked how the "big" moments of the score were moments when the dancing got really unobtrusive. There was one point when the dancers just stopped to wait out the musical climax, looking up. The music was the most powerful part of the ballet and the dancing supported the music instead of taking attention away from it. It was a very thoughtful, respectful choreography. It was all about the music without marginalizing the dancers.
There was an after-show party. I got my autograph. With a signature and a little note. That made me inexplicably happy. I got a note! Hee. An eighth. McCreary seems like a nice enough guy who's very kind and very patient although he was obviously running on autopilot at that point. He's also really tiny - I'm 1,60m and he isn't that much taller than me. I'm very pleased with myself that I was able to carry on a conversation in English, since I only ever write it. Nothing worthy of reporting though.
So I sat beside a Friend of Hagen Theater. He was delighted to hear that I came all the way from Frankfurt to attend the premiere. He also started asking me artsy questions about McCreary, who he'd never heard about before. Now I'm usually quite capable of having a conversation about music. That guy was a bit too much for me to handle though. He completely lost me when I had explained to him that there would be drums and he started going, "So would you say he's postmodern or just ... *technobla* ... eclectic? ... *technobla* ... romantic influences... *bla*" I hesitated for only a second. Then I told him very firmly that I wouldn't know. 'Cause I am here for the ballet.
All that said, it was a great night and it was totally worth it. If any of you is from Germany or a country close by, you should absolutely give it a shot. Hearing a life performance of the BSG score is cool, the choreographer really knew how to do it justice, and while most of the dancers were kind of mediocre, the lead dancer did a beautiful job. It was a great sight. Maybe we'll get lucky and somebody will upload it on youtube. One of the screaming fans brought a camera I bet.
And now I'll go and watch the new episode.
EDIT:
setsunacutey reviewed the show on DA and wrote a much more detailed recount than I did. Local newspaper Westfallenpost published a review as well (in German of course). It's just as positive as I predicted.
It was a sight to behold on many levels. Hagen Theater is a typical German town theater - fighting for sponsors, trying to keep the endangered species of ballet dancers from dying out, and the town newspaper publishing positive reviews no matter what. It has a group of culturally inclined regulars, all of them above the age of fifty, who attend every premiere, dressing up in their fake fur coats and picking the colors of their make-up so it won't clash with the red curtain (except for that one guy I talked to who wore a pink suit and had twirled eyebrows. Strangely, he also had a wife. Nice guy though).
This unsuspecting, charming little place was invaded by geeks last evening. Considering that my hairdo was inspired by the hair of John Sheppard, I fit right in. They were everywhere. Granted, geeks seem to know how to dress - some of them looked rather sharp. But about half the audience were geeky looking out-of-towners half the age of the regulars, and we positively flooded the room, engaging in foreign rituals like asking for autographs and whistling instead of clapping. It was the BSG score after all. It's our version of Britney Spears, and it showed.
The regulars tried to rationalize this absurdity away. It's all because of the ballet, a member of the Friends of Hagen Theater (not the Hagen ballet, I was told, but the theater) explained to me sagely; she was a charming old lady dressed in violet fake fur. The very fine ballet of Hagen has attracted people from everywhere this time. Why, there's even a group of American ballet fans who've flown in to be here tonight!
Right.
I had a good seat not only to see the stage but also to observe McCreary, who was accompanied by who I suppose is his fiancé, wisely taking a seat close to the exit so he could flee the "ballet fans" if necessary. I hope he didn't ever need to go to the bathroom on the breaks because he was surrounded by fellow geeks all the time. My father, who'd come along, needled me that I should go and get an autograph, an act which he explained to me is an essential part of the fan experience (I don't really do autographs. I'm more for asking geeky music questions about peculiar musical choices, but not a chance to do that in the middle of a fan marathon). I resolved to wait until I'd actually seen McCreary's part of the ballet. 'Cause I don't clap while the baton is still up. ;-)
It was a three part evening, every part having been staged by different choreographers. The first was kind of a Beethoven remix done by a Brazilian guy, accompanied by a rather athletic performance by the Hagen ballet. It was a bit strange. There were ropes being used in artistic ways. He got a polite bit of applause. After him, there was a performance made up by a South Korean woman called Young Soon Hue that totally rocked. It was a very emotional, very expressive piece about the experience of being an orphan. I really liked this. I wasn't the only one either since me and the other geeks clapped enthusiastically and in relief to thank her for having been more interesting. Then the violin overflow was over and the most epic in proportions part of the night began: "Prelude to War," done by the regular choreographer of Hagen to the Battlestar score.
This German BSG website (who also interviewed McCreary and asked him to play the Caprica theme for them) reports vaguely that McCreary had been pointed out to Hagen's choreographer by a friend (a BSG fan, I wager). The regulars hadn’t ever heard of him at all but at least they got that this part of the evening was more about the music than about the ballet.
Unfortunately I couldn't make any photographs but I can scan the pictures from the program in a couple of days. The visuals were beautiful. The performance started with a projection of pictures from out of space and Earth. Contrary to the orchestra which was located in the pit, the drum players were situated on a balcony above the stage, red lights shining on them, while the ballet took place on the stage beyond. The music was of course heavy on the drums, most notably three Taiko drums (that are those huge hanging drums which get overused in martial arts movies all the time) but also a common drums set and other fun instruments my dictionary can’t translate. Additionally, part of the ballet was an imitation of fighting with sticks (like Teyla on Stargate: Atlantis), and the clacking noise was used to add a counter beat to the music. So, there wasn't a clear borderline between music and dancing. It was very edgy and original and cool. Add the exotic looking costumes (both the guys and the women dancers wore black and red skirts) and the very strong, colorful lighting, and it was quite a show. Okay, so there was a green laser thingy that got pointed at the audience, Borg style, looking very Star Trek. I could have done without that, it was a bit silly. But all in all, the visuals were very pretty.
The music was of course great. Most songs were taken from season four; I was surprised that quiite a few of the featured songs were songs that were heavy on the strings but I guess strings just sound less special if you've just heard sixty minutes of strings, while on BSG they are a really special and rare occasion. Never noticed the bassoons on the score before either. Anyway, the most beautiful performance was the one done to the Adama & Roslin theme from "Resurrection Ship" (I'm hoping I'm matching that right from memory). It was a duet dance, performed in a glass box filled with a couple inches of water. The water would splatter when the dancers moved, adding a dreamlike effect. It was a beautiful dance and also, I might add, quite hot at times.
After the performance, we shared our enthusiasm with the rest of the theater very loudly. There were whistling and screaming. You could see in the faces of the dancers that they weren't used to getting quite as many standing ovations. The awe on their faces was rivaled by slightly confused expressions of 'WTF is going on here exactly?'. I don't know why they were surprised. The drunk guy sitting next to me (also a Friend of Hagen Theater of course) told me that over a hundred people had written emails to the theater in advance, congratulating the management on the stroke of genius of inviting McCreary. Scifi fans are a commnicative bunch, aren’t they? They know how to be supportive.
I think the thing that impressed me most was that the ballet told exactly the same story as BSG, except on a more abstract level. It's amazing how all the story is represented in the music, and how you can understand it when you watch the ballet even if you don't know the show. It was so obviously a story about desperation and loss in times of war, but also about the determination to fight on. I don't know the next thing about ballet but I'd figured out at that point how to read it in order to make sense of it, and "Prelude to War" really was an organic, coherent story. Very epic in proportions, very edgy and full of strong emotions. I especially liked how the "big" moments of the score were moments when the dancing got really unobtrusive. There was one point when the dancers just stopped to wait out the musical climax, looking up. The music was the most powerful part of the ballet and the dancing supported the music instead of taking attention away from it. It was a very thoughtful, respectful choreography. It was all about the music without marginalizing the dancers.
There was an after-show party. I got my autograph. With a signature and a little note. That made me inexplicably happy. I got a note! Hee. An eighth. McCreary seems like a nice enough guy who's very kind and very patient although he was obviously running on autopilot at that point. He's also really tiny - I'm 1,60m and he isn't that much taller than me. I'm very pleased with myself that I was able to carry on a conversation in English, since I only ever write it. Nothing worthy of reporting though.
So I sat beside a Friend of Hagen Theater. He was delighted to hear that I came all the way from Frankfurt to attend the premiere. He also started asking me artsy questions about McCreary, who he'd never heard about before. Now I'm usually quite capable of having a conversation about music. That guy was a bit too much for me to handle though. He completely lost me when I had explained to him that there would be drums and he started going, "So would you say he's postmodern or just ... *technobla* ... eclectic? ... *technobla* ... romantic influences... *bla*" I hesitated for only a second. Then I told him very firmly that I wouldn't know. 'Cause I am here for the ballet.
All that said, it was a great night and it was totally worth it. If any of you is from Germany or a country close by, you should absolutely give it a shot. Hearing a life performance of the BSG score is cool, the choreographer really knew how to do it justice, and while most of the dancers were kind of mediocre, the lead dancer did a beautiful job. It was a great sight. Maybe we'll get lucky and somebody will upload it on youtube. One of the screaming fans brought a camera I bet.
And now I'll go and watch the new episode.
EDIT:
setsunacutey reviewed the show on DA and wrote a much more detailed recount than I did. Local newspaper Westfallenpost published a review as well (in German of course). It's just as positive as I predicted.