Expertly choreographed, featuring superbly cast children
and teenagers, vast panoply of international music, exquisite
light show, and expert announcing, Cinderella was
resurrected and re-invented as never before.Submitted by Ken Fernandez, Boris Pertchenko.
December 21st, 2012
Montreal – Irina Chirka’s production of Cinderella premiered as a pre-Christmas ballet to an enraptured audience of over 850 people.
Chirka, who hails from Moldova a former republic of the Soviet Union, has clearly imported her former homeland’s passion for excellence in ballet fused with a commitment to inclusion, making her version of Cinderella a ballet of unparalleled quality entertainment for an entire family.
Chirka, whose extensive background as a producer and impresario of large-scale performances (that easily fit into the standards put forward by venerable Canadian institutions like the Grand Ballets Canadiens and Cirque du Soleil to shade) spans the former USSR as well as her adopted homeland, Canada, mounted a veritable masterpiece in her version of Cinderella. In it, Cinderella, aided by a virtual army of little bees and mice (small children in perfectly tailored costumes) whose dancing skills – brought out by the highly talented Chirka – evoke memories of Hollywood classics featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, secretively perform the chores to which Cinderella has been “sentenced” by her evil stepmother and her daughters. The mice and bees work/dance around her tormentor’s cats (teenage ballet dancers in feline garb whose conduct raises the specter of the alley-cat) – in their efforts to help her, while throughout, an exquisite lightshow and series of screen images provide an engrossing backdrop that could only hold the entire audience – irrespective of age – in its enthralls.
Throughout it all, of course, Cinderella meets her Fairy Godmother, travels in a pumpkin-cum coach complete with a set of horses – gets a hitherto unseen dress and slippers, and ends up with her Prince Charming, on the strength of the help from the naughty little mice and bees.
As for the music to which the dancing was choreographed, Chirka’s Cinderella features a vast range of musical styles that literally span the entire globe., encompassing everything from classical, to Argentinean Tango, jazz, rock and roll, break dancing, and even a snippet from Luc Plamondon and Richard Cocciente’s Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Cinderella is a tale in which love and forgiveness are central, as is the importance of remaining positive in the face of adversity and different situations in life, while remaining steadfast and persistent in the pursuit and ultimate achievement of goals in life. These are the most important values of humanity.
220 bright and beautiful costumes were made for this brilliant performance. The well-known musician and singer Evgeny Fillonin provided a lot of assistance in preparing the musical part of Chirka’s Cinderella.
Art-director Natalie Glukhova made the magnificent slide show – Cinderella room, King’s castle, King’s guards and many others, greatly contributing to the show’s success, while choreographer Alina Reutskaya worked with little cuties- 4-6 years olds, whose performances were very touching and sincere.
In all there were 32 dances and many theatrical episodes in the Cinderella which led the viewers to be enraptured.
Irina Chirka is planning to show Cinderella in other Canadian cities and possibly, abroad. She is mounting the second Children’s and youth Dance Festival which is due to open in March, and is planning for “Dance Is My Life” which is scheduled for May. Chirka is also scheduling the great performance of “The Show Queen” for the end of 2013.
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