Choreographic interpretation of the images of Hippolyta and Theseus in the ballet by J. Neumeier's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

     The interest in creating a large-scale ideological and imaginative author's interpretation of the literary source on the ballet stage can be called one of the key features of John Neumeier's choreographic style. In the early period of his work, the recognized master, who has been heading the Hamburg Ballet since 1973, created several stage performances that predetermined the directions of his choreographic searches for several decades to come. Among them are "Romeo and Juliet" by S.S. Prokofiev (1971), "The Lady with Camellias" to the music of F. Chopin (1978), "A Midsummer Night's Dream" to the music of F. Mendelssohn and D. Ligeti (1977). This article is devoted to the last of these performances, which premiered on the stage of the Hamburg State Opera. It was "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that became the first ballet transferred by Neumeier to the stage of the Moscow Bolshoi Theater (the list was subsequently continued by "The Lady with Camellias" in 2014 and "Anna Karenina" in 2018). Before the production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", the choreographer twice turned to the plays of W. Shakespeare, but chose tragedies ("Romeo and Juliet" and "Hamlet"). Neumeier's first appeal to the playwright's comedy was followed by a second one. A few years after the premiere of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the choreographer staged Shakespeare's comedy "As You Like It" to the music of W.A. Mozart (1985) on the ballet stage.

     Various aspects of the truly vast heritage of J. Neumeier has been the subject of a number of Russian - language monographs and studies ^{[2, 8 – 10, 17 – 21]}. In particular, in this work, the author continues to study and comprehend the author's interpretation of Neumeier's images of the main characters of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", undertaken by him in one of the previous articles ^[20]. It carried out a detailed analysis of the development of images of Titania and Oberon, which revealed unconventional and extremely progressive plastic solutions for the year of staging. Now it seems necessary to supplement the study with a meaningful interpretation of the choreographic embodiment of the images of Hippolyta and Theseus – the second hypostasis of the main characters (in the ballet there is a single pair of leading soloists acting in the roles of both Hippolyta with Theseus and Titania with Oberon), in order to identify their features in the context of the performance.

     A two-act ballet with a prologue, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by J. Neumeier combines two contrasting musical, scenographic and plastic worlds. In the center of one of them, which has become the realm of Ligeti's electronic music and acrobatic plasticity of cosmic beings in sparkling overalls, is "the confrontation between Titania and Oberon, which develops into the revenge of the king of the elves on his wife, who falls in love with a weaver with donkey ears" ^{[20, p. 3]}. In the center of another world, in which the collisions of the relationships of Shakespeare's lovers (Hermia, Lysander, Elena and Demetrius) unfold under the life–affirming harmony of Mendelssohn's music, is the story of Hippolyta and Theseus preparing for marriage. Neumeier makes the subconscious of the main character the link between the "worlds" of this performance. Her dream becomes the fantastic force that transforms Hippolyta into Titania, and Theseus into Oberon. In Shakespeare, the theme of sleep arises (subsequently not developing) on the very first pages of the comedy in the words of Hippolyta:

Four days at night will sink quickly;

Four nights in dreams will sink so quickly…

And a crescent bow made of silver,

Stretched in the sky, it will illuminate

The night of our wedding! ^{[22, p. 195]}

      Neumeier makes this theme a kind of "key" to the development of the image of his main character. In the prologue, Hippolyta appears as a somewhat detached beautiful bride, absentmindedly preparing for the wedding. It seems that neither a luxurious train, nor a veil, nor a precious crown absorb her attention. The first meeting of the heroine with the groom in the play is limited to short mise-en-scenes. Only when Hippolyta is left alone, the choreographer reveals in a short monologue the reason for her melancholy. The performer of the main character picks up the love message dropped by Demetrius and looks through it with longing, holding a flower in her other hand, which Theseus will give her. Probably, she greatly lacks the attention of her lover and she appreciates even the slightest manifestation of it – a gift of a flower. Long-drawn arabesques and pas failli, while performed by a ballerina, turn into a combination of pas de bourr?e suivis, alternating with the IV position on pointe shoes. Perhaps the heroine thinks that the love message was addressed to her by Theseus (and not to Hermia by Demetrius), because as she reads her mood changes noticeably and she gently presses both the letter and the flower to her chest. It is in this ecstatic state that Hippolyta falls asleep, lying down on a small sofa.

     The next time the audience sees Hippolyta is already in the second act – as at the end of the prologue, she sleeps on the sofa on the right side of the stage. Theseus' performer appears from behind the scenes and approaches the sleeping heroine. For the first time in the play, Hippolyta and Theseus are left alone – that is, the story of these heroes is just beginning here, and, according to the plot of the original source, they are all the same lovers waiting for their wedding. However, the audience already perceives them through the prism of Titania and Oberon, and the image of Hippolyta, who saw everything that happened to the queen of fairies in a dream, certainly differs from the one presented in the prologue of the play. From such positions, which differ from those contained in Shakespeare's comedy, Neumeier begins the choreographic development of the images of Hippolyta and Theseus.

     After making sure that Hippolyta is sleeping peacefully, the performer Theseus heads to the middle of the stage to perform a solo fragment. His movements are smooth and unhurried: he does not want to disturb the heroine's sleep. This is a long tour in attitudes and grand rond de jambe through a high position ? la seconde; pirouette en dehors temps relev? (with the same supporting leg, without an additional approach). This is followed by a diagonal of arabesques alternating with tours piqu?(during which the dancer's hands are freely opened), ending with tours in attitude with a transition to pirouettes en dedans(this rotation will later occur in the "Lady with Camellias"). After the spins, the hero again approaches Hippolyta's bed, picks up a flower lying nearby, and sits at the head of the bed. Hippolyta wakes up: having moved her hand, the ballerina, without getting up, immediately falls on the shoulders of the dancer sitting next to her. He, having lowered the flower to the floor, stands up, holding his partner, and intercepts her face to himself. So Hippolyta sees Theseus for the first time after her dream – he becomes the first person she saw when she opened her eyes. If we recall the magical charms of the magic flower, it is the hero who should become her lover. There is no such turn in Shakespeare's comedy, but Neumeier hints at it, thus starting the first detailed love duet of Hippolyta and Theseus.

     After the first support, the performer of Hippolyta hugs the dancer by the neck and, bending over (even slightly hunched over), goes into the outline. Having performed with the help of a partner a high fouett? to the position of arabesque pench?e, she continues the tour lent. The dancer soon grabs the ballerina by the shoulders and begins to move forward. At the same time, she holds her legs, ending up in the splits, and then reassembles them into the V position, returning to arabesque. Immediately from this position, the dancer lifts the ballerina in support with outstretched arms (she performs envelo pp?) and puts her on his shoulder, after which he intercepts her in a position parallel to the floor, while moving widely around the stage. The dancers perform all the movements at a calm pace, gently and cantilenely moving from one to the other. Having lowered his partner (she is standing in pointe shoes in the IV position), the performer Theseus gallantly drops to one knee next to her and kisses her hand. She goes off the pointe – obviously, this is how Neumeier emphasizes that emotions make Hippolyta forget about conventions. Suddenly embarrassed by this, the heroine quickly bows to Theseus and runs off to the sofa, near which she notices a flower lying. When Hippolyta picks it up, a new part of the duet begins.

     Holding a flower in her hands, the ballerina departs pas couru and finds herself in the arms of the performer Theseus, who, supporting her, puts her on the floor and himself falls down next to her. The heroine gently strokes his head, and the hugs of the heroes become the beginning of support, in which the dancer slowly stretches her legs. The next inventive combination of rotations will be developed by Neumeier in "The Lady with Camellias" (where it is used both in the duet of soloists and in the dances of the corps de ballet). These are the pirouettes en dehors in the attitude pose forward, turning into strokes with the offset of the partner's axis (the position changes to ? la seconde). During the strokes, the partner supports the ballerina by the shoulders or by one hand. Repeating the combination a second time, the performer of Hippolyta throws the flower aside – the heroes no longer need magic. The third repetition of the rotation combination, performed by the dancers in the center of the stage, turns into a series of strokes with a shifted balance. This is a gradually accelerating alternation of positions ? la seconde, grand rond de jambe and pirouettes en dehors (in which the partner holds the ballerina's hands).

     In the next part of the duet, an active choreographic and emotional build-up is noticeable. The part begins with support, in which the partner puts the ballerina on his shoulder, supporting her by the shoulders (she sits on her knee, which is a very atypical position for such support), and moves diagonally across the entire stage. The hands of the performer Hippolyta are wide open, as if towards something. Then the partner intercepts the bent ballerina under her back, lifting her on one hand. Returning to the center of the stage, the dancers continue the cascade of supports with waltz turns, in which the dancer holds the ballerina at the level of his chest in the jet? position, and she complements the rotation by bending one leg and waving her hand.

     Neumeier celebrates the final part of the duet with special solemnity – ceremonial and majestic poses, big jumps appear. Following the cascade of supports, the heroes separate, performing small solo bundles (dancer – jet? en tournant, a ballerina relev? in ?cart?), and converge again in pirouettes. The rotation of en dehors is combined with the stroke and port de bras of the ballerina, giving the impression of a kind of spiral. Having separated again, the performers of Hippolyta and Theseus simultaneously perform various jumping combinations, first on one diagonal, then on the other (ballerina – grand pas de chat and jet? en avan t, dancer – jet? en tournant and cabrioles en arri?re). Having performed the pirouettes in a duet, the characters move away from each other a little, as if not knowing how else to express their overwhelming feelings, and immediately run together again. The dancer picks up the ballerina in support, placing her knees on his chest, and then lets her down, spinning on one hand. From this position, he gently lowers her to the floor, sitting down next to her. The duet ends with the hugs of the heroes.

     In this fragment, Neumeier, using technically saturated duet technique and thereby determining the further line of development of his choreographic style, shows by neoclassical plastic means of expressiveness the gradual increase in the feelings of the characters towards each other, which contributes to the development of their images in the context of the performance.

     The analyzed duet is followed by a mise en scene in which Theseus and Hippolyta (having turned from ardent lovers into lords) bless Hermia with Lysander and Elena with Demetrius, and then the celebration begins in honor of the marriage of three couples. Thus, Neumeier builds the composition of the performance in the likeness of a large academic ballet: the development of the action turns into a final divertimento, culminating in the ceremonial duet of Hippolyta and Theseus.

     This fragment begins with the majestic exit of the performer Theseus, in which Neumeier immediately gives a reference to the choreographic samples of academic classics. One hand of the dancer lies on the waist, after a few steps he comes to the V position of the legs with emphasis. After crossing the pli? several times in the IV position and turning (which gives the classical movements a certain originality), he freezes in a ceremonious bow before Hippolyta coming out. The heroine appears accompanied by an entourage of eight girls carrying her luxurious train. After passing through the semicircle, the ballerina and the dancer converge on the center of the stage and freeze in the V position the legs and the preparatory position of the hands (girls with a train line up behind the ballerina in two lines). Without changing the shape, the performers describe two circles with their hands (to each other and vice versa), completing the movement with the III position. The dancer rises on half–toes, and the ballerina and the girls from her entourage - on pointe shoes. The characters change places (all the movements of the performer Hippolyta are repeated by the girls standing behind her, which adds significance to them), after which the performer Theseus gallantly gives his partner a hand. The dancers move forward synchronously, complementing the steps of the pas battu. Then the ballerina moves into pas de bourr?e suivis, stopping her hand with her partner. At this moment, the girls from her entourage sit on their knees, which visually increases the dancer's height. The performer of Hippolyta takes the arabesque pose, synchronously describing a circle with her hand with her partner, then moves into pench?e. From this position, the partner turns it under his hand to a low arabesque crois?, wrapping it in a train for half a turn. Turning back, the ballerina begins to flow in a circle, simultaneously unbuttoning and removing the train. She continues the next part of the duet without a train – the girls, carrying it away, hide behind the scenes.

     After passing diagonally pas de bourr?e suivis, the performer of Hippolyta gives her hand to her partner, repeating the arabesque crois? pose again(this time without a train). Continuing the movement by leaning forward and fouett? to attitude forward, the ballerina, supported by the dancer by the hands, goes into the tour lent c grand rond de jambe. After performing a few more clear and solemn pas (small arabesque, attitude forward, pirouettes by the hands), the dancers disperse and the performer Theseus rises to the upper right corner to perform his solo. The heroine at this time freezes in a bow. The presence of choreographically saturated solo fragments can be called a distinctive feature of this duet.

     The first diagonal of the dancer's solo fragment consists of a combination of jumps interspersed with renvers? saut?: these are double saut de basque and cabriole en arri?re. Next, the dancer switches to combined rotations alternating with cabriole en avant: pirouettes en dehors from IV position, pirouettes en dehors from arabesque to arabesque, tours attitude en dedans. Having finished his solo, the performer of Theseus with a bow invites the performer of Hippolyta to dance. Neumeier puts the solo fragment of the heroine in the center of the stage, organically combining small movements (suivis, battu) with larger-scale ones (tour in attitude en dehors, jet? entrelac?). After it, the dancers, finding themselves on opposite sides of the stage, converge in the process of a mirrored technical combination (jet? ? la second, pirouettes en dedans, jet? en tournant), complemented by an emphatically academic port de bras. Following the rotations, the characters continue the parallel and synchronous execution of the elements, the trajectory of the movement is a bit like pair skating on ice. This is jet? en tournant, tours cha?n?(the dancer has augmented double tour en l'air), tours attitude piqu?. And then the ballerina again performs solo, performing a diagonal of rotations (a rather atypical solution for Neumeier's performances, again reminiscent of academic ballets), which consists of a double tours attitude piqu?, double tours piqu?, soutenu en tournant. As if not wanting to lag behind his partner, the dancer performs a solo jumping combination with a double tour en l'air, followed by a pause in which the characters freeze in front of each other in bows. The performer Theseus tenderly offers the ballerina a hand for a short duet part.

     After performing several pas in duet (arabesque pench?e, pirouette en dehors temps relev? in one hand, tour lent en dedans in arabesque crois?), the heroes are again separated for a bunch of parallel synchronous movements. In it, a combination of small and deliberately neat movements is repeated twice from different legs (glissade, cou de pied, sissonne-ouverte in arabesqu?, d?velopp?s en avant effac?), and a pirouette is inserted between it. Having met, the performers Hippolyta and Theseus quote the first duet combination performed at the beginning of the fragment immediately after the ballerina removed the train. The bundle seems to become a signal for choreographic and emotional growth. By mirroring a double tour attitude en dehors (pr?paration to which is extremely academic, in contrast to the "hidden" approaches characteristic of Neumeier) and grand jet? entrelac?, the dancers move on to the final part, the most intense duet dance.

     The diagonal of paired rotations by the hand anticipates the choreographic climax of the duet (tours attitude piqu?, turning into a stroke, pirouette s en dedan s and a little support with a turn). After the second repetition of the combination, the characters assume a pose with bent arms folded with a monogram, and move into a cascade of high supports (the arabesque pose on the dancer's outstretched arms, which through the pose on the partner's shoulder passes into support, where the ballerina, supported by the leg and shoulder, is in a side position parallel to the floor). After finishing the bundle with a wide lunge, the performer of Hippolyta freezes in a low arabesque and slowly opens her hands while the dancer makes several active strokes in this pose, shifting her balance. The rotation ends with tours cha?n?s performed by the heroes in parallel at the center of the stage. Having stopped in the V position of the legs, the dancers repeat the circles with their hands and the first pas of the beginning of the duet – probably Neumeier makes this quote a plastic expression of the royal grandeur of the newlyweds. Letting go of his hands and without support, frozen in attitude crois?, the performer of Hippolyta simultaneously with a tilt in pench?e gives her partner a hand. Turning around, the characters take the final pose: a ballerina standing in a low attitude with a shifted balance and supported by a partner at the waist, complements the pose with a deliberately rounded III position of one hand (the dancer does the same). After the completion of the duet, the performers Hippolyta and Theseus bow, which again reminds of the ballets of the classical heritage: after all, bows in the middle of the action are extremely rare in Neumeier's performances.

     So, a detailed analysis of the images of Hippolyta and Theseus allows us to conclude that Neumeier makes two detailed duets, which are strikingly different from each other, the main choreographic fragments to characterize these heroes. In the first of them, the choreographer uses a rich duet technique: upper supports without approaches (often starting from kneeling positions), non-standard combinations of paired rotations. This is especially noteworthy if we take into account that many of the choreographic finds manifested in this duet of Hippolyta and Theseus were subsequently developed in the ballet "The Lady with Camellias", staged a year later. The composition and means of choreographic expressiveness of the second duet are rather atypical for Neumeier's work. Here, the choreographer, with poses and technical solo fragments of the dancers, hints at the similarity with the ballets of the classical heritage, with the help of which he emphasizes the ceremonial and ceremonious solemnity of this duet. It also uses such an additional attribute as a train, which gives the ballerina's movements even more weight and royalty.

     Thus, the choreographic development of the images of Hippolyta and Theseus occupies one of the key positions (along with Titania and Oberon) in the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and also becomes an important stage in the evolution of the author's style of J. Neumeier.