Julie Kent is probably the most discreet star that the glamorous world of ballet has ever produced. But she is also one of the most diligent and decisive when, once retired from the stage, she has dedicated herself to teaching and directing. Clad in black tights and a T-shirt, the former figure of the American Ballet Theater (ABT) and current artistic director of the Houston Ballet – the company that had to cancel its Catalan debut in Peralada due to the pandemic – teaches class this Thursday morning at the stage of the Principal Theater of Terrassa to the artists of the Ballet de Catalunya to then prepare the leading couples of that Juliet and Romeo that the company premieres today, Friday, with performances until Sunday.
The production signed by the company's artistic director, Elías García, is in a feminist key, reversing the order of the names, since "it is Juliet - he warns - who in this fable of eternal love has an active role, who moves the reins, the one who decides to take the potion to simulate death, the one who rebels against her father and against a society, the one who decides at 15 that she will not marry Paris, the man who is imposed on her, as she still does today, sadly, It happens in some countries.”
This is a special role for Kent. In fact, she said goodbye to the scene as Juliet and dancing to Prokofiev's beautiful score at the ABT. And, just as the great divas of the moment did with her in the past –Margot Fonteyn, for example, for the 50th anniversary of ABT–, she has taken the trouble to fly to Barcelona and help transmit her wisdom to the couple. dancers who stars, in both casts, in that title in Terrassa.
“I remember Fonteyn, of course I do, I was very young and I was amazed because I had her sitting in front of me while we were preparing La Bayadère by Frederick Ashton. And he gave me a couple of tips, nothing technical, they weren't about raising my leg more but something very artistic," he points out, after having done the same with Ellen Mäkelä, the principal dancer of the Ballet de Catalunya, sister of the young and disputed conductor Klaus Mäkelä.
“Julie has helped me understand how important it is for the audience to understand the great change that Juliet makes during the ballet: from being a girl to living a mature love. And it has to happen in a subtle way –Mäkelä says very excitedly with her golden curls tied up in a bun–. There are specific movements that are repeated and that show this change. And we have worked on the quality of those movements, which go from childlike lightness to something more rooted and heavy. And in the pas de deux she has given us advice to make everything seem easier and freer, and so that Paolo and I are more connected.” The Italian Paolo Calò is also her partner in real life, “which helps to find the emotions on stage,” they smile.
For Kent, oral transmission is crucial to the survival of ballet. “And we have a responsibility to be generous. See this? –She says, showing the pendant with two pointe shoes that the historic ballet teacher Hortensia Fonseca gave her–. She is 102 years old. From her I learned about the beauty of lines and the strength of imagination when dancing. And Natasha Makarova wrote me a beautiful letter reminding me that someone once said that beauty can save the world and emphasizing the great responsibility I had to contribute to that. She actually spoke of a duty, which made me think about how your effort can change people.”
Elías García has been greatly inspired by a sculptor who has always fascinated him, Antonio Canova, and there are appeals to that weeping virgin of his or the Kiss of Psyche. "It has been two years of work and overcoming impediments, such as telling a story that an entire town needs and adapting it to the twenty dancers of the Ballet de Catalunya, although there will be 30 on stage thanks to the help of the trainees. The production is light to be able to take it on tour since the company needs them to continue surviving,” he explains.
“In this production we include elements of the Catalan tradition, as we have done since we founded the company, touches such as the cane dance,” adds García, surrounded by young people of up to nine nationalities, such as Anne-Sophie, who arrived from Toronto, who has auditioned after seeing Mäkelä posting on Instagram about her activities at the Ballet de Catalunya. “Catalonia should be very proud of what they have achieved.” That's Kent's conclusion.
