PREVIEW: Joffrey Balley’s Jane Eyre | Auditorium Theatre
(Originally published on Chicago Stage Standard)
The Joffrey Ballet begins its 64th season with Chicago premiere from Northern Ballet Artistic Director Cathy Marston’s modern re-telling of Jane Eyre, October 16-27, 2019 at the Auditorium Theatre.
Marston's adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's trailblazing novel is a "quietly enthralling classic" (The Guardian) that combines theater and dance to tell the coming-of-age story of Jane Eyre, one of literature's most iconic characters.
After a difficult upbringing, Jane becomes the governess for the mysterious Mr. Rochester. With stirring choreography and an enthralling Victorian design, this avant-garde ballet breaks the mold of the traditional ballet heroine.
Ashley Wheater, The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, kindly answered a few questions in regards to the much anticipated upcoming production of Jane Eyre in the interview below.
As The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, what does your process look like when selecting productions for the upcoming season?
From season to season, the Joffrey tries to explore the full range of work being created for dance. We also value classics drawn from ballet’s nearly three-hundred-year tradition. From that vantage, the possibilities are limitless. The challenge is to curate programming which develops the technique and artistry of our dancers and appeals to a contemporary audience. I try to watch as much dance as I can, either at live performances or through film and video. In a given season, I look for a thread which connects the disparate work and defines a trajectory for the company. As the Joffrey and its audience grow, we tackle more challenging work. The Joffrey has always been an eclectic company. We try to tell old stories and universal stories in new ways. We champion young and talented artists. I am proud that we present works as diverse as Jane Eyre, The Times Are Racing and Don Quixote in a single season.
What drew you to choreographer Cathy Marston’s work?
I have followed Cathy Marston’s career for some time. I had an opportunity to see Jane Eyre and knew that we should share this ballet with the Joffrey audience. Cathy is thoughtful and has a rare gift for creating narrative ballet. Each gesture carries layers of information. In the studio, she speaks about character motivation and communication. Her dance vocabulary is quite unique. I hope to work together with her many times in the future.
I’ve watched a few interviews with Ms. Marston in regards to her previous work with Les Grands Ballets for Lady Chatterley’s Lover, where she discusses utilizing the source material while working on the production. In 2017, you reworked The Nutcracker for the Joffrey to be set in the 1983 Chicago World’s Fair. In your perspective when working on established text/classic literature, what are some methods or ways to make a production unique?
Since you mention our Nutcracker, let me use that as an example. Most of us have seen a “conventional” Nutcracker. Though the ballet is beloved, from the perspective of storytelling, it is problematic. What is the connection between the first act family party scene and the second act fantasy in the land of sweets? …Our creative team wanted to find a new way of telling the story, connecting the characters in a setting which is familiar to our audience. Each time we take a fresh look at a classic work of art, we find new ways of seeing.
With last year’s performance of Yuri Possokhov’s Anna Karenina, is it intimidating help bring these classic pieces of literature to the stage?
Translating great stories to dance is a challenge. The choreographer must distill an 800-page novel into a two-hour ballet, without the benefit of words. Yet, in some ways, unspoken communication is as powerful as text. In human history, “gesture” likely preceded “words” as a means of expression. And music, which is the heartbeat of dance, has the power to paint an emotional landscape with just a few notes.
For this production, what do you find the most exciting or challenging?
Cathy and her creative team have done most of the hard work. And Joffrey dancers are particularly gifted at conveying stories and emotions. Jane Eyre was first performed by Northern Ballet in England (2016) on a relatively small stage. It held an intimacy, which we hope to maintain in our much larger venue. We have adjusted the lighting and other technical features to capture the spirit of the original.
Jane Eyre is sure to be a stunning performance and will be playing October 16th – 27th, 2019. All performance will take place at the historic Auditorium Theatre, in downtown Chicago at 50 East Ida B. Wells Drive. All programs throughout the season feature live music performed by the Chicago Philharmonic conducted by Scott Speck, Music Director of The Joffrey Ballet.
