BALLET OF COPPELIA REFLECTS CHILDHOOD WIZARDRY

 Ballet is a relatively new phenomenon to Kenya. But there were clear signs this past weekend that this form of dance is picking up in popularity.

They were seen most clearly when Dance Centre Kenya staged ‘Coppelia’ at Braeburn Theatre Gitanga. In it, one could see young people coming from all over the world, including various ends of Nairobi and other sides of Africa. Then too, there were more male dancers performing in Coppelia than I’ve seen in previous DCK ballets, which I see as a major sign that ballet is increasingly being seen as not just a beautiful dance form but also as a physical skill that can potentially lead to wider horizons in career options as well.

For example, some DCK’s students have managed to go abroad on dance scholarships. Others have gone overseas on short dance training programs that have tightened their techniques further. Two are scholars in degree courses (in south Africa and Scotland) who took their time to come back to DCK to assist the show’s founder-director Cooper Rust in adapting the script, co-directing, and in assisting their mentor-mwalimu in training the dancers.

Cooper gives lots of credit to Kayla Holz and Annabel Shaw for assisting her in training the multiple scores of youthful dancers to be either a village peasant or a friend of either Swanhilda () or Franz (), the two sweethearts secretly infatuated with the mysterious lady living upstairs across the street, who doesn’t communicate with any of her neighbors and everybody’s curious.

Coppdlia was created by….., set to music by … …, and originally choreographed by ……… Their comedy ballet has been successfully performed ever since. Nonetheless, cooper adapted the choreography to include a wide variety of ages in her interpretations of the original script. Most of the storyline remained the same but the elements of physical comedy and mime into the dance meant that an audience in 2024 could appreciate the whole story.

Basically, Coppelia is an enchanting love story about two sweethearts, Swanhilda (Jana Landsolt) and Franz (Alex Stow) who are both overwhelmed with curiosity over their new neighbour, Coppelia (eve Mwaniki). Turns out, she is not a human being; she is a life-size beautiful doll, the creation of Dr Coppelius (Alvin Weru) who is passionate about bring Coppelia to life.