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The dress rehearsal for the Greek National Opera\u2019s new production, a ballet inspired by the life of composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was just wrapping up. Choreographer Cayetano Soto watched the small team of GNO dancers go through their movements, giving them directions here and there in a low voice. Four of the dancers were wearing a hot pink elastic full-body suit that covers their faces and heads. Are they men or women? It\u2019s impossible to tell.<\/p>\n
As the dress rehearsal progressed, the award-winning Spanish choreographer\u2019s instructions became more detailed and analytical \u2013 and always delivered in the same friendly tone. He demonstrated the moves he was after, revealing the dancer underneath the baggy jeans, oversized sweatshirt and a woolen beanie.<\/p>\n
Soto first made the international dance community sit up and take notice in his debut as a choreographer, with the Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich, earning the title of Best Young Choreographer to Watch from the German magazine Tanz Aktuell. He has worked with some of the top contemporary dance companies in the world in the 25 years since and regards his work now, with \u201cTchaikovsky,\u201d as taking his art a step further.<\/p>\n
Inspired by the sense of romance in the prolific oeuvre of the celebrated composer and the tragic nature of Tchaikovsky\u2019s personal life, Soto challenges the beauty of the music to expose what\u2019s hiding beneath its surface.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His choreography is delicate, open and direct, demanding exceptional technical precision and imagination from the dancers. His movement vocabulary is expressive and instantly recognizable, characterized by nuanced tonal and chromatic details, as well as grotesque reinterpretations of classical ballet movements \u2013 such as expressive hands and fingers \u2013 alongside highly intricate, almost acrobatic pas de deux.<\/p>\n
Kathimerini caught up with Soto during a break in the dress rehearsal and he confirmed that the only thing the audience could expect of \u201cTchaikovsky\u201d is the unexpected. There is no \u201cSwan Lake,\u201d \u201cSleeping Beauty\u201d or \u201cNutcracker;\u201d there isn\u2019t even be a Tchaikovsky, in fact. \u201cThere is no such role in the ballet,\u201d he said, adding to my sense of confusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, how would he describe the piece?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an alternative biographical ballet,\u201d said Soto, who worked on the concept with Dario Susa, who is also responsible for the set, costumes and lighting. \u201cIt\u2019s about the life of a man and this life is made up of light and shadows. The more light there is, the darker is the shadow. Beyond what we already know about Tchaikovsky as an artist, this performance is also about the shadow of a sad and lonely man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soto seemed excited by the prospect of shocking the audience by choosing to focus on the darkness of his quintessentially romantic composer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be even happier if people hate it. It is our duty, as artists, to show the public things as they really are, even if it makes some people uncomfortable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe deal with Tchaikovsky the composer and the man with a lot of respect, but we can\u2019t just pretend that everything in his life was bright and happy. \u2018Only little by little, at the cost of a whole series of unbearable sufferings, did I come to realize my true worth,\u2019 he wrote in a letter,\u201d said Soto, whose performance is also inspired by a huge collection of letters by the 19th century composer that were only just recently published.<\/p>\n
These letters shed light on little-known aspects of the composer\u2019s life, parts of which Soto can identify with, particularly his homosexuality, which Tchaikovsky could never publicly reveal. His fear is alarmingly contemporary, says the choreographer, who was recently verbally attacked and threatened on the streets of seemingly liberal Barcelona just a month ago when out with his partner.<\/p>\n
Soto is used to dealing with challenges, but he does not believe that his life has been marked by adversity, he said, explaining that even though he comes from a working-class background and his parents had nothing to do with the arts, they supported his choices \u2013 both personal and professional \u2013 entirely.<\/p>\n
He started out as a dancer, but knew from the beginning that choreography was where he was heading. He earned the trust of his instructors from his very first foray into the craft, \u201cand it all worked out very beautifully and very naturally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember what my father taught me. He said: \u2018Cayetano, you will have difficulties in life, especially after I\u2019m gone. But you should know that life is not treating you badly, or has something against you. It\u2019s just life challenging you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTchaikovsky\u201d is one of those challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sent a video of the performance to my mentor, the British choreographer Philip Taylor, and he called me up and said: \u2018You\u2019re making me panic, Cayetano. You forge ahead without a safety net; exposing yourself on stage entirely.\u2019 \u2018Please keep watching,\u2019 I answered. He agreed. \u2018It is very dark indeed, but also very mature. You could call it \u201cCayetano Soto\u201d instead of \u201cTchaikovsky\u201d and it would work just fine,\u2019 said Taylor. In life, there is a light that beckons to us. But there is also the devil calling out. And sometimes, the most beautiful part of us comes from our darkest side,\u201d said Soto.<\/p>\n
\u201cTchaikovsky\u201d is playing at the Greek National Opera (nationalopera.gr) at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (snfcc.org), with the last three shows taking place on February 21, 22 and 23.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n