Most ballets staged in traditional grand
opera houses, such as La Scala in
Milan and the Metropolitan Opera in New
York, fall into two types. One would be
during a "ballet company season" booked
in time slots when the opera company
doesn't need the theater, which could
mean regular runs of full-lengh
"Bayaderes" and "Swan Lakes'. The other
would be during performances of grand opera where there is no singing
and music
intended for ballet, so ballet dancers
either employed by the opera company
itself, or hired on a day-to-day basis
from the ballet company sharing the
theater, get to do their pas de deux
or whatever during the appropriate
parts of the opera. Something new
happened at the Metropolitan Opera
premiere of "The Barber of Seville"
this spring, where the character
of Antonio, normally a supernumerary
given neither lines to speak nor
phrases to sing, was played by
a trained ballet dancer who did
plenty of modern choreography
during his long time onstage.
Perhaps this will lead to some
more ideas, and hopefully some
more paid work for ballet dancers
during scheduled opera seasons.
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