Queensland Ballet
PLACEHOLDER PAGE FOR 2018 QB CHINA TOUR
中国澳大利亚文化年
iNTRODUCTION FROM 2011: The Little Mermaid 18 March – 10 April 2011 China Tour
Northern Australia’s top ballet company tours China for an exclusive three-week run in March and April 2011, during the “Year of Australian Culture in China”. The most poetic of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales, The Little Mermaid brings to life the charm and beauty of another era, featuring some of the West’s most popular and beautiful music ever written. The production was conceived and choreographed by one of the most gifted and creative talents working in ballet today – renowned Artistic Director François Klaus – who weaves his own magical spell in a ballet designed to entertain children as well as adults. Queensland Ballet has toured this production to more than 30 houses, including overseas tours to Japan.
剧本大纲
第一幕：小美人鱼生活在大海深处的国度里。她的愿望是在她15岁生日那天能游到浅海处看看外面的花鸟世界。那个姐姐们口中的另一个天地。当那天来临时，她如愿得游到了浅海区。在那里她看到了一艘在大海中航行的帆船，王子正站在甲板上，突然一阵暴风雨袭来，整条船被掀覆了。她救起了王子并把他带到了岸边。在那里小美人鱼亲吻了王子并爱上了他。有一对捕鱼的夫妇经过，小美人鱼受到了惊吓躲开了，又有一位年轻的公主和她的侍女经过，小美人鱼再次受到了惊吓而游回了海里。与此同时，王子醒了过来，误以为是公主救了他。
小美人鱼回到了深海王国后，忘不了王子，想做他的新娘。然而她的母亲告诉她人类不懂得欣赏他们漂亮的鱼尾巴，王子永远不会娶一个没有脚的美人鱼。并且解释说人类的寿命很短，精神不朽，而美人鱼却可以活300年，而死后则变成海洋里的泡沫。但是小美人鱼决心已定，她找到了海里的巫婆，巫婆答应给她配制药水让她能有一双脚，但是作为交换条件，小美人鱼必须放弃她甜美的嗓音。而且将来每走一步路都会给她带来巨大的痛苦。与此相比更为苛刻的条件是如果王子没有娶她而娶了其他女子的话，那么小美人鱼将会在王子婚礼第二天的早上，太阳升起来的时候死去。小美人鱼同意了这些条件，带着魔药游到了岸边。
第二幕：有人发现了小美人鱼并把她带到了王子的宫殿中。虽然她不会说话，但是每个人都被她的优雅、她的舞姿所打动。王子对她也是很着迷。然而王子认为在那场暴风雨中救他的是那位公主而不是小美人鱼。于是与公主坠入爱河。小美人鱼也慢慢意识到她对于王子而言，仅仅是朋友。
在王子与公主婚礼的当天晚上，小美人鱼的姐姐们找到了她。为了挽救小美人鱼的生命，姐姐们与海洋女巫交易，用她们的头发换回来一把匕首。只要小美人鱼在太阳升起之前把匕首插入王子的心脏，那么她就不用死去，她将重新变成美人鱼游回大海继续生活。
小美人鱼走到了王子身边，看到正与新娘酣睡中的王子是如此的快乐，不忍心伤害他。当第二天的太阳升起来的时候，小美人鱼将匕首扔进了海里，与此同时，她感到自己的身体被托了起来，在她的周围有很多美丽的白色精灵。原来小美人鱼对王子深深的爱使得她没有变成大海的泡沫，而成了精灵中的一员，并且有朝一日能获得永恒的灵魂。
Synopsis
Act 1 The Little Mermaid lives in a kingdom beneath the sea and dreams of making the journey to the surface on her 15th birthday to see the birds and flowers her older sisters have told her about. When the time comes, she swims to the surface and sees a sailing ship with a Prince on board. While she watches, the ship is capsized by a sudden storm. The Little Mermaid saves the Prince by bearing him to the shore, where she kisses him and falls in love. Scared away first by a fisher couple, and then by a young Princess and her attendant, she returns to the sea. Meanwhile, the Prince wakes and mistakenly believes it is the Princess who rescued him.
Back in the Sea Kingdom, the Little Mermaid cannot forget the Prince and wants to marry him. However her mother explains that humans do not find ‘fish tails’ beautiful and that the Prince will never marry her because she does not have legs. She also explains that, while humans live only short lives, they have an immortal soul, whereas mermaids live for 300 years but then become foam on the ocean. The desperate Little Mermaid visits the Sea Witch who promises to make a potion that will give her legs. However there are conditions attached – in return, the Little Mermaid must give up her beautiful voice, and walking will always be very painful. Moreover, if the Prince does not marry her but chooses another, the Little Mermaid will die before the sun rises after the wedding celebration. The Little Mermaid agrees and swims to the shore to take the potion.
Interval, Act 2 The Little Mermaid is found on the beach and taken to the Prince’s court. Everyone finds her exquisite, and is charmed by her dancing but she cannot speak. Although the Prince is also charmed by her, he believes it was the Princess, not the Little Mermaid, who rescued him during the storm, and he falls in love with the Princess. The Little Mermaid gradually understands that she can never be more to the Prince than a friend.
On the evening of the wedding day between the Prince and Princess, the Little Mermaid is visited by her sister who has cut off all her hair in a bargain with the Sea Witch to try to save the Little Mermaid’s life. In return for her hair, the Sea Witch has given her a dagger. If the Little Mermaid plunges it into the Prince’s heart before the sun rises, her life will be spared and she can become a mermaid again, living the rest of her life in the ocean.
The Little Mermaid approaches the Prince, sleeping with his new wife, but he is clearly so happy that she cannot bring herself to kill him. As the sun rises, she throws the dagger into the sea and feels her body being swept into the waves. She then finds herself surrounded by beautiful beings in white – the spirits of the air. Because her love for the prince was so strong, the Little Mermaid does not become foam on the ocean, but becomes a spirit of the air and has the chance one day to have an immortal soul.
Music
- Elegie, Nocturne, and Ballade from King Kristian II Suite, Op. 27 (Jean Sibelius)
- Valse Triste from Kuolema, Op. 44 (Jean Sibelius)
- Après un rêve (Gabriel Fauré)
- Scene with Cranes from Kuolema, Op. 44 (Jean Sibelius)
- Lemminkäinen in Tuonela from Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22 (Jean Sibelius)
- Musette from King Kristian II Suite, Op. 27 (Jean Sibelius)
- Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16 (Edvard Grieg)
- Air in G (Johann Sebastian Bach)
Cast
Under the waves
The Little Mermaid and her family, the Sea Witch and undersea creatures
Above the waves
Prince, Princess, Fisherman and his wife, King, Queen, Egyptian slave dancers, Masters of Ceremonies and courtiers, spirits of the air
Biographies
FRANÇOIS KLAUS Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer
Queensland Ballet: Artistic Director of Queensland Ballet since 1998, French-born François Klaus first studied dancing with Russian teachers Julie Sedova and Marika Besobrasova. François joined Stuttgart Ballet under John Cranko and continued working with him as a soloist in Munich, where he danced his first leading role as Siegfried in Cranko’s Swan Lake. He spent the greater part of his career as a Principal Dancer of Hamburg Ballet under the direction of John Neumeier, creating the male leads for a large part of that company’s repertoire. During this time, he toured extensively through Europe, North and South America and Japan, and in 1981 was selected as Most Outstanding Performance of the Year by the critics of the American publication, Dancemagazine, for his performance in Neumeier’s Mahler III. In 1991, he took up the position of Artistic Director of Bern State Ballet in Switzerland, where he subsequently established his own company, Ballett Art. He has created more than 100 ballets, his work being recognised in Switzerland by the Doron Cultural Prize in 1996 and, since his arrival in Australia, by a nomination for a Helpmann Award in 2002. He also received a Centenary Medal for distinguished service to the arts in 2001. Internationally renowned dance writer Horst Koegler attributes the significant growth in the reputation of Queensland Ballet in recent years to Klaus. Under his direction, the Company undertook its first tour to Europe in January 2006, to great public and critical acclaim, and had further success on a return visit with his ballet Cloudland in October 2007. The Company also toured to Singapore in March 2007 with Klaus’s Alice in Wonderland, to Japan in April 2008 with The Little Mermaid, and returned to Europe in 2009 with Timeless Dances.
GRAHAM MACLEAN Set Designer
Graham Maclean is one of Australia’s most experienced set designers and has had a long association with Queensland Ballet, designing Ice Maiden, Death in Venice, and the Company’s 1982 production of Romeo & Juliet, as well as François Klaus’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Swan Lake, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Carmen, The Little Mermaid, Peer Gynt, Cloudland, A Thousand and One Nights, The Nutcracker, and the Company’s 2006 and 2010 production of Romeo & Juliet. A former Resident Designer for Queensland Theatre Company, Graham has also designed sets for numerous operas, musicals and plays all over Australia and New Zealand, including Garth Welch’s Kal and Essgee’s The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, and HMS Pinafore. Graham has won many design awards and has worked extensively in the USA, Asia, and Europe.
SELENE COCHRANE Costume Designer
Brisbane-based, Selene has been a costumier for over ten years. Working in the fashion industry, she developed a passion for intricate period costume, and moved into theatre and performance art. Her detailed modern and period designs have featured in her work for five different productions for Brisbane performer Christine Johnston. As Wardrobe Supervisor for QB from 1999 to 2002, Selene
designed and made costumes for many productions including Passion for Cathedrals Week in 1999, Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Excalibur – the Legend of King Arthur, and St Francis for Cathedrals Week in 2002. Selene was Head of Wardrobe at Opera Queensland from 2002 – 2007.
JASON ORGAN Lighting Designer
Jason has worked extensively in the Brisbane performing arts industry and the corporate and events markets over the last 20 years. Previous designs for Queensland Ballet were for E-Motion and Giselle in 2000. His other credits include work for Queensland Theatre Company, Kooemba Jdarra, La Boîte, Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus, QPAT, Kite Theatre, Queensland Folk Federation, Energex Brisbane Festival, QUT Drama, QUT Dance, Strange Attraction Co., Queensland Conservatorium, USQ, the opening of The Brisbane Powerhouse, and Livid and Woodford Folk Festivals. He is also co-founder of JLX Productions Pty Ltd, a Queensland-based lighting design and technical consultancy. In 2007, Jason was awarded a Matilda Award for an outstanding contribution to the performing arts in Queensland.
Technical Specifications
Click here to download Technical Specifications
CONTACT
更多巡演相关信息请联系：
极点艺术管理公司
info@maximaltd.com
+86 18616945702 林立婷
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Photo must be credited: Rachael Walsh as the Little Mermaid; Photographer: David Kelly --------------------------- |
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Photo must be credited: Queensland Ballet dancers in The Little Mermaid, Act 2; Photographer: David Kelly --------------------------- |
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Photo must be credited: Queensland Ballet dancers in The Little Mermaid, Act 2; Photographer: David Kelly --------------------------- |
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Photo must be credited: Rachael Walsh as the Little Mermaid with dancers of Queensland Ballet; Photographer: Ken Sparrow --------------------------- |
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Photo must be credited: Clare Morehen as the Princess and Alex Wagner as the Prince, with Amelia Waller as the Little Mermaid; Photographer: David Kelly --------------------------- |
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Photo must be credited: Keian Langdon as the Sea Witch; Photographer: David Kelly --------------------------- |
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Photo must be credited: The Little Mermaid watches the Prince’s ship; Photographer: David Kelly --------------------------- |
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Photo must be credited: Queensland Ballet dancers as the spirits of the air, The Little Mermaid, Act 2; Photographer: David Kelly --------------------------- |
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Photo must be credited: Dancers of Queensland Ballet in The Little Mermaid, Act 2; Photographer: David Kelly --------------------------- |
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Photo must be credited: Melissa Tattam as the Little Mermaid; Photographer: David Kelly --------------------------- |
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Photo must be credited: Dancers of Queensland Ballet in The Little Mermaid, Act 2: Photographer: Ken Sparrow --------------------------- |
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François Klaus ---------------------------
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