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AFTERNOON OF A FAUN · 30/05/2015 

JEROME ROBBINS

When I first saw on the Royal Opera House's program that they were going to stage Afternoon of a Faun I thought I shouldn't miss the chance to see it. I knew it was a revival of Nijinsky's original ballet for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, but I didn't realise it was a Jerome Robbin's choreography. Some of you will know straight away who I'm talking about, some of you won't but I'm pretty sure you will as soon as I tell you that he was the choreographer for many popular Hollywood musical films such as West Side Story or Peter Pan. 

Jerome Robbins rehearsing for West Side Story

Robbins was a theatre producer and a choreographer who worked mostly for the industry in Broadway, but who occasionally produced and supervised musical films and TV programs. He was ballet master at the New York City Ballet when he produced this choreography to Claude Debussy's score Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune based on a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé. This ballet was first created by Vaslav Nijisnky in 1912, again with Debussy's score which inspired a drowsy atmosphere that was the general feel given in both Nijinsky's and Jerome's versions. 

Nijinsky's Afternoon of a Faun, Image by Drew Milne 

The settings in both ballets do change a lot though, while Nijisnky's version is a more literal one, picturing an actual faun, played by himself, seducing a nymph; Robbin's version takes us to a more realistic set where he presents us with a male dancer lying on the floor, later joined by a female dancer in a three walled studio, where the third wall is the mirror through which the audience seems to be beholding the scene.

Muntagirov and Hamilton, image by Emma Kauldhar

Robbin's ballet was premièred in 1953 and the set and costumes were designed by Jean Rosenthal and Irene Sharaff respectively. I was glad to see that the Royal Ballet had stayed faithful to these original designs from that time, therefore we were able to enjoy this beautiful choreography as those who had the chance to see it on it's first staging.

Muntagirov and Hamilton, image by Emma Kauldhar

Vadim Muntaguirov and Melissa Hamilton danced beautifully with an extremely polished technique that brought nothing but purity to the stage, it all felt so ethereal despite being set in such a earthly scenario, probably unlike Nijinsky's version, which in spite of having a mythological background was way less spiritual. The soothing music, the smooth mid-day lighting and the unblemished set design along with the immaculate performances of these two very talented dancers took the audience to the neatest production imaginable. It only lasted for 11 minutes but it was the absolute star show of the triple bill that night.