Romeo and Juliet, around Scotland, May-Jun 2008

Forbidden love, feuding families and murder: Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet is high octane, emotion fuelled drama. A story constantly being reinvented both in film and dance, it’s no surprise that when Artistic Director Ashley Page decided upon the age old story of ‘star-crossed lovers’ for the Scottish Ballet’s new touring production, he chose to commission Krzysztof Pastor to choreograph a new full length version rather than resort to an old one.

Trained in Poland, Krzysztof Pastor first danced with ballet companies in his homeland before dancing as a soloist with Le Ballet de l’Opera de Lyons (now the Lyon Opera Ballet). After choreographing for various companies he was invited in 2003 to be resident choreographer at the Dutch National Ballet.

For those who believe ballet is just girls in pretty white tutus, expect something more from Pastor’s choreography. He uses the classical ballet aesthetic but with a twist: it’s classical dance with a contemporary sensibility. Previous work includes Kurt Weill, a challenging piece around the music of Weill and In Light and Shadow, which plays with the classical ballet technique.

Pastor seeks to give ballet a contemporary feel. “For me it is important to look for association with our times. How to put the language of dance, how to express the feelings these people could have. They were secretly married, they have spent the first night together and the night before he kills somebody. I mean - that must be quite traumatic”.

Balancing the emotion with the dance can be a challenge. “Either it can be corny or too sweet. I would like that it’s human. The language, the technique, it’s a dance language, so there are certain aesthetics. But how to get the simplicity that is very close to every person - these things are as important to me as the pirouettes and all”.

Also important to Pastor is the sense of conversation expressed as dance and through dance. “There is a duet, a pas de deux; it’s the dialogue”. The dancers speak to and answer each other through movement. “For the audience, they don’t have to be experts of dance to feel the dialogue”.

This same dialogue is encouraged between the Scottish Ballet dancers and himself as he creates the dance. “As artists [the dancers have to] interpret, they have to prepare, they have to read and if they disagree with me they should tell me, they shouldn’t hide it. We should also communicate”.

This is the second time Pastor has worked with the Scottish Ballet, the first being In Light and Shadow, and he’s enjoying being back. ‘It’s a nice creative company, no sour faces, no complaints, just focusing, it’s really good work… I’ve worked everywhere, from Australia to Africa, and this is a really fantastic company”.

Set in Italy, this world premiere of Romeo and Juliet uses Prokofiev’s haunting music as well as some of his beautiful interludes. It’s based on Shakespeare’s story, but Pastor updates it a little. For one thing, there are no swords and there is no nanny.

However, at its heart, it’s still the same timeless story, of the war between the Montagues and the Capulets and moreover, the passionate young love between Romeo and Juliet. It’s this timelessness that has inspired Pastor to relocate the action in various decades of the last century. As the story unfolds and the dramatic tension increases, he uses footage from the 30s, 50s and 60s as a backdrop to capture the rising social tension. It all promises to be an explosive night out. So leap, or better yet, grande jete, to catch this production as it tours Scotland in May and June.