Coppelia Shines on GDUFS Stage

May 4th---Coppelia was brought out by the Guangzhou Ballet at the Yunshan Hall of GDUFS, and was a spectacular hit. It is the third time that Guangzhou Ballet has given performances to GDUFS students, since The Nutcracker and Giselle were successfully played on the stage. There were two shows; One was in the afternoon and the other in the evening. Coppelia, a comic ballet originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, attracted students from both the North and the South Campus to enjoy the elegant artistic performance.

Swanhilda dancing

Coppelia is a puppet elaborately designed by Doctor Coppélius, who is seated beside the window of his house. The young man Franz fell in love with Coppelia and paid a lot attention to her. Seeing this, his fiancée Swanhilda got very angry. Not until they discovered that Coppelia was a puppet did they clear the air and reconcile with each other. Coppelia consists of three acts and its total length is about 1.5 hours.

Doctor Coppélius

The story begins with Swanhilda’s solo dance. She tried to greet Coppelia but received no reply. As she saw Franz sending flying kisses to Coppelia, she became jealous and angry. Then the mayor announces that, when it arrives, anyone who becomes married will be awarded a special gift of money. Swanhilda was so angry that she embarrassed Franz by shaking an ear of wheat by his head: if it rattles, then she will know that Franz loves her. However, Franz said he heard nothing, which upset Swanhilda. She danced with her friends, leaving Franz away. At night, Swanhilda and her friends picked Doctor Coppélius’ key and slipped into his house.

In the second act, Swanhilda and her friends found that Coppelia was a puppet. They got so happy and started to dance and play. To their surprise, Coppélius came back and drove the girls away. However, Swanhilda decided to play a trick on Coppélius by wearing Coppelia’s dress. At that time, Franz entered the house and expressed his adoration to Coppelia. Coppélius made him drunk with a drug, attempting to take Franz’s spirit and transfer it to Coppélia. He failed because Swanhilda cheated him by dancing, which confused Coppélius. As Franz woke up, she showed them the truth by pulling the curtain---the puppet was still there.

Swanhilda and Franz

At the end of the story, there was a grand festival. People got together to celebrate, in which Swanhilda and Franz danced hand in hand. Twelve girls danced in a circle to symbolize the clock. The Dawn Dance, the Dusk Dance and the Spin Dance drew a harmonious picture of village life. People all dance wearing smiles, sending best wishes to Swanhilda and Franz.

The girls

“I was totally immersed in it! I imagined I was also dancing on the stage!” A student from the Faculty of Chinese Language and Culture told us. Some other students also expressed their appreciation to the ballet. “The actors were quite skilled and focused. They didn’t ignore any details and the whole story was so interesting and fascinating!” Another student commented.

PS. info about Guangzhou Ballet

The Guangzhou Ballet was established in January, 2014, a comprehensive reform unit for the arts group of Guangzhou City. The head, as well as the art director, is the famous dancer Ms. ZHANG Dandan. Since its establishment, the Guangzhou Ballet has produced numerous classical ballet works: Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Giselle, Dancing Princess, Don Quixote, Cinderella and others. The Guangzhou Ballet has stuck to the cautious and standard policy, thus showing the vitality and variety of the different styles of popular ballet.