On November 3 I had the very real pleasure of attending The Washington Ballet's production of "Dracula." As a fan of both ballet and the original source, I had high expectations, but higher still were the expectations of the two "ballet virgins" who accompanied me.
The ballet is atmospheric and enthralling. while the company's production of "Alice in Wonderland" fell flat due to awkward aerial equipment changes and hoaxes effects, "Dracula," is just lavish enough to keep with the tradition of depictions of Stoker's novel. The dancers were well-cast, and Hyun-Woong Kim as Dracula was simply spell-binding.
Lucy and Dracula, dancing passionately to her death.
As a whole, the production was not always well-paced; there were overly-long scenes that seemed placed just to emphasize the ballet in an otherwise very theatrical production. The lowest point in the ballet was actually the conclusion, at which point a horde of undead craws from the scenery to dance in celebration of Dracula's acquisition of Mina. The dancers looked like they were ready for, as I thought in the moment, a Hot Topic Prom, and I expected them to break out into "Thriller" at any moment. In an otherwise carefully costumed and directed production, this dance was simply hokey.
However, this weak scene can be forgiven for the beauty that came before: an amazing pas de deux between Dracula and Harker at Dracula's castle. Well-choreographed, phenomenally preformed, and perfectly breathtaking, the feats of strength and grace presented by the dancers took away our collective breath. It was a perfect struggle between the two, capturing both the energy of the medium and the characterization presented in the primary source.
The pas de dux of Dracula and Harker.
Here you can see a preview of the ballet, and here you can see a great dress rehearsal video.
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