Submitted photo.
Dale Boyd
Osoyoos Times
When thinking of the Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, ballet may not be the first thing that jumps to mind.
Bengt Jörgen, artistic director and CEO of Canada’s Ballet Jörgen, found the language of dance fit well with the classic Canadian tale, and while exploring themes from the 1965 musical the ballet takes the story into a brand new medium.
“You can never quite duplicate (another work) exactly because then why even bother doing it. So the first thing is finding what part of the stories you really want to highlight, and the characters as well,” Jörgen said.
For a story as foundational to Canadian identity as the 1908 novel, understanding both the story and character of Anne was key.
“It took about a year and a half of prep work before we even went to the studio trying to create the steps because even though it is based on the musical, this is an orchestration of the musical and longer than the musical,” Jörgen said.“What we did was focus on the story line, and really understanding the characters and making sure the music was adapted to fit the different themes we wanted to present on stage.”
Dance easily expresses emotions, possibly better than any other art form, but not so much with words and heady language. However a character like Anne Shirley with “verbal diarrhea,”as Jorgen puts it, actually translates better to dance.
“Normally that would be a problem with dance because describing words individually is not something we do well in dance. We have a bigger arc, a bigger paintbrush,” he said. “We were able to really capture her personality, her vivaciousness because she’s constantly active through words. It was really easy to transcribe that into dance.”
The imaginative nature of Anne was another focus for the conversion from musical and novel to ballet.
“It goes on inside her head, well that is something that is very easy for us in dance to showcase. So we really focused on those elements as well as the environment of the stories. People love the setting of Green Gables. So the nature and environment is something we really focused on.”
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Admittedly, Jörgen didn’t read the book growing up, something he says is pretty common with men.
“I discovered a lot of men never read it, but every women I’ve met read the story. I’m kind of average in that regard, I came to it quite late,” Jörgen said.
However late to the book, Jörgen found the same connection many do with the story.
“She is such a strong character, and life throws her curveballs all the time, but somehow her personality, her perseverance, her great, good nature, overcomes the challenges. She becomes a role model for us,” Jörgen said.
The character’s ability to take adversity and turn it around, changing the environment around her, resonated with him.
“It’s a really empowering story and that is where I really connected with Anne,” Jörgen said.
The company specializes in Canadian stories and while looking through potential candidates for a new show, Jörgen and his company landed on the “greatest Canadian story ever written in terms of sales and popularity: Anne of Green Gables,” he said.
Taking a few years to secure the rights to perform the show, jumping through the legal hoops with both the musical and the novel, Jörgen said it was well worth the years put in to bring the story to the stage in the form of a ballet.
“I love this work, I think it’s the best work we’ve ever done,” Jörgen said. “You don’t have to be a dance fan to come and see this.”
Anne of Green Gables – The Ballet comes to the Venables Theatre on Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $45 for adults, $20 for students available at the theatre or online at venablestheatre.ca.
