{"id":1150,"date":"2020-05-28T13:44:11","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T13:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/snow-queen-scottish-ballet\/"},"modified":"2023-12-26T17:46:28","modified_gmt":"2023-12-26T17:46:28","slug":"snow-queen-scottish-ballet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/snow-queen-scottish-ballet\/","title":{"rendered":"The Snow Queen by Scottish Ballet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Scottish Ballet\u2019s The Snow Queen\u00a0<\/em><\/em>capped off the company\u2019s 50th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary season from December 2019. Choreographed by Christopher Hampson with set designs\u00a0by the award-winning Lez Brotherston, this imaginative two-act ballet is perfect for families.\u00a0The 90-minute wintry Snow Queen <\/em>ballet (sans intervals) loosely follows Hans Christian Andersen\u2019s fairy tale, Snow Queen\u00a0<\/em>\u2013 <\/em>which also inspired the hit movie, Frozen<\/em>. Although the plot differs, children will still enjoy watching the story unfold, led by strong female characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Snow Queen<\/em> show by the Scottish Ballet was filmed live in Edinburgh at Festival Theatre and broadcast by BBC Scotland on April 25, 2020; it remained on BBC iPlayer for one month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Constance Devernay plays the Snow Queen, alongside with Andrew Peasgood as Kai.
Photo credit: Andy Ross<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Snow Queen <\/em><\/strong><\/em>Story<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The<\/em> Snow Queen<\/em> ballet story line is a simplified version of the Snow Queen<\/em> fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. Two sisters, the Snow Queen and the Summer Princess, live in an ice castle. The Summer Princess leaves after a mirror foretells of a man (Kai) in her future; she assumes a new life as a pickpocket named Lexi. The Snow Queen begs her sister to come back, but the Summer Princess refuses. Then the Snow Queen bewitches and kidnaps Kai; so, Kai\u2019s fiancee, Gerda, journeys to save him at the ice palace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Kai (Andrew Peasgood) and Gerda (Bethany Kingsley-Garner) dance at a winter market in Christopher Hampson’s The Snow Queen<\/em>.
Photo credit: Andy Ross<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Snow Queen Ballet <\/em><\/strong><\/em>Review<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This ballet goes the distance, bringing the audience on multiple stops in a magical world. At a winter market, we\u2019re caught up in the showy performance of a traveling circus, then we\u2019re transported to a camp of swashbuckling bandits before venturing into the Snow Queen\u2019s icy realm. The full-bodied dancing that sweeps across stage is bold and easy to follow; the modern ballet doesn\u2019t require the analysis of small, intricate gestures or drag the entire corps de ballet out just to perform pedestrian steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The silvery blonde Snow Queen herself (Constance Devernay) dances both precision and ferocity, which her Summer Princess sister (Kayla-Maree Tarantolo) can\u2019t match. But her character comes alive after she flees the palace and assumes the persona of Lexi \u2013 a marauding thief. Dancing sans pointe shoes, she can perform more freely,  as she charismatically pickpockets townspeople and slyly scopes out Gerda\u2019s fiance Kai (Andrew Peasgood). After Kai is abducted by the Snow Queen, Lexi regularly wavers between helping and refusing to help Gerda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Snow
A pair of wintry snow wolves leap across the stage in Scottish Ballet’s The Snow Queen<\/em> by Christopher Hampson.
Photo credit: Andy Ross<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re introduced to Kai and Gerda (Bethany Kingsley-Garner) at their public engagement. Following their playful pas de deux, a shard of ice to the eye turns Kai angry \u2013 and at the ice palace, he becomes the Snow Queen\u2019s besotted devotee. The unassuming Gerda shows a stony resolve to save Kai, as she encounters bandits and a variety of wintry creatures. She remains steadfast, forthright and determined to reach Kai and nurture him back to health \u2013 even when he no longer remembers her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During their reconciliation, Gerda gently allows Kai to come around, reckoning with his experience. The two fall back into phrases from their earlier duet, hands touching palm to palm \u2013 in a \u201choly palmer\u2019s kiss,\u201d as Shakespeare\u2019s Romeo would say. United, they spoke their arms skyward and embark on their future together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[yasr_overall_rating null size=”large”]<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Christopher Hampson\u2019s The Snow Queen<\/em> is, as advertised, a \u2018glittering winter tale.\u2019 It\u2019s also an adventurous, yet lighthearted, production that is enhanced by wonderful stage elements to create smooth transitions between scenes. The ballet could easily become a family favorite; however, despite its already short 90-minute run time, it could still trim out a bit of fat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Scottish<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"The<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Did you manage to watch Scottish Ballet\u2019s Snow Queen<\/em> in Edinburgh \u2013 or catch it online? And if youngsters saw it with you, what were their reactions? Let us know in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Scottish Ballet\u2019s The Snow Queen\u00a0capped off the company\u2019s 50th\u00a0anniversary season from December 2019. Choreographed by Christopher Hampson with set designs\u00a0by the award-winning Lez Brotherston, this imaginative two-act ballet is perfect for families.\u00a0The 90-minute wintry Snow Queen ballet (sans intervals) loosely follows Hans Christian Andersen\u2019s fairy tale, Snow Queen\u00a0\u2013 which also inspired the hit movie, […]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[81,179,85,174,87],"class_list":["post-1150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-show","tag-ballet","tag-edinburgh","tag-europe","tag-scotland","tag-uk"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/L-R-Constance-Devernay-as-The-Snow-Queen-and-Andrew-Peasgood-as-Kai-in-Christopher-Hampsons-The-Snow-Queen.-Credit-Andy-Ross-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1156,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150\/revisions\/1156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}