The roots of Carmen

Discover the opera

Patrick de Bana has a long and fascinating artistic career, which has recently become intertwined with La Scala, where he is now working on Carmen, his first creation for the La Scala Ballet Company and its étoile.

CARLA VIGEVANI When a choreographer sets out to create a new piece, one is often curious about the origin of his or her choices, how much of their personal and artistic experience has gone into it, and whether it should be seen as a point of arrival or a new point of departure.
PATRICK DE BANA My experience flows into my work, and this new production is one of the most profound examples of that. I would say that I have lived and felt the scent of Carmen since I joined the Compañía Nacional de Danza, after five years as a principal dancer in Lausanne with Maurice Béjart. Since then, 1992, I have been living in Spain. I have worked with wonderful flamenco artists, including Eva Yerbabuena, and thanks to her I have come into contact with gypsies, singers and flamenco dancers, wonderful artists and people. I feel very connected to the world of flamenco, to the gypsy world that represents so much of Spain. And also to my individuality, to my ethnic identity. I am half European, with a German mother, and half Nigerian, which are two completely different worlds. I have always been fascinated by traditions – people, cultures and even traditional movements. I am so drawn to the past, to roots, that it comes through in all my work.

CV Did all this influence you in your decision to create ‘your’ Carmen?
PdB I decided I wanted to make ‘my’ Carmen after seeing Mats Ek's Carmen at the Paris Opera. It was a ballet I knew well, having worked a lot with him, and which I had seen on many other occasions, but something happened that night, the music struck me more than any other time I had heard it. I don't know what it was, but my emotions were very high and reactive, something was moved inside me.

CV For Carmen, Mats Ek used the music of Rodion Ščedrin. Is that why you also chose it for your Carmen?
PdB Actually it all started with this music. I work a lot in the East ˗ China, Russia, Japan, Kazakhstan ˗ and as a choreographer, wherever I am, I always tell the dancers: first the music, then us. Because the music says everything. And in my opinion, Ščedrin's music goes deeper and gets to the essence of Spain. I did not choose the elegance and refinement that we find in Bizet, Ravel or Debussy. Ščedrin is rawer and more aggressive. Like my Spain. Ščedrin wrote this adaptation of Bizet's Carmen so that it is not so much an arrangement as a real creative work for ballet only. Behind this musical creation is an important story and figure: his wonderful wife, Majja Pliseckaja. She loved Spain and was the director of the Spanish National Ballet. Ščedrin created the Carmen Suite for her. Everything runs through their love for Spain ˗ as it did for Ava Gardner or Hemingway. You can feel it in those who love Spain deeply. I myself chose to live there. I was a principal dancer in the Compañía Nacional de Danza with Nacho Duato for eleven years, and when I left I could have moved, but I decided to stay, for myself, because for me Spain is a special place where you can live very well with very little and with a very open mentality. I have a German passport, but my heart has a Nigerian beat. Definitely African. Let's just say that my heart beats better in these latitudes.

CV You have chosen another piece of music for your Carmen, one that is perhaps even more connected to the roots of the Spain that you have lived and still breathe today. 
PdB Exactly. So much so that the ballet will begin with this very piece: Aconteció. It is by a fantastic Spanish singer, El Pele, and a fantastic guitarist, Vicente Amigo. It is a seguirilla with a very special compás (or rhythm, the root of flamenco). El Pele is a gypsy, and thanks to this piece, which begins as soon as the curtain opens, the audience will have no choice. They will have no choice but to be drawn into the heart of Spain.

CV When we speak of Spain in its essence, we think of symbols, opposing forces, power, drama. Does your Carmen focus on these elements and atmospheres, or does it follow the narrative of the story and the characters that revolve around it?
PdB The characters are there, but to explain my point of view, let me give you an example. When I was creating Jane Eyre in China, I had seen the 2012 film about Jane Eyre, in which a woman appeared for a moment. It was Rochester's wife, in the film she was seen for about a minute, first from behind, then her face was in the foreground and then she disappeared. This woman I saw in the film became the main character in my ballet, because I am interested in making the invisible visible. Everyone knows the story of Carmen, so why tell it again? There are already very beautiful versions, it would not be of personal interest to redo something that has already been done many times.As a choreographer I always try to capture, focus and concentrate on something. This is probably because, as a person of mixed race, I could never take the easy way out. In Germany, I had one name, in Africa, another. I was always caught between two definitions. And so in my ballets I always try to read between the lines and look for what is behind the curtain.  

CV So, in Carmen, we will find this special angle?
PdB In my Carmen, I have the Toro. If you walk or drive on the national highways or roads of Spain, you will see this gigantic figure everywhere. It is called 'El Toro de Osborne' and was created for an advertising campaign in the 1950s. This bull announces Spain, introduces it. It suddenly appears in the middle of nowhere. It is a ubiquitous black presence, and not only in bullfighting, which I personally do not like. It is the bull understood as power, as six hundred kilos of muscle. And then there is death. Which is always present. Now more than ever, with the way the world is turning. After all, Carmen played with death. Although many speak of a sweet little Carmen, she was never sweet. She was very clever, fast, manipulative, she played. And we know how it works: if you pick the wrong card, you lose. Carmen lost the rules of her game, and I think that is why she died. She pushed Don José too far and by getting involved with the bullfighter she crossed the line. She could not bring things back and the only way out was death. I'm not saying it's good or bad, it's just what happened. Don José kills her out of jealousy, because there is a very thin line between love and... I wouldn't say hate, but rather destruction. Love can create and it can destroy.
That is why I needed the character of Death. Basically the ballet is seen through the eyes of Death. Everyone will recognize the characters and the story, but this little ‘extra’ element changes the point of view. Life depends on the angle from which you look at it, and perhaps my angle is not from straight on. If you watch a ballet sitting in the stalls, you see it a certain way. But if you look at it from the wings, you discover a different perspective, another side of a character, of a role, and ultimately of the story.

CV How is the piece developed in the studio? How are the company's many artists involved in the production from this perspective?  
PdB I am a very "physical" person. I think you can see it in the solo The Labyrinth of Solitude, which I rearranged at La Scala for Mattia Semperboni and for Domenico Di Cristo, and in the solo for Roberto Bolle In Your Black Eyes, which was also included in the last Fracci Gala.
I have half African blood: I need to leave an imprint on the floor, I need the earth, the heartbeat of the earth, which is physical. My approach to working with dancers is based on understanding where our limits are. Where is your limit? Reach it and go beyond it, even if you feel pain, even if you feel it burning, go, experiment. It's about taking a risk. And you, as an artist, have to take a physical risk. I know these dancers; maybe I am trying to open a different window or door for them. Something they might not have experienced before. And see what happens. It's still collaboration, working together. I always try to do that because that is the way I was brought up.
I was very lucky because my first teachers pushed me to face my limitations and taught me to articulate body and mind. And then heart and soul. But before that, my mother, with the force of her existence, taught me how to look at reality. And, of course, Maurice Béjart, whom I remember from the moment I saw him in Lausanne at the age of 18, opening the door to my first lesson. What more could you ask for? And then Nacho Duato, Jiří Kylián, Mats Ek, Hans van Manen, Ohad Naharin...I have worked with a generation of fantastic choreographers, and I think all this information flows through my choreography. Some understand it, some less. But it's an exchange. I remember Béjart saying: 'It takes two people to dance a tango'. So, do you want to tango? Let's do the tango. It is a choice.

CV Does this spirit of collaboration and exchange also involve your artistic collaborators? 
PdB Absolutely. I am very lucky, I have a fantastic team. José Andrade, my manager, who was responsible for the script of Carmen, is a wonderful person, I am very close to him, he is like my second soul, with whom I can always talk about things. Before we talk about Carmen, we talk about life. About what is happening in the world, and then we slowly slip into Carmen.
Aida Badia is my choreographic assistant, and I don't take a step without her, she is a very valuable collaborator. Elena Martín is like a sister, she comes from the world of flamenco and Spanish dances. She joins us to give the dancers the right 'scent', because classical Spanish dance and flamenco are two completely different worlds. Ricardo Sánchez Cuerda is my set designer and Stephanie Baüerle is my costume designer. Then there is a very important light designer for me, Ivan Vinogradov. We did Minotauro together at the Bol'šoj Theatre, which was also a personal turning point; now I always want to work with him, he has given my work a special touch.

I talk a lot with all of them, but then I leave them to it. It's about respect, competence and trust. I want them to make suggestions, and I will give my opinion. Now the creation is in the ballroom, we are working on the stage and the costumes, discussing the aesthetics, the direction and the atmosphere we want. Finally, Vinogradov will start working on the lighting design, he will come to the studio, look and make suggestions. You will see the result on stage.

 

Carla Vigevani
Translation by Alexa Ahern