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All information © Northwest Ballet Theater 2012

Northwest Ballet Theater
1417 Cornwall Ave.
Bellingham,WA 98225

360-714-1246
info@northwestballet.org

Northwest Ballet Theater
Artistic Director, John Bishop

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Northwest Ballet Theater will stage the classical ballet Coppélia at Mt. Baker Theater the first weekend of June 2012(June 1-3). Starry Night Orchestra, which recently collaborated with NBT on The Nutcracker, will perform the original score by Léo Delibes.Coppélia is the second most performed ballet in the world, after the perennial season favorite The Nutcracker.   John Bishop, Artistic Director of NBT, stated, “If you like The Nutcracker, you’re really going to love Coppélia.  This is almost everyone’s favorite ballet in the world.”

Like The Nutcracker, Coppélia is based upon a well-known short story by E.T.A. Hoffman entitled “The Sandman” that was first published in 1816. The ballet is a light-hearted frolic about an eccentric inventor named Doctor Coppelius, who creates a beautiful doll with enamel eyes that he seeks to bring to life.  The ballet also recounts the comic love story of a young man named Frantz and the town beauty Swanilda, who is Doctor Coppelius’ living model for his beautiful doll.

Immensely popular from its inaugural performance in 1870 at the Opéra in Paris, Coppélia was staged more than a hundred times fifteen years after its debut.  By 1941, it had already been staged in Paris more than 600 times.  The ballet’s first choreographer was Arthur Saint-Léon, after the libretto of the Opéra archivist Charles Nuitter.  But Saint-Léon died only three months after the ballet opened, and Coppélia shortly thereafter underwent a complete transformation under the direction of the 19th century giant of classical ballet, Marius Petipa.   

The appearance of Coppélia in Paris marked the apex of the era of classical ballet in France as well as the rise of classical ballet in Tsarist Russia, under the tutelage of Petipa, who was himself French.  Though influenced by the choreography of Saint-Léon, Petipa’s version of Coppélia, first performed by the St. Petersburg Ballet, later became the standard version upon which all future variations of the ballet came to be measured.  Most of the original choreography of Petipa survived, as well as the earlier choreography of Saint-Léon.  George Balanchine, Alexandra Danilova, and others have also staged more modernized variants of the ballet, when it was first performed in the U.S.  

Under Bishop’s direction, NBT’s version of Coppélia follows the classical tradition of Petipa and the Kirov Ballet.  Bishop, who worked with Balanchine at American Ballet Theater, nonetheless prefers to take a more traditional approach to the ballet.  “I don’t want to meddle with a timeless classic like Coppélia,” he stated.  “Petipa’s choreography remains the standard for this production.” Miye Bishop Assistant Director for  NBT, who also recently choreographed The Nutcracker, will choreograph Coppélia under John Bishop’s direction.  Daniel Schmidt will conduct for Starry Night Orchestra.

The June production at Mt. Baker Theatre will mark the second time Northwest Ballet Theater has staged Coppélia, having first performed the ballet in 2000.  At that time, no other ballet company had ever performed Coppélia in the state of Washington.  In the interim, NBT has also performed numerous other classical ballets, including Jules Perrot's Giselle.  “We’re really excited about putting on Coppélia,” Miye Bishop stated.  “It will give our dancers a chance to showcase their technique, especially the dancers in our corps de ballet.”

NBT, which is the state’s only regional ballet company, performs in Bellingham, Mt. Vernon, Seattle, Bellevue, and other locales in Puget Sound.  Last May, John Bishop’s original ballet based on Bellingham history and entitled Emerald Bay was performed at Meany Hall in Seattle to national and international acclaim. 

Coppélia promises to be a delightful ballet for audiences of all ages, from children to senior citizens.  With this production, NBTcontinues to break new ground for the arts in Whatcom and Skagit counties, setting the standard for all performing arts organizations in the region.

                                                                  -Christopher Wise, 2012

Northwest Ballet Theater and Starry Night Orchestra
To Perform Coppélia

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