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Everyone has seen the movie so you’re trying to be true to the movie … and to the character.’’
Another Ada, Canadian dancer Sara Garbowski, agrees. With her dark hair pulled back into a bun, she bears a striking resemblance to Holly Hunter who portrayed Ada in the film. The third
Ada rehearsing today is Spanish dancer Nadia Yanowsky, a guest soloist with the company, who dances with another new arrival, Wan Bin Yuan, from China. The 35-year-old Yanowsky, one of three siblings all based with international ballet companies, says The Piano is “one of my favourite movies of all time”.
In another studio, Czech choreographer Jiří Bubeníček is demonstrating a Māori dance scene to a dozen dancers. The dance includes Māori-inspired movement, including a haka Bubeníček has created. Former Atamira Dance Company artistic director Moss Patterson (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) is acting as an adviser on the dance, music and costume and prop designs.
“I have been inspired by your culture, and it is my interpretation,’’ says Bubeníček. “I’ve tried to be as honest as possible and also respectful.’’
It was 41-year-old Bubeníček who first thought the film and its gothic love story could be reinterpreted as a ballet. He saw the movie about 16 years ago when he was a principal dancer with the Hamburg Ballet and it moved him to tears.
“I was so touched, really. It was this amazing, romantic story. I was thinking this was something that I could turn into a ballet,’’ he says.
He created a short version for the Ballett Dortmund in Germany, which he has since reworked into a full-length piece that is a co-production with the New Zealand Festival and Auckland Arts Festival. He says it’s fitting that the story is being premiered in New Zealand, but it won’t be a diluted, family-friendly version of the story: dancers will also act out the sexual scenes between Ada and her lover, George Baines, who was played by Harvey Keitel in the film.
“I hope that people will be as touched as I was when I saw the movie. George Baines is this sexy man and he’s very in love. Ada is married to a man she has never met. She is trying to find a way to be with him … but she’s a very emotionally closed woman. Step by step, Baines tries to open her eyes.”
Naturally, Bubeníček and his family have been to Karekare, where the film’s beach scenes were shot. His twin brother, Otto, also a former ballet dancer, has created the production’s projected visual imagery along with arranging the music, which uses some of the original Michael Nyman score, as well as pieces by Debussy, Arensky, Stravinsky, Schnittke, Brahms and Shostakovich.
Bubeníček says the ballet will be dramatic, like the film. “The challenge is to make it as honest as possible. You cry in the end because it’s so touching. We dancers are actors, but we don’t use words. Instead, movement is the dialogue.’’
Campion gave her permission for her film to be turned into a ballet, but it’s not known what she thinks of the idea. According to Bubeníček, she had no input.
The Listener approached Campion for comment but she was unavailable. She has been invited to the production's opening night. “It will be wonderful if she attends,’’ Bubeníček says.
"We dancers are actors, but we don’t use words. Instead, movement is the dialogue.’’
The Piano: the ballet is at the New Zealand Festival, Wellington, February 23-25; Napier, March 2-3; Auckland Arts Festival, March
8-10; Dunedin, March 16; Christchurch, March 21-23; Palmerston North, March 28.