Christa Lochead is a second year MA student in dance at York University.

A gloomy pall has been cast on Verona in The National Ballet of Canada’s Romeo and Juliet, and it’s wonderful.

Susan Benson’s grim design serves as a constant reminder of the sinister nature of this classic story. Storm clouds build and threaten, decaying architecture frames each scene, action takes place behind shimmering black curtains and devil horns abound. Even the balcony scene is awash in a murky mysteriousness, lending an otherworldly feel to the lovers’ sojourn.

Against this muted background the story is brought to the forefront and the characters shine through. Cranko frees the dancers to display their versatility as actors as well as movers, and Prokofiev’s powerful score resonates all the more as a result of the clean, crisp choreography. Benson’s opulent costumes provide a counterpoint to the sinister undertones of the design, weaving the production together into a rich, resplendent tapestry.

Sonia Rodriguez’s Juliet is sprightly and charming, and the pleasure and sorrow of her journey to womanhood is palpable. Zdenek Konvalina’s Romeo is strong and svelte, and Piotr Stanczyk’s Mercutio is a rambunctious, rough-and-tumble joy to watch.

Romeo and Juliet is pure storytelling at its best and most enjoyable. The luminous costumes, ingenious design and versatility of the dancers combine to create a unique yet thorough realization of Shakespeare’s classic love story.

[Photo: Piotr Stanczyk with Artists of the Ballet in Romeo and Juliet. Photo by Sian Richards.]

Candice Pike is a first year MA student in dance at York University.

Theatrical performances of Romeo and Juliet use Shakespeare’s dynamic verbal dialogue to show a flirtation between the title characters quickly transforming into unwavering devotion. However, dancers of The National Ballet of Canada rely on John Cranko’s more universal language of movement in their Winter 2009 production to portray a satisfyingly realistic relationship between the ill-fated couple in their two most famous love scenes.

In the balcony scene, the coy and youthful Juliet lingers in the background. She is a demure and graceful accessory to Romeo’s bold and debonair movements. She delights in watching him show off in a breathtaking sequence of powerful jumps and turns. Hearts in the audience begin to flutter as the dancers share the nervous excitement of immature infatuation.

Yet, in the bedroom scene, on the morning after their wedding night both the lovers’ dance vocabularies and emotional sensibilities blossom. Unlike the wide spaces of tension created in the balcony scene their touches are no longer just hands or lips but rather full body contacts with inseparable arms, legs, torsos and eyes. Juliet runs to Romeo whenever they are separated and exchanges her childish frolicking for more sensual and womanly movement as she begs Romeo to stay.

In a performance full of foreboding music, haunting sets, and fiery costumes, complete with undercurrents of violence, hatred, and death, the love story of this narrative could easily be neglected without Shakespeare’s poetry. However, through an insightful interpretation of choreography that evokes a realistic progression of love, the National Ballet’s dancers highlight the real theme of this timeless dramatic work.

[Photo: Sonia Rodriguez with Artists of the Ballet in Romeo and Juliet. Photo by Sian Richards.]