The ballet Naples, or the Fisherman and his Bride was composed by Danish choreographer August Bournonville. The best annotation of the ballet which he wrote himself reads like this: “Naples as I saw it. Naples and nothing else." Of course, the Italian spirit of the ballet was neither in the sea drawn on the backdrop, nor in the colorful costumes, but in the dances which were very fast in pace, masterfully arranged and technically sophisticated. When the ballet was premiered in 1842, the contemporaries still considered Bournonville's choreography "too fast, too intellectual". Now it is the classic of world choreography and as a ballet figure Bournonville can be compared to Marius Petipa.
The artists of the Ural Ballet studied Bournonville's choreography in The Dancing School scene from the ballet Le Conservatoire and in the Pas de deux from The Kermesse in Bruges and both of these fragments are included in our production of La Fille mal gardée .
Theatres around the world often perform Naples in its entirety, but the divertissement is no less popular. At one time it was a great success as performed by the artists of the Kirov Theater, the current Mariinsky. A century and a half later, the choreography of Naples is still attractive to the audience and just as difficult for the performers. Welcome to Danish Italy: a journey that only a ballet theatre can offer.
