Guernica - Melbourne Ballet Company

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Sun 24 Jul 2016

Melbourne Ballet Company (MBC) will perform Guernica, a performance inspired by Pablo Picasso's 1937 painting depicting the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, on Thursday 21 July (at 7.30pm) and Sunday 24 July (at 2.00pm) at the Hawthorn Arts Centre , 360 Burwood Road, Hawthorn (intersection of Glenferrie Road).



The work represents the suffering, brutality and destruction experienced in times of war and is the final stand-alone instalment of MBC's Intention and Desire series.

Choreographer Simon Hoy aims to contrast dark themes with the beauty of life and the peace that emerges at even the worst of times for humanity. Sourcing inspiration from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Hoy has developed an original love story based on the classic play to highlight Picasso's message.



In this atmosphere of fear and the horrors of destruction when the darkness takes over, the two young characters – a young Basque woman, Juanita, and a young Nationalist Officer, Ramiro – meet again by chance for the first time in ten years. At first not recognising one another, they eventually find the light in their hearts again. With the darkness giving them the illusion that they can somehow deal with the destruction surrounding them, the two lovers believe that their love can win out against this massive event of human cruelty.

With music by Ludovico Einaudi, Steve Anderson and Jóhann Jóhannsson, the performance is set to be an emotional ending to a dramatic trilogy and a beautiful celebration of love overcoming adversity.



The MBC is now in its ninth year of operation and consists of nine professional dancers who have trained with some of the world's most renowned companies including The Australian Ballet, La Scala Milan and The Paris Opera Ballet. Guernica is the company's fifth production at the Hawthorn Arts Centre following Motion Transcend in 2014, Lucidity and Archè in 2015 and Veil of Maya, the first instalment of this trilogy earlier in 2016.

Tickets for this performance are $40 full, $34 concession, $29 under 16 years. Click here to book your tickets online, or call Hawthorn Arts Centre on (03) 9278 4770.

#ballet
#dancing
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#inner_east
#july
!date 24/07/2016 -- 24/07/2016
%wnmelbourne