|
|
Medea. Filmed in the Soviet Union and never seen before by Western audiences, this extraordinary one-act ballet, Medea, freely interprets the classic drama of Euripides. Through music and dance it reveals the ancient story of a powerful woman’s revenge upon her faithless husband and the younger rival who has stolen him away from her. The sorceress Medea (M. Goderdzishvili) has learned that her husband Jason (V. Julukhadze) no longer loves her, and wishes to marry Creusa (V. Laperashvili), the beautiful daughter of the king of Corinth. In a series of dance tableaux Jason enjoys his newfound love and violently spurns his wife. Mid-way in the ballet, Medea recalls her first meeting with Jason, their idyllic love affair, and the way she helped Jason capture the fabled Golden Fleece. There follows an extended pas de deux between Jason and Medea in which she vainly pleads with him to come back to her. Just as he orders her away, he too recalls the joy of their lovemaking years before. At the betrothal celebration, Jason and Creusa dance sensually together only to be interrupted by the somber Medea clad in black. Later Medea conceives of a plan for revenge: she will give Creusa a wedding gift of a scarlet cloak dipped in poison. She asks to see her two young boys – Jason’s sons whom he loves beyond measure – and conceives of a second, more horrible form of revenge. While Jason dances in exultation over his approaching wedding, Medea begs one final time that he return to her, but her plea is rejected even more violently than before. Their two sons arrive, offering the fatal cloak to Creusa. She puts it on and briefly dances with it only to die in agony as Medea gloats above her. When the sorceress subsequently murders her two sons, she dances one last time, torn between grief and ghastly triumph. In the final episode, the masked chorus watches as Jason beats his breast in despair tormented by visions of his murdered boys. Written and directed by Georgiy Aleksidze and Elgudja Zhgenti, and with a score by Revaz Gabichvadze, Medea, is an important discovery that should be in every video dance library.
|
|
|
