An Enchanted Evening with Tchaikovsky
This year, Mrs. Janeske Van der Walt, our resident Ballet Master, and the Dance and Music Clubs of the International School of Ahafo staged the annual Ballet Concert dubbed “An Enchanted Evening with Tchaikovsky”, for a spellbound audience of parents, staff and friends of the school. Learning choreography and performing are part of a solid educational programme for all ages and this was a fine opportunity for our students to showcase what they have learnt this year.
On the night of Thursday, 15th June 2017, the School Library was bedecked in soft furnishings with themes and props from “The Nutcracker”, a classical ballet scored by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, a Russian composer of the late Romantic period. There were the Sugar Plum Fairy’s shoes, a dragon, Spanish fans, miniature ballerina dresses etc.
The show began with a video on the life of Tchaikovsky and by 6.15pm, the audience lost themselves listening to the evocative and timeless tunes from Tchaikovsky: ‘The Nutcracker Suite’, ‘Waltz of the Flowers’, among others. The night was also interspersed with musical performances from the Music Club,“Dance of the Reed Flutes / Swan Lake”, and Mrs. Yvette Jansen Van Rensburg and Amanda Mulawarman -“the Waltz from Sleeping Beauty”.
As usual, the children were the showstoppers and they gave spectacular performances of the Pulcinella, Russian, Chinese, Arabian and Spanish dances and the Waltz of the Flowers all from “The Nutcracker”. From the first moments, they transformed the acts with such clarity and care; it felt as if we had been whizzed into a different land. This was no longer slow-paced MKV, but a realm of high civility, where the slowing down and thoughtful consideration between dancers was also a generous gift of pleasure for the audience.
The Waltz of the Flowers was a particularly riveting collision of flowers and ballerinas that kept moving in a variety of interesting ways but never slipping into mayhem. The last dance, “The Cygnets’ Dance from Swan Lake, brought tears to the eyes of the audience as they grappled with the unpleasant reality of the end of the show.
The children were truly the heart of this ballet and they sure did Tchaikovsky proud! Kudos to Mrs. Janeske Van Der Walt, Mrs. Yvette Jansen Van Rensburg and Mrs. Deidree King and to everyone who put in so much time and effort to bring it to life.