Of good and evil

Festival Ballet's impassioned Firebird

by Johnette Rodrgiguez

If artists allow their inner turmoil to flow into the art they create, then The Firebird that Yugoslavian Mihailo Djuric, the new artistic director at Festival Ballet, is staging this weekend will be more fiery than ever. For each time Djuric takes a break from rehearsals or from the administrative work of running Festival Ballet, his mind turns to his parents in Belgrade, to his homeland under siege.

Djuric stared into the distance for a moment during a conversation following a rehearsal at Festival's studio behind Rhode Island College last week. "I don't release so much to the audience in every piece," he reflected, "although I have things inside me that are tragic and painful. It's always hard for me to forget what's going on."

For Djuric, who came to the States in '91 and was artistic director of Ballet New England in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for six years, where he first developed The Firebird, "art is a great way to learn and educate and correct some things."

"So many books, movies, films, paintings, plays, statues and dances are about exploring human emotions of love and hate, good and evil," he remarked, "but I don't think people have learned it yet. When you keep these things in a theatrical setting, the audience can have some excitement, some satisfaction and then leave."

Djuric created the choreography for this Firebird based on the work of another Yugoslavian choreographer, Dimitrije Parlic, whom Djuric credits with developing his artistic taste, as he watched him work while a young dancer in Belgrade.

"His version was very impressionistic, focusing on the main characters and the monsters," Djuric explained, "as opposed to Fokine, who has everyone in the piece. You need to say clearly who are the good guys and who are the bad guys."

Composer Igor Stravinsky was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev to write a ballet, in collaboration with choreographer Mikhail Fokine, and The Firebird premiered in Paris in 1910, making Stravinsky an overnight sensation. Fokine's version is the one that the Kirov, Bolshoi, Boston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre still perform, but Djuric feels that it is "old-fashioned, more like a museum piece," not a good choice for the smaller companies of Ballet New England and Festival Ballet.

Even so, the cast for Festival's Firebird will be 34 dancers, some in multiple roles, with Boston Ballet's principal dancer Paul Thrussell guest-dancing the role of Prince Ivan, Festival's Jennifer Ricci as Princess Elena, company newcomers Eunice Kim as The Firebird and Mario Cabral as the monster Katschei. Based on a Russian fairy tale, the story of The Firebird concerns Ivan and Elena falling under the spell of Katschei -- Ivan eventually uses a magic feather from the Firebird to mesmerize Katschei's guardian monsters and then he breaks the ogre's enchantment.

A short ballet, Upon Dark, choreographed by Djuric, to the music of Paul Moravec, with computer-generated sets by Harry Umen, will also be presented. Based on Moravec's sighting of the Northern Lights, the contemporary music is "very melting, like a waterfall," in Djuric's words. And the movements, en pointe, are accordingly representative of light, from sun, stars or neon signs.

Making the decision to come to Providence, Djuric saw a city full of energy, "very cosmopolitan, yet compact," and more supportive of the arts than other places.

"Artists are giving so much back to the community, and consequently I think the arts should be supported by local communities," Djuric emphasized. "Arts are especially important for little kids, in developing their freedom of creativity. And they are important for the older generations as a way of stepping outside themselves and watching something different."

Something different than the evening news from war-torn Yugoslavia.

The Firebird, will be presented on April 10 and 11 at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Call 272-4862.