Now Chopin taps his toes!

• Source: Global Times
• [10:03 September 07 2010]
• Comments

"It is a story about an artist in the Romantic period, about an artist who can cross the boundaries of time, about an artist who became a phenomenon," Libera said.

Libera's storyline met with the approval of choreographer Patrice Bart, the former lead dancer and now ballet master with the Paris Opera.

In recent years Bart has created several ballets based on the lives of famous men. His productions have included ballets based on the lives of Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Gustav?III, Degas, Mendelssohn and the English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Chopin will be performed by dancers from the Polish National Ballet, the leading Polish ballet company with a history spanning 225 years.

The music for the ballet comes from Chopin, naturally, but other composers contribute, especially some who were influenced by him including Berlioz, Liszt and Schumann.

Dabrowski is organizing the Chopin celebrations this year in Poland. As well as the ballet, Chopin, there have been a series of concerts featuring the crème de la crème of?the world's pianists, including Martha Argerich, Murray Perahia and Garrick Ohlsson.

Over August the Chopin Festival was staged throughout Europe and in October the annual International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition will be held in Warsaw.

"It can be said that what we see is a cultural phenomenon which goes far beyond the conventions of performances," Dabrowski said.