5/5 At last, Snow White As A Classical Ballet.
  by J. M WILINSKY (teaneck, NJ United States)
Snow White is a wonderful choice for a ballet story(I, myself have worked on choreographing and staging a Snow White ballet version). The story of Snow White was first popularized by the Brothers Grimm, but it(as well as several other famous stories) was told to them by two well-to-do sisters, Jeannette and Amalie Hassenpflug. The Grimms took the Hassenpflug version and varied and edited it to suit their own taste. But there are traces of the basic elements of this story dating back to the Sixteenth Century. It was Walt Disney that made it a household tale. There are many different versions of Snow White(not to be confused with Snow White And Rose Red, where that Snow White character is a totally different one). The version used in this ballet was chosen to be very similar to the Disney version so that it would be familiar to a wider audience.
The quality of the dancing and choreography is absolutely fantastic! The choreographer, Ricardo Cue, said that he wanted to show off the talents of the dancers and he certainly succeeded in that. Tamara Rojo is an amazing dancer and she performs a few quadruple pirouettes in the first scene and does 48 fouette pirouettes in the last. The role of the Prince is danced by Inaki Urlezaga, and he is also very impressive, executing very difficult steps flawlessly. In fact, all the dancers displayed amazing ability and artistic maturity. Each of the seven dwarfs(played by young men who are not very tall, but not very short either!) also dance very interesting solos. The sets and costumes are also excellent. The role of the evil Queen is a pure character role, also contributing to the feel of a classical ballet. The entire ballet, in fact, except for the musical score, was conceived as a purely classical ballet, which is a very welcome concept.
I have two criticisms of this ballet, however. First, the climax of the entire ballet comes with the entrance of the Prince and his discovery of Snow White. He is supposed to realize that she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen and fall in love with her. But this whole scene is very rushed. The entrance of the Prince is as if he were in a hurry for an appointment. He is also all alone. He very quickly takes a look at her, kisses her, and that is the end of the scene, more or less. This should have been a little more extensive, perhaps even giving him a solo adagio to ponder the situation. My other objection is more serious: it has to do with the nature of the musical score itself. Basically, the entire score is a theme and variation of only one melody! If you look at the great classcal ballet scores, you see that they consist of many very diverse melodies. This could have been done much more effectively here. Interestingly, this was Emilio Aragon's first attempt at composing a ballet score. He consulted Tamara Rojo to get an understanding of the tempo, sequence, and duration needs of classical dance, but somehow the idea of using different melodic ideas throughout the ballet got lost. (The style of the score can be described as neo-baroque.) But there are problems in every ballet, so these things don't spoil the overall result, which is truly wonderful.
The DVD has state-of-the-art image and sound quality. We are also given a very generous supply of extras. There are no fewer than five included documentaries, showing most every aspect of the creation of this Snow White ballet. A good amount of rehearsal footage is included, as well. The documentaries are in Spanish with available English subtitles. This is the first classical ballet ever to be entirely created in Spain and it is a very welcome addition to the ballet repertoire.

5/5 Rare modern ballet in old-fashioned garb-
  by Todd Nolan (Seattle, WA USA)
This was a very pleasant surprise. I had low expectations, unfairly as it turned out. I just didn't think there were many choreographers alive today who want to create a new ballet that would have the music, costumes and steps reminiscent of Petipa or Bournonville. This new ballet set to the Snow White story is beautiful in every way. The women are in flowing skirts and gowns, the only tutu doesn't appear until the grand pas de deux of Snow White & her Prince, and this is done well. The first act scene at the queen's court will remind you of Sleeping Beauty, even down to the dances with cavaliers that bring Princess Aurora to mind. Like the other reviewer, I think this choreography in a mostly classical style is very attractive for an audience, and I'm sure the dancers took to it judging by the exuberance of their dancing/acting. Sets of the royal court, woods at night and Snow White's cottage are also pretty to look at. Casting of Tamara Rojo in the lead guarantees a pleased audience, undoubtedly grateful to witness a leading star of the Royal Ballet at the height of her powers.

I think the score is better than the other reviewer felt it was. Though there is a leit-motif theme & variations to much of the music, its not all there is, and when that theme changes its clothes with several varied arrangements and clever, attractive instrumental combinations, I thought it was comparable to some of the better film music I've heard (Carter Burwell's Rob Roy, Jocelyn Pook's Merchant of Venice, Shigeru Umebayashi's House of Flying Daggers, Shaun Davey's Twelfth Night and Patrick Doyle's Sense & Sensibility). It doesn't sound like those in style or content, but it has similar dramatic thrust and enjoyable melodies that are memorable.

Let's face it, ballet lovers don't have as many old-fashioned, evening length, story ballets to sit beside the Swan Lakes, Sleeping Beautys, Giselles, Raymondas and Don Quixotes on our video/DVD shelves as we would like. Unless one only enjoys the modern choreography of the last 20 to 30 years, I think most people will enjoy this. It belongs with the classics that we re-stage and tweak every so often. Highly recommended to lovers of the Petipa style & tradition of grand ballet.

5/5 Aragon's Snow White is a keeper!
  by Richard Rawls (Dublin Ga USA)
What a wonderful story to make into a ballet. One wonders why no-one else has attempted to challenge Walt Disney on his apparent monopoly on this fairy tale. I am glad to see Aragon take the challenge.

First of all, I am not an aficionado of ballet in any way except for my own idea of what is beautiful. I'm a 77 years young (male) and have seen only two live ballets, "The Nutcracker" and "Coppelia". The promoters offered a money back guarantee to the patrons of the "Coppelia" if they were not satisfied with the performance. I did NOT ask for my money back.

I liked "Snow White" also. I do not agree with the reviewer who said the score seemed to repeat itself, and that there is only one theme. After viewing the ballet several times, the music has several thematic changes. There are Leitmotifs for all the characters, and of course, those are repeating motifs, so that one can say that there are several different tunes to listen to. The music was a little heavy in the bass tones (drives my dog wild) but that is probably the fault of the sound engineer by positioning the microphones too close to the bass section of the orchestra. When this ballet was started and Tamara Rojo was in Spain working with the choreographer on the production, the musical score was only ideas in the head of the composer. This is brand new music for a brand new ballet. Overall,I thought the music was very good and certainly better than some of the recorded sounds coming out of Russia. Shame on Deutsche Grammophon for not making this in a wide screen version for which the technology has been around for years prior to this release.

I agree with the reviewer who said that the Prince's entrance was rushed. He comes barging in out of nowhere to brush the mourning dwarfs aside. They had more right to kiss her than he, because they had love in their hearts and he was just a passerby. There should have been a compelling reason for him to plant a kiss on a dead woman's lips. Also, her awaking was way to quick, one moment she is apparently dead , the next she is in this strangers arms.

There could have been a little more time given to who Snow White was and her relationship to the evil Queen or what/who ever she was. Then too, we aren't told what happened to her (the Queen). The boiling cauldron scene where the Stepmother is turned into a witch while making her poison apple concoction, is absolutely spectacular. Disney could not have done it better, and this is LIVE ballet. Be sure you are with your little children when they watch this, to assure them that this is make believe.

Again I say, I don't know much about Ballet technically, but in the bonus material they talk about Tamara doing 48 fouettes. In her final variation she completed 54 pirouettes, which I consider a remarkable feat, but if the leg kick is required to call it a fouette, then there were not 48 but 37 with multiple turns for a total of 54 turns. Be that as it may, for Tamara to do 54 pirouettes with 37 using the leg kick, should end the competition to do 32 fouettes in a row. These take place at the end of the last act. Tamara Rojo is very beautiful and she's young enough to be Snow White. I am very glad to have this ballet. I believe you will love it also, and I don't believe you will ask for your money back.

Here is something to think about, this is the first ballet the nation of Spain has ever produced, and it's an excellent first.

5/5 Snow White Delight
  by Giles Bernard J. Hall (Tasmania; Australia)
What a delight it was to play this brand new ballet based on the Grimm brother's "Schneewittchen" (Snow White). I am pleased that they did not follow the Disney style of dwarfs, but actually used smaller male ballet dancers. Who, by the way are a wonderful collective group of dancers.
The title role of Snow White is danced by the Royal Ballets principle dancer Tamara Rojo.
The role was written for her and you can understand why when you see it. She also had input into the construction of the role plus the style of music needed for her to accomplish it. She and the composer; Emilio Aragon worked together on this project. The prince is danced by Inaki Urezaga, another accomplished dancer, however, it is not much of a role to get your teeth into. If you did not need him to wake Snow White, he could be left out. Having said that, they do complete the ballet with a wonderful Pas de Deux and solo variations. The staging is magnificent, uncluttered sets and wonderful costumes and effects. The score though written by a modern composer; is of a classical style and quite pleasant to the ear. The theatre in which it is performed is the beautiful Arriaga Theatre, Bilbao, in Spain. All the cast is Spanish and they had a tough time finding the seven male dancers required for the dwarfs, as there appears to be a shortage of male dancers in Spain. But they managed it and to great acclaim. This is a very worthy performance to add to your collection and come highly recommended. There is also a bonus section, on the background of the production. This is a real gem and it won't be long before it is taken up by other ballet companies to become part of their permanent repertoire.


4/5 Suprised!
  by K. Peterson (Texas, USA)
My 2 year old granddaughter had become entranced with the Nutcracker Ballet this past Christmas. You can only watch it so many times before you start going a little nutty! I was looking for alternative ballets to show her that she would be able to relate to. She is very familiar with what she calls the Apple Princess. I was surprised to find a ballet with the same title. The bigger surprise was how good this ballet is and what a treat it was to watch. Two of the 3 granddaughters both liked watching it as did the rest of the family.