Stunning work from Alberta Ballet
Calgary, CANADA - Don’t just watch 5 minutes of this one. Set a date to watch this whole video. Pour some wine and forget about the world for a while. This full-length video of the ballet Joni Mitchell’s The Fiddle and the Drum was submitted by Jean Grand-Maitre, Artistic Director of Alberta Ballet, and co-creator of the piece with Joni Mitchell. It is a deeply moving, stunning piece of work that we feel unbelievably fortunate to present to you. Thank you, Jean, for this contribution. I think it will greatly comforting to many folks at home.
You can view the full-length video here, using the password AB1718
From Jean Grand-Maitre:
As we canot physically perform in our living rooms (without breaking any lamps) and now that our two last productions for this season have been cancelled, Alberta Ballet humbly submits this acclaimed contemporary ballet, born from a 3 year collaboration with Joni Mitchell, which we performed last in 2020. It is a lullaby for our planet and a meditation on our future inspired by the wisdom of Joni Mitchell’s poetry, visual art and music. It is absolutely appropriate and profoundly inspiring for these times.
I wanted to share this unedited version of Joni Mitchell’s The Fiddle and the Drum. It includes 14 of her songs which she personally selected and sequenced over a period of 12 months, a year during which she painstakingly created her very first ballet libretto. I believe we need her music and profundity now more than ever. Turn off the lights and play it loud. She edited the whole thing for 7 months, to the pluck of a guitar or the inflexion of a vowel. It is literally Joni painting with motion. She loves editing. The added song, « The Way It Is » - (47:30 to 52:08), is still a work in progress for Joni - and so it is not yet polished - but this offers us a unique glimpse into her method.
CREDITS:
Thank you Alberta Ballet dancers.
Designers: Pierre Lavoie for the lighting.
Joni Mitchell for the Set Design, the Libretto, the Soundtrack and for the full Editing of this extended film.
Directed by Mario Rouleau.
Assistant Editor: Robert Ivison.
Produced by: Joe Novak and Joe Media.