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The Cinderella of Kudelka’s imagination is a woman moderated by the pragmatism of modern ideals; her desire for true love is grounded by humility, and happy domesticity beckons over riches. Her transformation is hence choreographically described as a subtle blossoming from ingénue to sophisticated woman; with all traces ballerina agrandissement washed away in the uncompromising view to modernising the classic. Alak, Kudelka’s ideal was sacrificed to the usual, artful performances by ballerinas who dance with great technical virtuosity, and a thorough ambivalence to the subtle architecture of the character.

The ballroom pas de deux ought to have a breathlessness to rival Romeo and Juliet’s balcony scene, however the original cast of Rodriguez and Guillaume Côté danced with an abyss of indifference between them. In the heights of the rapturous ballroom pas de deux, Rodriguez’ eyes indolently regarded the floor during the becoming diagonal of piqué turns delivering her to her Prince, only to notice him in the last moments. Although his eyes flattered her during his cavalier arabesque en l’air sequence, to land in disarming plié before her, there was no frisson in the partnership, reflected in checked applause at curtain call.

A witty choreographic vocabulary at the ready, (anyone who is familiar with the riotous Italian Straw Hat would agree that humour is no recessive element in Kudelka ballets) Kudelka plays up the comic element with a theatre of ‘real characters’. The Mother of Cinderella is a shuffling, muttering dipsomaniac who interrupts Cinderella’s hearthside reveries in thirsty pursuits for the bottle. Jennifer Fournier and Rebekah Rimsay as the Stepsisters are a divined comic duo. The pair utterly hijacks the ballroom scene with the absurdly funny balotté repartee; Fournier skips instructively forwards, pointe pumping vigorously, only to be lampooned by Rimsay, hopping awkwardly, yet enthusiastically, in reverse.
 

Kudelka’s Act III is the ‘the Search’, a notoriously challenging movement, and one that was entirely abridged by the Ashton version. The act is sparsely set with merely atmospheric lighting marking the passage of time in glorious imaginative release. The four Officers-en-blanc become navigational instruments, dancing imagery of arrows of quick jétés in squadron-like formations, and jostling together as a vintage automobile, guiding the Prince on his way. ‘Orientale’ was my only disappointment – the elegant refrain filled with curiosity and hope is used as a mere accompaniment to the Prince proffering the shoe to a coy Japanese girl who giggles into her parasol. ‘The Search’ finds the apex of simplicity and inventiveness, and is so affecting that it is hard to imagine a Cinderella without it.

The modern sensibility of Kudelka’s production is instanced by a sense of natural magic in Cinderella that comes in soft waves: in Boechler’s enchanting art-deco sets that feature gorgeously augmented pumpkin vines swirling overhead, and the twinkling diamantine 1920s dresses of the ballroom. For ethereal elements, the fairies seem to receive ordinary treatment, fluttering in constant borrrée costumed in a clichéd pinafore and skivvy combination, that is, until the count down to midnight. Dashing across the stage and striking fearsome poses to the toll of the bell, they were a theatrical force. This vignette reveals the brilliance of Kudelka’s balancing-act between classical and modern; the rebellious flight is reigned in by the archaically conventional bourree, resulting in a charming, yet challenging contrast. The ballet however does not appear like a mosaic, as the elements mingle together to liberate Cinderella, at once fluid and precise.

The ballet is too clever to compete with the 1948 Ashton Cinderella in the classical stakes; indeed, rivalry is not Kudelka’s agenda. However, with no overtly contemporary bias to set it definitively apart, in ballet repertory eyes, it more or less parallels the Ashton production, offset by a quirky undertone. That being so, this true fairytale may be fated this Cinderella to a marginal existence.