Carolina Ballet Brings Monet Works to Life

RALEIGH, N.C. (The New York Times)—Carolina Ballet choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett is going where few choreographers have gone before—striving to translate directly the narrative content of paintings into a ballet, The New York Times reports. The dance company’s “Monet Impressions” opens Jan. 11 at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, coinciding with the final weekend of the North Carolina Museum of Art’s “Monet in Normandy” exhibition. Taylor-

Corbett’s piece in the ballet, “Picnic on the Grass” brings to life Monet’s Dejeuner sur l'Herbe.

The ballet explores the painter’s relationships with his ailing wife, Camille; his future partner, Alice Hoschedes; and their respective children and friends. For the score, Taylor-Corbett chose Francis Poulenc’s “Sinfonietta.” The costumes also evoke figures from Monet’s painting.

“If you pick a really strong work of art as your starting point, trying to live up to it is an extraordinary challenge,” Taylor-Corbett said. “And when you are using a well-known artwork as a basis, there is a shared knowledge with the audience, and their expectations are perhaps higher.”

The Carolina Ballet last collaborated six years ago with North Carolina Museum of Art, performing “Rodin, Mise en Vie,” based on Auguste Rodin’s sculptures.

The New York Times: Making Impressionism Move to a Ballet Beat