Broken Wings
Broken Wings, is part of an English National Ballet’s triple bill. Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Broken Wings tells the story of one of the most iconic artists of the 20th century, Frida Kahlo, from her life-changing accident as a teenager to her stormy relationship with painter Diego Rivera. Broken Wings marks the second collaboration between Peter, Lopez Ochoa and director Nancy Meckler; their first being the award-winning A Streetcar Named Desire for the Scottish Ballet.
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And its triumph is inseparable from Peter Salem’s score, a vast exotic landscape in itself. Blasts of Tijuana brass and louche maracas summon the heat of a Mexican fiesta, a husky Mexican balladeer croons along with the love affair, and Salem even finds a musical solution to the crash on the public bus. Here is a composer who understands exactly what a ballet needs to motor it along. Hats off, too, to conductor Gavin Sutherland and the ENB Philharmonic. This is exciting work, excitingly executed.
But for all the breathtaking imagery, what ultimately drives the performance is Cao’s indomitable Frida, paired with Max Westwell’s compassionate and charismatic Diego Rivera, and Peter Salem’s Mexican flavored score. With humor, grit and visceral physicality, “Broken Wings” tells the story of an artist shaped by hardship, but ultimately defined by triumph.
Photos: Laurent Liota
