The Legend of Notredame

THE LEGEND OF NOTREDAME
Dance performance in 2 acts

Staging author and choreographer ALEKSANDRAS JANKAUSKAS
Composer and compiler ANTANAS JASENKA
Conductor JONAS JANULEVIČIUS
Set Designer ARTŪRAS ŠIMONIS
Costume Designer RŪTA BILIŪNAITĖ
Videoprojektion VLADIMIRAS ŠERSTOBOJEVAS

Premiere 14th of February, 2013
Running time 2 hours, 10 minutes

The dance performance “The Legend of Notre Dame” first appeared on stage in Kaunas on a very appropriate date for this drama of love and passion – the Valentine’s Day of 2013 (February 14). The Libretto, based on the famous drama by Victor Hugo “Notre-Dame de Paris”, was written by a stage director and choreographer Aleksandras Jankauskas who tried to look at this popular story with the colors of dance and elegance. In his adaptation the choreographer puts forward the tragic story of the main character Esmeralda and retells the story from her point of view. However, the story is not only focused on her personal love drama, but conception of love as the basic principal. This is not a teaching about love, but a possibility to glance inside one’s own personal inner world while looking at it. The libretto embraces an idea that human desires may taint everything that is pure and magnificent, and only death can put an end to it. The creators of this performance are striving to present a popular and well-known story in a new way – with the help of dance and elegance, and they find it important to reveal and to contrast metamorphosis of love to the destructive hate.

The performance embraces compiled music by composer Antanas Jasenka from Richard Cocciante’s musical “Notre Dame de Paris”, and songs performed by the Theatre’s soloists. The performance features ballet dancers of the Kaunas State Musical Theatre and students of Kaunas Choreography school.

In 2014 the dance performance “The Legend of Notre Dame” was selected as the best performance of the year in the city of Kaunas. Set designer Artūras Šimonis also won a “Fortūna” prize for his scenography in this performance.